What is the ECTS?
The Erasmus programme proves to be a particularly enriching experience not only because it is a great way to discover different countries, ideas, languages and cultures, but because it is an important and increasingly valuable asset to achieve the objectives of a professional or university programme.
In order to ensure that students get the most out of their studies abroad, the European Commission set up the ECTS (European Credit Transfer System). This system provides a way to measure and compare student workload and transfer credits from one institution to another across frontiers, although the system also functions within a single institution or between institutions of the same country.
The ECTS is based on three key features.
1. Provide information on programmes of study and students’ learning outcome.
2. The mutual recognition between member institutions and students
3. The use of ECTS credits to measure student workload.
The ECTS does not regulate content, structure or equivalences for programmes of study. These are questions that must be determined by the higher education centres themselves when establishing bilateral or multilateral agreements for cooperation. The ECTS allocates the number of credits so that students know how many subjects or courses they are required to take to successfully complete a programme of study.
The ECTS ensures the full recognition of studies. This is what distinguishes the ECTS from other student mobility programmes.