ECTS, workload, and quality of higher education

Abstract

The use of ECTS has facilitated student and graduate mobility within Europe and the comparison of study programs and courses. However, we have found thar the ECTS credit equivalence in hours, from 25 to 30, is oversized. We show that this workload associated with ECTS credit has a negative impact on the quality of education systems and on the health of students, and that it is a threat to the credibility of the ECTS system itself. We conclude that a review of the hours/credit ratio is necessary, and we propose this ratio to be 20.