European credit transfer system or ECTS
The educational process at the International Slavic University is organized according to the European credit transfer system (ECTS).
The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is a tool of the European Higher Education Area for making studies and courses more transparent and it involves the countries engaged in the Bologna Process. It helps students to move between countries and to have their academic qualifications and study periods abroad recognized.
ECTS allows credits taken at one higher education institution to be counted towards a qualification studied for at another. ECTS credits represent learning based on defined learning outcomes and their associated workload.
ECTS enhances the flexibility of study programmes for students. It also supports the planning, delivery and evaluation of higher education programmes. It is a central tool in the Bologna Process, which aims to make national education systems more comparable internationally. ECTS also helps make other documents, such as the Diploma Supplement, clearer and easier to use in different countries.
ECTS has been adopted by most of the countries in the European Higher Education Area as the national credit system and is increasingly used elsewhere.
This system allows the proper establishment of the final grade on a certain course because the points from the overall activities and the engagement in the lectures, exercises, midterm exams and exams are covered, as well as the additional activities like term papers and independent work (research, creating, developing and realization of projects and etc.).
ECTS credits
ECTS credits express the volume of learning based on the defined learning outcomes and their associated workload. The ECTS credits represent the workload necessary to achieve the expected learning outcomes.
The learning outcomes describe what a learner is expected to know, understand and be able to do after successful completion of a process of learning. *
Credits are awarded to individual students after they have completed the required learning activities and achieved the defined learning outcomes, as evidenced by appropriate assessment. If students and other learners have achieved learning outcomes in other formal, non-formal, or informal learning contexts or timeframes, credits may be awarded through assessment and recognition of these learning outcomes.
Accumulation of credits
Every course has a different number of ECTS credits. For example, some of the courses could consist of 3, 6, 7, or 8 ECTS credits.
Every semester equals 30 ECTS credits, which means that 60 ECTS credits are the equivalent of a full year of study or work. This number of 60 ECTS represents the sum of the ECTS credits from the courses that the student attended (and passed) during the academic year.
A first-cycle (or bachelor’s) degree consists of either 180 or 240 ECTS credits. Accordingly, the three-year studies have 180 credits, and the four-year studies have 240 credits.
The second-cycle (or master’s) degree equates to 60 or 120 ECTS credits. Accordingly, the one-year studies consist of 60 ECTS credits, and the two-year studies consist of 120 ECTS credits.