ECTS and Canadian Credit Transfer

What is ECTS?

ECTS, the European Credit Transfer System, was developed by the European Union in order to provide common procedures to guarantee academic recognition of studies abroad. It provides a way of measuring and comparing courses and examinations and transferring them from one institution to another.

The rules of ECTS, concerning information (on courses available), agreement (between the home and host institutions) and the use of credit points (to indicate student workload) aim to reinforce mutual trust and confidence between participating institutions, to help in promoting international student exchanges. Each ECTS University department is committed to describe the courses it offers not only in terms of content but also by assigning agreed credit points to each course.

ECTS credits

ECTS credits measure the values allocated to course units to describe the student workload required to complete these units. They reflect the quantity of work each course requires in relation to the total quantity of work required to complete a full year academic study at the institution, that is, lectures, practical work, seminars, private work - in the library or at home - and examinations or other assessment activities. ECTS credits express a relative value.

In ECTS, 60 credits represent the workload of a year of study; normally 30 credits are given for a semester and 20 credits for a term. It is important that no special courses are set up for ECTS purposes, but that all ECTS courses are mainstream courses of the participating institutions, as followed by home students under normal regulations.

It is up to the participating institutions to subdivide the credits for the different courses. Practical placements and optional courses which form an integral part of the course of study receive academic credit. Practical placement and optional courses which do not form an integral part of the course of study do not receive academic credit. Non-credit courses may be mentioned in the transcript of records. Credits are awarded only when the course has been completed and all required examinations have been successfully taken.

The students participating in ECTS normally receive full credit for all academic work successfully carried out at any of the ECTS partner institutions. They are able to transfer those academic credits from one participating institution to another on the basis of a prior agreement on the content of study programmes abroad between students and the institutions involved. When the student has successfully completed the study programme previously agreed between the home and the host institution and returns to the home institution, credit transfer will take place, and the student will continue the study course at the home institution without any loss of time or credit.

Canadian and US credit systems

Short note on Canadian and US credit systems as provided by Prof. Dave Daugharty, University of New Brunswick, Canada at the 2002 EU/CANADA Project Directors Conference in Halifax, November 5, 2002

The term "credit" has a different value in different academic circles.
Although there are similarities in some respects, in others there are none.
There is nothing which can be compared to the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) which is described elsewhere on this website. The ECTS system gives guaranteed academic recognition for study abroad.
Allocation of credits is related to the full-time academic year: -
1 full-time academic year = 60 ECTS credits and on average in Europe one full-time academic year comprises 1500 study hours.

There is no common transatlantic credit system, mutually acceptable throughout the whole of North America.
There are even some differences among the Canadian universities, so that it is best for any European student thinking of studying in one of the BIODAQUA partner institutions or universities, to check the situation out BEFORE setting off.

The term "credit" when used in Canada, covers the following aspects.

  1. The length of the academic term
    In Canada each semester usually covers from 12-13 weeks instruction + 1 week of exams.
  2. Contact hours
    In Canada, one course module will usually entail 3 hours weekly, + one hour tutorial In a science subject, there will usually be 3 hours' theoretical instruction with 2/3 hours' lab work. There is an assumption that one hour's lecture will also entail 2 hours of study.
  3. Common measure - the credit hour
    In Canada, one hour's lecture is equivalent to 1 credit hour One hour's lab work is given one third to one half credit.\It is also assumed that two hours' study will take place and this is included in the measurement. Thus: 3 hrs. lecture + 6 hrs preparation time = 9 hrs.wk x 16 = 144 hrs for one semester.
  4. Programme load
    In Canada, it is expected that students will take 5 courses/modules per semester, and 10 courses/modules per year. For this they will gain 15 credits per semester and 30 credits per year.
  5. Conclusions
    Therefore, although the number of learning hours and student load are roughly equivalent (Canadian = roughly 1500 learning hours and European = roughly 1500 learning hours) for this the Canadian student is awarded 30 credits and the ECTS student is awarded 60 credits.

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