General Information
ECTS is called the European credit system of higher education which gives a numerical value to each lesson. The numerical value is equivalent to the workload of the student to complete the course.
The ECTS,(European Credit Transfer System)was developed under the ERASMUS program to easy procedures for academic recognition of studies abroad by measuring and / or transferring the work of participating students (credit transfer) between the partner institutions.
ECTS is based on the principle of mutual trust between the institutions participating in the program.
Reason for creating ECTS
The ECTS was part of the European Union vision to provide transparency through the following:
- A set of information for students and staff of institutions, departments / faculties, the organization and structure of the curriculum and courses.
- The ECTS credits, which is a numerical value for each lesson, describing the student workload for the successful completion of the course.
- The certificate of academic achievement, which shows the performance of the student in a way comprehensive, commonly understood and easily transferable from one institution to another.
- The learning agreement covering the curriculum and the ECTS credits to be awarded to the student upon successful completion of the study period, committing the participating institutions.
ECTS Advantages
Students participating to ECTS get all the credits for their academic work successfully held to any associated institution ito ECTS and are able to transfer these academic credits from one institution to another as long as it agreement existed between institutions involved.
When the student has successfully completed the curriculum that has been previously set by the home and host institutions,there will be an automatic transfer of credits and the student will be able to continue the program of study at the home institution without losing time or credit. If the student decides to stay at the host institution and get his diploma there needs to adapt its curriculum to the laws and regulations of the host country, the institution and the department. The students selected from each institution to participate in ECTS can get scholarship if they meet the general qualification requirements for a scholarship ERASMUS.
You can find the "ECTS Users' Guide" here and the "European credit transfer and accumulation system (ECTS) Key features" here
