The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is widely used in many European countries in order to give transparency to the recognition procedures. The ECTS is a tool of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) for making studies and courses more transparent and thus helping to enhance the quality of higher education. ECTS was instituted in 1989, within the Erasmus+ Programme, as a way of transferring credits that students earned during their studies abroad into credits that counted towards their degree, on their return to studying in their home institution.
In the following years, it came to be used not only for transferring credits, on the basis of workload and achieved learning outcomes, but also for accumulating them in institutions’ degree programmes. ECTS helps in the design, description and delivery of programmes, makes it possible to integrate different types of learning in a lifelong learning perspective, and facilitates the mobility of students by easing the process of recognising qualifications and periods of study.
In Spain, the ECTS is regulated by the Royal Decree 1125/2003. Our institution ensures the full implementation of ECTS as a common tool to guarantee the quality of mobility activities and transparency of recognition procedures. Before the mobility period, a Learning Agreement for study o traineeship in enterprises is signed by the student and the legal representatives of the home and host institutions in order to ensure the recognition of credits.
After the mobility period is completed, INS Illa dels Banyols proceeds as follows:
- Recognition of mobility for study (outgoing students): The credits that students earned abroad are automatically recognised by board members (Head of Studies). Upon students’ graduation, the educational components successfully completed abroad are included in the Transcript of Records attached to the Diploma Supplement with their original titles and translations, the indication of the institution where they have been taken and the credits and grades awarded.
- Recognition of mobility for study (incoming students): Students receive a Transcript of Records within a reasonably short period of time. ECTS credit system is used to make the credits transfer easily to the partner HEI. The partner HEI is responsible of making the full academic recognition for the courses taken at INS Illa dels Banyols.
- Recognition of mobility for traineeships in enterprises: Each official course taught at our institution provides with a 360-hour module for traineeships. This module is compulsory and automatically recognized with 22 ECTS credits once the work placement is completed upon mentor‘s positive evaluation. The transfer of credits will be documented in the Work Placement Certificate and the Diploma Supplement or Europass Mobility Document. The Diploma Supplement is designed to provide graduates with a transparent record of their achievements.
Europass Diploma Supplement
