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You may all be going to different countries with different education systems, but fortunately there is one common European language – ECTS – which makes the course selection process comprehensible across cultures. As ECTS is different to what you are used to, take a minute to learn the lingo before you start researching your courses.

ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) enables students taking part in the Erasmus exchange programme to easily translate the differences between their home and host university’s credit systems. ECTS works on the basis of equivalents. European university courses will have an ECTS value as well as an institutional credit rating. For instance, you may have noticed from your home university’ Undergraduate Module Catalogue that courses have an ECTS value and a CATS (Credit Accumulation Transfer System) value.

This means that instead of getting to grips with your Partner University’s individual credit system, you simply need to understand the principles of ECTS in order to understand how courses offered at your host instituion equate to those offered at home.

REMEMBER: When looking at course listings, always make sure you look at the ECTS information, rather than your Partner University’s credit system.

How Many ECTS Should You Take?

ECTS is a credit system that is based on workload – not contact hours. At UK universities a full-time workload is 60 CATS per semester or 120 CATS per year. The equivalent in ECTS is 30 ECTS per semester or 60 ECTS per academic year. So, 2 CATS is equal to 1 ECTS. Don’t think that you’re getting it easy in Europe though – it’s not half the workload!

All students going to Europe will need to take 30 ECTS during their semester abroad. Single honours students should take 30 ECTS in their principal subject. The situation is slightly more complicated for dual honours students who should aim to take 15 ECTS in each of their degree subjects.

At Partner Universities that offer a range of courses worth 7.5 ECTS, dual honours students should take two courses in each of their subjects. At Partner Universities offering courses worth 15 ECTS, dual honours students should take one course in each of their subjects.

At Partner Universities that offer mostly 6 ECTS courses, dual honours students may find it difficult to take exactly 15 ECTS credits in each subject. In this situation, you may have to take 12 ECTS (2 courses) in one of your subjects and 18 ECTS (3 courses) in the other. If you need to do this, you must first obtain the consent of your Academic Adviser.

Structural Differences

At most European universities courses run in the same way as they do here – i.e. you will take all of your modules simultaneously over the course of the semester. But, in Sweden things are rather different.

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Understanding European Grading Systems

The Grade Conversion table below gives you an indication of what European grades mean in British terms. However, this is only a guide and should be treated as such.

Common ERASMUS Grading (%)

ECTS Grades

ECTS Definitions

Austrian Grading

Belgian Grading out of 20

Danish Grading

Dutch Grading

English Grading

Icelandic Grading

Irish Grading

Finnish Grading

French Grading out of 20

German Grading

Norwegian Grading

Spanish Grading

Swedish Grading

Swiss Grading

Turkish Grading

>70%

A

EXCELLENT: outstanding performance with only minor errors

1 sehr gut

16> Excellent - grande distinction

13

10 uitstekend

A

9.0-10.0 Honours

70-100% 1.1H / A

3, 3-

16 > très bien

1

1.0 - 2.2

10 sobresaliente y matricula de honor

VG+ VG

6

AA (90-100%)

60-69%

B

VERY GOOD: above the average standard but with some errors

2 gut

14 très bien - distinction

11, 10

9 zeer goed

B+

7.25-8.99 1st Class

62-70% 2.1 H / A

2,5, 2+

14, 15 bien

2

2.3 - 2.6

9 sobresaliente

G+

5, 5

BB (80-84%

50-59%

C

GOOD: generally sound work with a number of notable errors

3 befriedigend

13 bien

9, 8

7-8 goed

B-

6.0-7.24 2nd  Class

55-62% 2.2H/ B

2, 2-

12, 13 assez bien

3

2.7 - 3.0

7-8 notable

G

5 and 4, 5

CC (70-74%)

40-49%

D

SATISFACTORY: fair but with significant shortcomings

4 genügend

10, 11, 12 passable-satisfaisant

7, 6

6 voldoende

C

5.0-5.99 3rd Class

50-55% 3 H / C 40-50% PASS/ D/E

1,5, 1+

10, 11 passable

4

3.1 - 4.0

5-6 aprobado

G-

4

DD (60-64%)

<40%

E   F

SUFFICIENT: performance meets the minimum criteria FAIL: considerable further work is required

5 nicht genügend

<10 insuffisant

5, 03, 00

<6 onvoldoende

D E (fail)

<5.0 Fail

<40% FAIL

1

<10 insuffisant

5/6

4.1 - 6.0

<5 suspenso

U (fail)

3, 2, 1

FF (<49)

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