ECTS - European Credit Transfer System
In April 2005 K.U.Leuven was given the ECTS label by the European Commission.
The label was awarded for another four year period (until 2013) in May 2009. ECTS stands for European
Credit Transfer System. As such it is Europe’s
own system for the accumulation and transfer of credits.
For K.U.Leuven, as for any European higher education institution in the same position, acquiring the ECTS label has brought about some fundamental changes. First of all, all study programmes at K.U.Leuven have been redefined in accordance with the regulations of the European academic credit system. Next, K.U.Leuven follows the rules and procedures of ECTS when exchanging students. Finally, all relevant information is now available in English.
From the very start in 1989 K.U.Leuven has been involved in ECTS through its participation in a wide variety of exchange programmes. As of 1996 onwards programmes at K.U.Leuven have been organized in line with ECTS standards. In the Summer of 2004 all bachelor and master programmes were made available in English, as were the ECTS description of more than 3,000 course units, and K.U.Leuven applied for the ECTS label.
The ECTS Information Package contains details about K.U.Leuven as an institution as well as about its study programmes. Also there is some specific information for students.
Amongst the advantages of ECTS are:
- a uniform description of the available study programmes, bringing about a greater transparency and rendering it more easy to compare what is on offer at European institutions;
- student exchanges taking place along the lines of clearly set-out procedures, thus facilitating the recognition of studies abroad;
- an English translation of all course descriptions and of all the available syllabi, enabling students to get a clear view of what is on offer, even if they have no knowledge of the language of instruction in certain cases; furthermore exchange students are given the guarantee that other institutions and future employers without a knowledge of Dutch get a solid impression of the courses students have taken at K.U.Leuven.
As such, the ECTS label is to be considered a crucial and excellent instrument for creating one common Europe-wide educational area.
