Credits / ECTS

ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) is the credit system for higher education used by universities in the European Higher Education Area, involving all countries engaged in the Bologna Process. All module descriptions available from our website will refer to the credit values in UK and ECTS credits. For reference 2 UK credits = 1 ECTS credit.

All documentation produced for Erasmus & Study Abroad students, including learning agreements and transcripts, will refer to ECTS credits only.

A fulltime academic undergraduate workload for a year of study (3 terms) equates to 60 ECTS credits. Therefore the maximum amount of credit that you will be permitted to study will be:

• 3 term study period = 60 ECTS
• 2 term study period = 40 ECTS
• 1 term study period = 20 ECTS

Students must ensure that they achieve the correct amount of ECTS credits for the period of time that they are studying at the university. As part of your study programme at Reading it will be expected that students will study a full workload, and therefore be expected to gain the full amount of credit for the period you study here. It is only possible to study less credit if your home university agrees to this, in writing or by signing your provisional learnng agreement for a lower amount of credit than expected.

Please note that where only part of a module (one or two terms) is followed, credits will be awarded on the basis of the proportion of the workload of the module represented by the part(s) followed.

Important

• It is not permissible to register for modules totalling more than the maximum amount of credit advertised above
• It is the responsibility of the student to confirm with their home university (preferably before arrival) that the credits will transfer back to their home institution
• Failure to accumulate the correct number of credits could have serious repercussions on your home degree programme and Erasmus grant (if appropriate). Therefore should your university allow you to take less than the suggested total, it must be clearly stated on your learning agreement how this shortfall will be made up by your home institution (i.e. dissertation research, independent study etc)
• If you change your learning agreement and want to study less credit than the original total, you must ensure that your ERasmus / Study Abroad coordinator in your home university emails confirmation of this to the Erasmus & Study Abroad team at: studyabroad@reading.ac.uk