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ECTS - EUROPEAN CREDIT TRANSFER SYSTEM.

 

 

For more information about course accreditation
please see the TELEMATE Framework, Deliverable D4.

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The European Credit Transfer System.

ECTS is part of the Socrates/Erasmus Programme within the European Community. While preserving the autonomy of the higher education institutions, ECTS offers uniform clarity of curricula, helps academic recognition, and can be a catalyst for reflection. ECTS gives the possibility of comparing the students’ workload through a credit system and comparing assessment of results through a grading scale.
In ECTS, 60 credits represents the length and workload of a full academic year of studies, a semester (half-year) normally gives 30 credits, a trimester 20 credits and so on.

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The ECTS grading scale.

The many different grading systems of Europe can be made more transparent through the ECTS Grading scale. These grades do not replace the local grades but add extra information to them, as shown in the example below.
The following chart describes the dual use of the ECTS grading system. For example, the grade A means that the student's performance was excellent and that s/he was among the top ten percent of students (from the homepage of the University of Oulu, Finland, http://www.oulu.fi)

ECTS Grade Definition Percentage
of Students
A Excellent Outstanding performance with only minor errors 10%
B Very good Above the average standard with some errors 25%
C Good Generally sound work with a number of notable errors 30%
D Satisfactory Fair but with significant shortcomings 25%
E Sufficient Performance meets minimum criteria 10%
FX Fail Some more work required before credit can be awarded  
F Fail Considerable further work is required  

Note, however, that there is great flexibility in how different ECTS institutions apply the statistical grading system. (Oulu homepage, 1998).

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Further information about ECTS.

For further information on the ECTS please see the Socrates/Erasmus Programme, ECTS homepage at http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/dg22/socrates/ects.html.   There are links available to ECTS user guide and application forms, ECTS helplines, Network of national academic recognition centres and National ECTS promoters.

Additional useful information within the context of course accreditation can be found in two main EU information networks on education, the National Academic Recognition Information Centres (NARIC) and the European information network in the field of education (EURYDICE).
NARIC aims at improving academic recognition of diplomas and periods of study in the Member States of EU. All EU and EEA states have designated national information centres, the purpose of which is to assist in promoting the mobility of students, teachers and researchers. For further information please see http://europa.eu.int/eu/comm/dg22/socrates/agenar.html.
EURYDICE includes, among other things, EURYBASE, a community Database on Education and many useful contacts and links. See http://www.eurydice.org.

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01.01 / Rainer.Wallbruch@ftb-volmarstein.de