ECTS system

ECTS, the European Credit Transfer System, was developed by the European Commission to provide common procedures to guarantee the full transferability of credits for university studies abroad in order that they might count towards a final qualification in the home country. It provides a way of measuring and comparing academic merits and transferring them from one institution to another.

The system is based on three core elements: information (on degree programmes and student achievement), mutual agreement (between the partner institutions and the student) and the use of ECTS credits (to indicate student workload). In itself, ECTS in no way regulates the content, structure or equivalence of degree programmes. The credits are simply a value allocated to course units as a means of describing the workload required to complete the course/module.

Karlstad University is a ECTS label holder 2011-14.

Why ECTS?

• It makes studies more transparent
• It facilitates the arranging of study programmes for studying abroad
• It provides hands-on information about home and receiving institution
• It facilitates comparability of study programmes

ECTS Credits and workload

Depending on their length and thus their workload, courses are assigned a number of credits. 1.5 ECTS credits are equivalent to one week’s workload of 40 hours, including lectures, classes, contact hours, assignments and independent study. This means that a course which is allocated 15 ECTS credits has a workload requirement of approximately ten weeks full-time work including examinations.

In ECTS, 60 credits normally represent the workload required for one year’s full-time study, 30 credits per semester or 20 credits per term (in a tri-semester system). One Swedish Higher Education credit (hp) is equivalent to 1 ECTS credit.

Full-time study in Sweden entails:
30 Swedish Higher Education credits (hp) = 30 ECTS credits per semester
(12-15 US credits)