European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) Credit Allocation

   Based on the Student Workload Needed in Order To Achieve Expected Learning Outcomes

ECTS credits are a value allocated to course units to describe the student workload required to complete them. They reflect the quantity of work each course requires in relation to the total quantity of work required to complete a full year of academic study at the institution, that is, lectures, practical work, seminars, private work — in the laboratory, library or at home — and examinations or other assessment activities. ECTS is based on a full student workload and not limited to contact hours only.

In ECTS, 60 credits represent one year of study (in terms of workload); normally 30 credits are given for six months (a semester) and 20 credits for a term (a trimester). ECTS credits are allocated to courses and are awarded to students who successfully complete those courses by passing the examinations or other assessments.

ECTS credits at GTU are calculated based on the workload students need in order to achieve the expected learning outcomes. All contact hours, recitations, laboratory work and self-study are included in this calculation. The average student at GTU needs to accomplish 1500 hours (1600 hours +/- 200) hours in order to complete one academic year’s work. This means that 1 ECTS credit is equal to 25 hours of work. The ECTS credit allocation is a multi-task process which is composed of the following steps:

1. Defining the objectives and learning outcomes of each course in the programme: This task is fulfilled by Department Program Committees and relevant academic staff (course instructors),
2. Estimating in-class (contact hours) and out of-class (homework, laboratory work, preparing for the examinations) time required to successfully complete the course. This task is fulfilled by:
1. Course instructors (by filling online course information forms)
2. Students (by answering relevant questions in an online survey)
3. Department Program Committees (by combining / averaging the results of previous steps)
3. Calculating the ECTS credits of each course. This task is fulfilled by the Department ECTS Coordinators and ECTS Institutional Coordinator. The allocation is done as described in ECTS key features.

All students are graded AA - FF scale according to the Local Grade Scheme. A student who receives a grade of (AA), (BA), (BB), (CB), or (CC) in any course will be considered successful. Lesser grades will indicate failure. There is a 70% attendance requirement for regular courses, and 80% attendance requirement for independent applied laboratory courses and workshops. Those students who do not meet the attendance requirements are not eligible for taking the final exam.

Through the use of student course evaluations and online course information forms, the workloads are updated regularly.