ECTS

ECTS is a credit system created to make studies and courses more transparent European-wide and to replace or complement the different local (national) standards within Europe. ECTS is short for European Credit Transfer System.

The credit system is based on the student workload required to achieve the objectives of a course or programme. The ECTS system requires that every assignment states the estimated number of student work hours needed to fulfil this requirement.

ECTS and student learning hours

At the University of Copenhagen, 1 ECTS is equivalent to 27 student learning hours.

The student learning hours include all activities needed to accomplish the intended educational outcomes.

The learning activities can be:

• class sessions
• reading
• paper assignments
• presentations
• supervised learning activities
• internships
• mentoring

ECTS converter – full-time studies

• 1 year of full-time studies equals 60 ECTS (1620 student learning hours)
• 1 semester of full-time studies equals 30 ECTS (810 student learning hours)

Bachelor and Master programmes in ECTS

• A 3-year bachelor’s programme equals 180 ECTS-credits
• A 2-year master’s programme equals 120 ECTS-credits

How to convert your credits into ECTS

Please note that the overview is indicative. There may exist variations within a country’s credit systems.

It is your own responsibility to check up on the credit scores at your university and to convert them into ECTS.

If the credit system of your university is not mentioned in the table below, you will have to convert your credits into ECTS yourself.

Example of converting credits into ECTS

If your 3-year bachelor’s degree consists of 300 credits, convert your credits into ECTS this way:

• 300 (credits)/3 (number of years of your bachelor’s programme) = 100 credits (equals 1 year of studies)
• 100 (credits)/60 (1 year of full-time studies in ECTS) = 1.67 credits
• 1.67 of your credits equals 1 ECTS