European Credit Transfer System (ECTS)

Over the last decade, the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) has been successfully introduced through the European Commission's Socrates ERASMUS programme. Initially designed as a tool to facilitate European student mobility, ECTS has until recently been used primarily as a credit transfer system, with its impact limited to a relatively small number of mobile students.

However, as higher education systems and degree structures across Europe have begun to converge through the implementation of the Bologna Process, the role and importance of ECTS has been transformed. No longer a tool to simply facilitate mobility, ECTS has become a generalised credit system for the emerging European Higher Education Area. ECTS is now being used for accumulation purposes without any alterations or adaptations to the basic elements of the system.

The main policy challenge for institutions is to consolidate ECTS as a means to restructure and develop curricula with the aim of creating flexible student-centered learning paths. The challenge and main role for EUA is to help our members achieve this objective in a coherent and consistent manner.