The ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) is one of the fundamental tools for the consolidation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). It aims to promote mobility, enhance employability, attract students and teaching staff from Europe and around the world, and increase international competitiveness.
The ECTS is a student-centered system for credit accumulation and transfer, based on the transparency of learning outcomes and processes. The system is designed to facilitate the planning, delivery, evaluation, and recognition of courses and study periods, thereby streamlining student mobility.
ECTS credits are based on the workload required for students to achieve the expected learning outcomes. Learning outcomes describe what students should know, understand, and be able to do upon successful completion of a specific learning process.
Workload indicates the time students typically need to complete all learning activities (such as attendance at lectures and seminars, project work, individual study, and examinations) required to reach the expected learning outcomes.
A full-time academic year consists of 60 ECTS credits, representing the workload and associated learning outcomes of one year of study. In Italy, one Credito Formativo Universitario (CFU) corresponds to approximately 25 hours of work, including both classroom activities and self-study. Therefore, 1 CFU = 1 ECTS.
Credits are allocated to entire degree programmes as well as to their individual educational units (such as course modules, traineeships, thesis preparation, and laboratory activities). The number of credits assigned to each unit reflects its weight in terms of the workload required to achieve the expected learning outcomes in a formal context.
Credits are awarded to individual students upon the successful completion of the learning activities required by a formal degree programme or its educational units. Credits may be accumulated toward a qualification, in accordance with the procedures established by the awarding institution. Furthermore, credits earned in one degree programme may be transferred to another programme offered by the same or a different institution
ECTS grading tables and scales are tools designed to facilitate the transfer of academic results (expressed as grades) between different national evaluation systems. Adopted by universities within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), they enable the conversion of grades from one country to another according to shared European rules. The Grading Table acts as a bridge between different grading systems and cultures, both within and beyond the EHEA.
In fact, the ECTS Grading Table allows Universities to ensure the correct transfer and recognition of grades obtained by students during their mobility abroad. This overcome national differences in evaluation systems, which otherwise represent a barrier to the creation of the EHEA. The use of the ECTS scheme is a core commitment undertaken by the University to obtain both the EUC (Erasmus University Charter 2007/2013) and the ECHE (Erasmus Charter for Higher Education 2014/2020 and 2021/2027), essential documents for participating in European education programmes.
The New ECTS Grading System
In accordance with the ECTS Users’ Guide published by the European Commission, grade transfer procedures have been simplified. Specifically, the former 5-level ECTS scale (A: top 10%; B: next 25%; C: next 30%; D: next 25%; E: lowest 10%) has been replaced by a statistical distribution of grades based on the scale used in each national system. This distribution is compiled for each degree programme or group of homogeneous courses and is officially named the ECTS Grade Conversion Table.
The new ECTS Table allows for a more direct comparison between grading systems and cultures, ensuring a simple and transparent interpretation and conversion of grades from one context to another. This ensures fairness for all students' academic achievements. Since many European universities still issue the Transcript of Records (ToR) using local grades alongside the old ECTS scale (A-B-C-D-E-F), our published ECTS tables include both the percentage and the corresponding old ECTS grade, to facilitate conversion until the new system is fully adopted by all European institutions.