When I started looking at European master's programmes, every page said things like "120 ECTS" and assumed I knew what that meant. If you studied in the US, South Asia, Africa, or Latin America, you probably don't. Here's the short version.
What ECTS is
ECTS stands for the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System. It's the credit system used across the European Higher Education Area, so a course in Spain and a course in Sweden can be compared and transferred.
ECTS credits measure workload, not contact hours and not difficulty.
- 60 ECTS = one full-time academic year
- 30 ECTS = one semester
- 1 ECTS = roughly 25 to 30 hours of total work (lectures, reading, projects, exam prep)
So a 5 ECTS course expects about 125 to 150 hours of your time across the semester.
What the numbers on a master's mean
| Credits | Typical length |
|---|---|
| 60 ECTS | One year (common in the UK when converted, and some EU countries) |
| 90 ECTS | One and a half years |
| 120 ECTS | Two years. Standard for Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters |
Erasmus Mundus programmes are commonly 60, 90, or 120 ECTS. Most I looked at were 120. See the Erasmus Mundus Application Guide 2027.
Bachelor's degrees and the 180/240 question
European bachelor's degrees are usually 180 ECTS (three years) or 240 ECTS (four years). Some master's programmes require a minimum number of credits from your bachelor's, often 180, and sometimes a minimum in a specific subject area ("at least 30 ECTS in environmental science").
If your degree isn't in ECTS, admissions offices convert it themselves. A four-year bachelor's from most systems is generally treated as at least 180 ECTS-equivalent, but check each programme.
Converting from US credits
A rough rule of thumb:
- A US full-time year is about 30 semester credit hours.
- A European full-time year is 60 ECTS.
- So 1 US semester credit ≈ 2 ECTS.
Quarter-system credits convert differently (about 1.33 ECTS each). These are approximations. Universities apply their own tables.
Converting from other systems
Many systems don't map neatly. Some use credits that weight lab hours differently, or count years rather than credits. My advice:
- Don't invent a conversion in your application.
- Do explain your system in one or two sentences if the portal allows it: "My degree was a four-year, eight-semester programme with 130 credit hours, where one credit equals one hour of lecture per week over a 15-week semester."
- Attach the official transcript key that explains your university's grading and credits.
ECTS grades are a different thing
ECTS credits say how much you studied. They say nothing about how well you did. Grades are separate, and the old A–F "ECTS grading scale" has largely been replaced by grade distribution tables. I explain that in ECTS Grading Scale vs UK and US Grades.