The modernization of Higher Education in Europe that facilitates the recognition of studies.
What is it about?
European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS)
The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is a tool that helps design, describe and implement study programs and award qualifications in higher education. The use of ECTS together with outcome-based qualification frameworks improves the transparency of study programs and qualifications and facilitates their recognition.
Why is it necessary?
By ensuring the comparability of higher education across Europe, ECTS makes teaching and learning in higher education more transparent and facilitates the recognition of studies. It is a tool to support the design of study programs that contributes to quality assurance and allows transferring learning experiences between institutions, improving student mobility and making the pathways for obtaining an academic degree more flexible.
The ECTS system is closely related to the modernization of higher education in Europe, constituting a central tool within the scope of the Bologna Process, which aims to make national systems more compatible.
How does it work?
Participating institutions publish their course catalogs on the Internet; they include detailed descriptions of study programmes, curricular units, university regulations and student services.
Course unit descriptions include ‘learning outcomes’ (ie the knowledge students are expected to acquire and the skills they are expected to acquire) and workload (the time students need to achieve these outcomes). Learning outcomes are expressed in credits. A student’s workload varies between 1500 and 1800 hours per academic year, and one credit generally corresponds to 25-30 hours of work.
Source:http://ec.europa.eu/education/tools/ects_en.htm
ECTS grading scale
The ECTS scale is a grading system designed to facilitate the transfer of academic results (expressed in terms of grades) between different national assessment systems. It is adopted by HEIs in the countries belonging to the European Higher Education Area, allowing the conversion of the grades from one country into grades used in another country, following common European rules.
ECTS and institutional grading scale
ISLA-IPGT adopts the following scale:
| ECTS grade | Institutional grade | Definition | |
| A | 18-20 | Excellent | |
| B | 16-17 | Very good | |
| C | 14-15 | Good | |
| D | 12-13 | Satisfactory | |
| E | 10-11 | Sufficient | |
| FX | 5-9 | Insufficient (fail) | |
| F | 1-4 | Very insufficient (fail |