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ECTS, the European Credit Transfer System, was developed in a pilot scheme established within the European Commission's ERASMUS programme as a means of improving academic recognition for study abroad. It provides a way of measuring and comparing learning achievements and transferring them from one institution to another.
The ECTS is based on the principle of mutual trust and confidence between the participating higher education institutions. The rules of ECTS, concerning information on courses available, agreement between the home and host institutions, and the use of credit points are set out to reinforce this mutual trust and confidence. Each ECTS department will describe the courses it offers not only in terms of content but also adding credits to each course.
ECTS credits are a value allocated to course units to describe the student workload required to complete them. They reflect the quantity of work each course requires in relation to the total quantity of work required to complete a full year of academic study at the institution, that is lecture courses, practical work, seminars, independent work (in the library or at home), and examinations or other means of assessment.
ECTS credits are a relative value. In ECTS, 60 credit points represent the workload of a year of study; 30 credit points are allocated to a semester.
When the University of Regensburg began establishing ECTS more than ten years ago, the process first started in the Economics department followed by the Languages and Literatures department. Today, ECTS is widely used throughout almost all departments and disciplines.
The traditional Magister and Diplom degree programmes have almost all been remodeled into a modularised system, introducing Bachelor and Master degrees using a credit point system based on ECTS.
The course catalogue includes all pertinant information you may need: course type, contact hours, instructor and credit points.
Apart from the centralized course catalogue, some departments also publish course lists with detailed commentaries as well as useful information to sign up to the courses and credit points.
Lorena Zander -
29.11.2012 11:09 
