How to allocate credits to the activities
Credits are allocated based on a realistic estimation of the student workload required for the average student to achieve the learning outcomes (see ECTS overview).
The student workload calculation should thus take into account the time spent for:
- Participating in an event (no. of hours of the course, workshop, meeting,.. )
- Preparing for the participation in an event (no. of hours for making a poster, a presentation, writing a text, learning for an exam, reading a paper, looking for references before going to a seminar/lecture,...).
In general, one should look in detail at the time schedule of an activity, calculate the time, add the time required for the personal work and apply the basic principle that:
1 ECTS stands for around 25 to 30 working hours.
EXAMPLE: 4 days Meeting
A = Sunday 3h, Mon-We 4h/day. Sun-Wed Journal clubs, estimated time 2h per day.
Total time spent for the meeting: ca 24h
B = Reading a paper and eventually references for the Journal Club: ca 3h
Total Student workload = A+B = 27h
Based on the principle "1 ECTS = workload of 25-30 hours", this meeting corresponds to 1 ECTS
GUIDELINES FOR THE MOST COMMON ACTIVITIES:
Meetings/Congresses: they normally last 3 to 4 days and they have programs including 6 or 8h per day. The first and last days are usually shorter. Taking into account also the personal work, a meeting normally corresponds to ca 30h = 1 ECTS.
Courses: 1 week full time 6h/day = 1 ECTS; 1 week full time 8h/day = 1.5 ECTS. If there is additional personal preparation/homework the no of ECTS may increase.
Seminar series: Assuming that for each seminar a student should first read a paper, 1h seminar corresponds to ca 2h workload. Therefore, 12 seminars = 1 ECTS
