3. ECTS credits |
What are ECTS credits?ECTS credits are a numerical value (between 1 and 60) allocated to course units to describe the student workload required to complete them. They reflect the quantity of work each course unit requires in relation to the total quantity of work necessary to complete a full year of academic study at the institution, that is, lectures, practical work, seminars, tutorials, fieldwork, private study - in the library or at home - and examinations or other assessment activities. ECTS is thus based on a full student workload and not limited to contact hours only.
ECTS credit allocationHow to allocate ECTS credits to course units?ECTS credits should be allocated on a “top-down” basis.The starting point should be the full programme structure and the normal pattern of courses a student would have to take in an academic year to complete the qualification in the official length of study. Allocating credits to individual course units on a “bottom-up” basis is very complicated and may result in a total of more than 60 credits for a year, thus making credit transfer very difficult. To which course units should ECTS credits be allocated?ECTS credits should be allocated to all the course units available - compulsory or elective courses. Credits should can also be allocated to project work, thesis and industrial placements where these “units” are a normal part of the degree programme, including postgraduate degrees as long as the learning achievements are assessed. Is there a relationship between ECTS credits and the level or difficulty of a course unit?There is no relationship between the two. The level of a course unit cannot be specified in ECTS credits. In ECTS the level of a course unit is described by the offering institution in the Information Package. There you will find the aims and objectives of the course, the pre-requisite knowledge required, teaching and learning methods used, the mode of assessment and the description of the course content. These elements are supplemented where necessary by personal contacts between academics. All of this helps the student and coordinator at the sending institution to assess the suitability of a particular course unit for transfer and the level at which it will be recognised in the programme at the home institution. It is entierely up to the academics to evaluate the workload, and so to allocate the credits. It is entirely up to the academics to evaluate the workload, and so allocate the credit Is there a relationship between ECTS credits and contact hours?In the simplest case, yes there is, but remember that ECTS credits are not based on the contact hours themselves, but on the total workload which the contact hours generate. When a year of a course in an institution consists entirely of traditional lectures, tutorials and examinations, it is quite likely that the contact hours are directly related to the student workload, and so to the ECTS credits for each course unit. The exact nature of the relationship may change as the course progresses; this will be evident if successive years of a course have different totals of contact hours, though each year should total 60 ECTS credits. Neighbouring institutions teaching students of differing abilities may choose different teaching strategies, for example, one institution may teach a 5-credit course unit as 24 lecture hours, 6 tutorial hours and 60 hours of private study before revision and examination, whereas the other institution may teach the same 5-credit course unit in 24 lecture hours, 36 tutorial hours and 30 hours of private study. Both institutions in this example achieve comparable outcomes with the same total workload, and allocate the same number of ECTS crdits even though the contact hours are very different. What about credits for course units offered within more than one degree programme?Sometimes the same course unit is available to students following different degree programmes but the total workload calculation suggests is allocated ddifferent credit ratings depending on the degree programme. Departments new to credit allocation could agree different credit ratings as an interim solution, but in the long term institutions are likely to prefer (or indeed insist upon) one credit rating for one course unit. What about optional or elective course units?As stated before, optional or elective units must be allocated credits along the same lines as for a core or compulsory course unit, that is, on the basis of the proportion of workload it represents in relation to the overall workload of a year’s study. What is an optional or elective course unit in one institution may well be a core or compulsory course unit in another. In some institutions optional or elective units are not included in the regular study programme but can be taken in addition to it. ECTS credits in that case should be allocated to optional units according to the workload they would represent if they were included in the programme. What to do when the official length of study is less than the average time taken by students to complete it?In some higher education systems the average length of time taken by students to complete their studies is more than the official length of the study period. ECTS credits should always be allocated on the official length or duration of a degree not on the average length of time it might take local students to complete the degree. The award of ECTS credits to studentsWhat is the difference between credit allocation to course units and the award of credits to students?ECTS credits are allocated to course units but are only awarded to students who successfully complete the course by satisfying the assessment requirements. In other words students do not get ECTS credits simply for attending classes or spending time abroad - they must satisfy the assessment regulations specified at the host institution to demonstrate that they fulfilled the stated learning objectives for the course unit. The assessment procedure may take various forms: written or oral examinations, coursework, a combination of the two or other means such as presentations at seminars, information on which should be included in the Information package . What to do if the visiting student is not able to sit the regular examination?Some degree programmes consist of integrated teaching modules spread over more than one academic year for which students have to complete all elements before they are allowed to take the examination at the end of the course. Such a system may create problems for visiting students who spend either a semester or a year at the host institution. They will only be able to take part of the course unit and will not be able to be assessed on it nor to receive ECTS credits from the host institution as they have not completed the course. Practical solution: Institutions in this position if they wish to use ECTS may choose to adapt their degree programmes to make them more accessible to the incoming student. If they retain the status quo, some flexibility is recommended on their part in allocating ECTS credits to the different parts of the course unit and organising intermediate assessment procedures for visiting students. What to do if the home examination cannot be replaced?As stated before, full academic recognition implies not only that the period of study abroad replaces a comparable period of study at home but also that the foreign examination (or other form of assessment) replaces the home examination. The experience of Erasmus and ECTS shows that most institutions are able to guarantee their students full academic recognition. Sometimes, the home examination covers a broader range of subjects and cannot be replaced formally (intermediate and final examinations). In those cases, the home institution must give a guarantee to the student that the foreign examination will be taken into account in the fullest possible way, e.g. by giving partial exemptions of the home examination. What about the assessment of project works, theses and industrial placements?As for all course units, learning outcomes and assessment methods should be described in the information package. Either the rules of the host institution will be prevailing, or joint assessment by home and host institutions (and industry) can be considered in these cases. ECTS credit transferHow are ECTS credits transferred?Home and host institutions prepare and exchange transcripts of records (see the section on Transcripts of records) for each student participating in ECTS before and after the period of study abroad. A Ccopyies of these transcripts isare given to the student for his/her personal file. The home institution recognises the amount of credits received by their students from partner institutions abroad in respect of specific course units such so that the credits for the course unit passed replace the credits which would otherwise have been obtained from the home institution. Thus full academic recognition is given. The Learning Agreement gives the student a guarantee in advance that the credits for the approved programme of study will be transferred (see the section on “ECTS Application Form/Learning Agreement”). Two good models of credit transfer are in common use.Some home institutions have a year-by-year or semester-by-semester course pattern. Here, the learning agreement between the institutions and the student will show a block of course units chosen to replace the year or the semester at the home institution. The successful student, on return, will receive a block of credits, which may be shown as such on the student record rather than a list of individual course units. Thus full academic recognition is given. Partial failureThe award of credit is the responsibility of the host institution, and students sometimes return home with fewer credits than they had hoped. If the host institution offers their own students a second attempt at an assessment, the mobile student should take advantage of this procedure. When the host's procedures are at an end, the matter of the students' progress rests with the home institution, in accordance with its rules. |