Introduction

The European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) is a system that facilitates the recognition of the period of study completed by a student at a partner university (including a foreign university) by his/her home university. The ECTS system was developed in the second half of the 1980s as part of the then ERASMUS programme.

ECTS is a code of best practice for the recognition of (period of) study. This means that the period of study at the partner university (including examinations or other forms of assessment) replaces a comparable period of study at the home university, regardless of the fact that the content of the agreed curriculum at the partner university may differ from that at the home university. The basis of the ECTS system is the transparency of the curriculum and the credit rules. ECTS makes it easier for institutions to recognise student learning achievements through the use of ECTS points and a common grading scale.

The ECTS Users' Guide (in all EU languages), instructions on how to present ECTS information packages on the web and general information about ECTS are available on the European Commission's website ,
including the address of the website with the text of the ECTS guide