ECTS, the European Community Credit Transfer System, was developed by the Commission of the European Communities in order to provide common procedures to guarantee academic recognition of studies abroad. It provides a way of measuring and comparing learning achievements, and transferring these from one institution to another. In ECTS, 60 credits represent the workload of one year of study; 30 credits are normally given for a semester and 20 credits for a term. Credits are not awarded until the course has been completed and all compulsory examinations have been passed. In Swedish higher education credits are given for each course in terms of points. One week’s full-time study is equivalent to one point, and one academic year’s full-time study is worth 40 points. One point is thus equivalent to 1.5 ECTS credits.

One week of successful full-time study is equivalent to 1 Swedish credit point. One academic term in Sweden comprises 20 weeks, and thus equals 20 credit points. For international students, however, the European Credit Transfer System, ECTS, is used. 1 Swedish credit point equals 1,5 ECTS.

The course assessment system has four grades: 3, 4, 5 and Fail. 5 is the best grade you can get and is typically given to students with exam results over 85%. The former system is used in almost all fields of study while the latter is used mainly within technical fields of study.