Opinto-opas
2004
Study guide
2004
Opinto-opas · Laurea – opinto-opas 2004–2005
6 ECTS- A COMMON LANGUAGE OF ACADEMIC RECOGNITION WITHIN THE EU
Study guide · Laurea – Study Guide 2004–2005
6 ECTS- A COMMON LANGUAGE OF ACADEMIC RECOGNITION WITHIN THE EU
Laurea – Study Guide 2004–2005
6 ECTS- A COMMON LANGUAGE OF ACADEMIC RECOGNITION WITHIN THE EU
A credit system is a systematic way of describing an educational programme by attaching credits to its components. The definition of credits in higher education systems may be based on different parameters, such as student workload, learning outcomes and contact hours. The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is a student-centred system based on the student workload required to achieve the objectives of a programme, objectives preferably specified in terms of learning outcomes and competences to be acquired.
ECTS was introduced in 1989, within the framework of Erasmus, now part of the Socrates programme. ECTS is the only credit system which has been successfully tested and used across Europe. ECTS was set up initially for credit transfer. The system facilitated the recognition of periods of study abroad and thus enhanced the quality and volume of student mobility in Europe. Recently ECTS is developing into an accumulation system to be implemented at institutional, regional, national and European level. This is one of the key objectives of the Bologna process.
ECTS makes study programmes easy to read and compare for all students, local and foreign. ECTS facilitates mobility and academic recognition. ECTS helps universities to organise and revise their study programmes. ECTS can be used across a variety of programmes and modes of delivery. ECTS makes European higher education more attractive for students from other continents.
What are the key features of ECTS?
• ECTS is based on the convention that 60 credits measure the workload of a full-time student during one academic year. The student workload of a full-time study programme in Europe amounts in most cases to 36/40 weeks per year and in those cases one credit stands for 24 to 30 working hours. Workload refers to the notional time an average learner might expect to complete the required learning outcomes.
• Credit is also a way of quantifying the outcomes of learning. Learning outcomes are sets of competences, expressing what the student will know, understand or be able to do after completion of a process of learning, short or long. Credits in ECTS can only be obtained after completion of the work required and appropriate assessment of the learning outcomes achieved.
• The allocation of ECTS credits is based on the official length of a study programme cycle. The total workload necessary to obtain a first cycle degree lasting officially three or four years is expressed as 180 or 240 credits.
• Student workload in ECTS includes the time spent in attending lectures, seminars, independent study, preparation for, and taking of, examinations, etc.
• Credits are allocated to all educational components of a study programme (such as modules, courses, placements, dissertation work, etc.) and reflect the quantity of work each component requires in relation to the total quantity of work necessary to complete a full year of study in the programme considered.
• The performance of the student is documented by a local/national grade. It is good practice to add an ECTS grade, in particular in case of credit transfer. The ECTS grading scale ranks the students on a statistical basis. Therefore, statistical data on student performance is a prerequisite for applying the ECTS grading system. Grades are assigned among students with a pass grade as follows:
A best 10%
B next 25%
C next 30%
D next 25%
E next 10%
A distinction is made between the grades FX and F that are used for unsuccessful students. FX means: “fail- some more work required to pass” and F means: “fail – considerable further work required”. The inclusion of failure rates in the Transcript of Records is optional.
ECTS makes use of three important documents:
• The regular Information Package/Course Catalogue of the institution to be published in two languages (or only in English for programmes taught in English) on the Web and/or in hard copy in one or more booklets.
• The Learning Agreement contains the list of courses to be taken and agreed upon by the student and the responsible academic body of the institution concerned. In case of credit transfer, the Learning Agreement has to be agreed upon by the student and the two institutions concerned before the student’s departure and to be updated immediately when changes occur.
• The Transcript of Records documents the performance of a student by showing the list of courses taken, the credits gained as well as the local grades and possibly ECTS grades awarded. In case of credit transfer, the Transcript of Records has to be issued by the home institution for outgoing students before departure and by the host institution for incoming students at the end of their period of study.
ECTS Students
The students participating in Exchange Programmes involving ECTS will receive full credit for all
academic work successfully carried out at any of the ECTS partner institutions and will be able to transfer these academic credits from one participating institution to another on the basis of prior agreement on the content of study programmes abroad between students and the institutions involved.
When the student has successfully completed the study programme previously agreed between the home and the host institution and returns to the home institution, credit transfer will take place and the student will continue the study course at the home institution without any loss of time or credit.
Most students participating in ECTS will go to one single host institution, study there for a limited period and then return to their home institution. Some may decide to stay at the host institution, possibly to gain a degree. Some may also decide to proceed to a third institution to continue their studies. In each of these three cases, students will be required to comply with the legal and institutional requirements of the country and institution where they take their degree.
Students selected by each institution to participate in Socrates/Erasmus Exchange Programme may only be awarded a student mobility grant, if they fulfil the general conditions of eligibility for the ERASMUS grant. These are:
* The students must be citizens of one of the EU Member States or citizens of one of the EFTA
countries or citizens of one of the Associated Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) or Cyprus, Turkey or Malta. As to EFTA nationals, students will be eligible provided they are moving within the framework of Erasmus from the respective EFTA home country to an EU Member State. EFTA nationals registered as students in ECTS participating institutions in other EFTA countries or in Community Member States are only eligible for participation in ECTS, if they have established a right of permanent residence.
* The students shall not be required to pay tuition fees at the host institution. The student may,
however, be required to continue to pay his/her normal tuition fees to the home institutions
during the study period abroad.
* The national grant/loan to which a student may be entitled for study at his/her institution may not
be discontinued, interrupted or reduced while that student is studying in another Member State
and is receiving an ERASMUS grant.
* One study period abroad should not last less than three months or more than twelve months;
students in the first year of their studies are not eligible to receive ERASMUS grants.
ECTS was introduced in 1989, within the framework of Erasmus, now part of the Socrates programme. ECTS is the only credit system which has been successfully tested and used across Europe. ECTS was set up initially for credit transfer. The system facilitated the recognition of periods of study abroad and thus enhanced the quality and volume of student mobility in Europe. Recently ECTS is developing into an accumulation system to be implemented at institutional, regional, national and European level. This is one of the key objectives of the Bologna process.
ECTS makes study programmes easy to read and compare for all students, local and foreign. ECTS facilitates mobility and academic recognition. ECTS helps universities to organise and revise their study programmes. ECTS can be used across a variety of programmes and modes of delivery. ECTS makes European higher education more attractive for students from other continents.
What are the key features of ECTS?
• ECTS is based on the convention that 60 credits measure the workload of a full-time student during one academic year. The student workload of a full-time study programme in Europe amounts in most cases to 36/40 weeks per year and in those cases one credit stands for 24 to 30 working hours. Workload refers to the notional time an average learner might expect to complete the required learning outcomes.
• Credit is also a way of quantifying the outcomes of learning. Learning outcomes are sets of competences, expressing what the student will know, understand or be able to do after completion of a process of learning, short or long. Credits in ECTS can only be obtained after completion of the work required and appropriate assessment of the learning outcomes achieved.
• The allocation of ECTS credits is based on the official length of a study programme cycle. The total workload necessary to obtain a first cycle degree lasting officially three or four years is expressed as 180 or 240 credits.
• Student workload in ECTS includes the time spent in attending lectures, seminars, independent study, preparation for, and taking of, examinations, etc.
• Credits are allocated to all educational components of a study programme (such as modules, courses, placements, dissertation work, etc.) and reflect the quantity of work each component requires in relation to the total quantity of work necessary to complete a full year of study in the programme considered.
• The performance of the student is documented by a local/national grade. It is good practice to add an ECTS grade, in particular in case of credit transfer. The ECTS grading scale ranks the students on a statistical basis. Therefore, statistical data on student performance is a prerequisite for applying the ECTS grading system. Grades are assigned among students with a pass grade as follows:
A best 10%
B next 25%
C next 30%
D next 25%
E next 10%
A distinction is made between the grades FX and F that are used for unsuccessful students. FX means: “fail- some more work required to pass” and F means: “fail – considerable further work required”. The inclusion of failure rates in the Transcript of Records is optional.
ECTS makes use of three important documents:
• The regular Information Package/Course Catalogue of the institution to be published in two languages (or only in English for programmes taught in English) on the Web and/or in hard copy in one or more booklets.
• The Learning Agreement contains the list of courses to be taken and agreed upon by the student and the responsible academic body of the institution concerned. In case of credit transfer, the Learning Agreement has to be agreed upon by the student and the two institutions concerned before the student’s departure and to be updated immediately when changes occur.
• The Transcript of Records documents the performance of a student by showing the list of courses taken, the credits gained as well as the local grades and possibly ECTS grades awarded. In case of credit transfer, the Transcript of Records has to be issued by the home institution for outgoing students before departure and by the host institution for incoming students at the end of their period of study.
ECTS Students
The students participating in Exchange Programmes involving ECTS will receive full credit for all
academic work successfully carried out at any of the ECTS partner institutions and will be able to transfer these academic credits from one participating institution to another on the basis of prior agreement on the content of study programmes abroad between students and the institutions involved.
When the student has successfully completed the study programme previously agreed between the home and the host institution and returns to the home institution, credit transfer will take place and the student will continue the study course at the home institution without any loss of time or credit.
Most students participating in ECTS will go to one single host institution, study there for a limited period and then return to their home institution. Some may decide to stay at the host institution, possibly to gain a degree. Some may also decide to proceed to a third institution to continue their studies. In each of these three cases, students will be required to comply with the legal and institutional requirements of the country and institution where they take their degree.
Students selected by each institution to participate in Socrates/Erasmus Exchange Programme may only be awarded a student mobility grant, if they fulfil the general conditions of eligibility for the ERASMUS grant. These are:
* The students must be citizens of one of the EU Member States or citizens of one of the EFTA
countries or citizens of one of the Associated Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) or Cyprus, Turkey or Malta. As to EFTA nationals, students will be eligible provided they are moving within the framework of Erasmus from the respective EFTA home country to an EU Member State. EFTA nationals registered as students in ECTS participating institutions in other EFTA countries or in Community Member States are only eligible for participation in ECTS, if they have established a right of permanent residence.
* The students shall not be required to pay tuition fees at the host institution. The student may,
however, be required to continue to pay his/her normal tuition fees to the home institutions
during the study period abroad.
* The national grant/loan to which a student may be entitled for study at his/her institution may not
be discontinued, interrupted or reduced while that student is studying in another Member State
and is receiving an ERASMUS grant.
* One study period abroad should not last less than three months or more than twelve months;
students in the first year of their studies are not eligible to receive ERASMUS grants.