When you are planning your path to study in Europe, one of the first things you’ll stumble upon is the acronym European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) and for good reason. Think of ECTS as the academic ‘universal language’ of higher education in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). It’s a standardised scale used to measure and compare learning achievements across Global Institutions, making your study-abroad journey smoother and more predictable.

In the entire European Higher Education Area (EHEA), 60 ECTS credits represent one full year of full-time study or work. For a standard three-year Bachelor’s Degree, you would expect around 180 ECTS credits, while a two-year Master’s Degree may often carry 120 ECTS credits. With that in mind, let’s discuss all you need to know about the European Credit System to make your application process and academic planning much easier.