European Credit Transfer (ECTS) Calculator

ECTS stands for the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System, a standardized framework used across 40+ countries in the European Higher Education Area. It makes academic workloads transparent and comparable between institutions, allowing students to transfer credits when moving between universities or countries. Each ECTS credit represents 25–30 hours of total student workload.

The most reliable method is based on total study hours: add up your weekly hours for a subject, multiply by the number of weeks, then divide by 30 (since 1 ECTS = 25–30 hours). For US semester credits, 1 US credit generally equates to approximately 1.5–2 ECTS credits, since a 3-credit US course typically involves around 45–60 contact hours plus self-study.

Most European Master's programs require 120 ECTS credits, which typically represents two years of full-time study. Some programs, particularly in medicine or integrated master's degrees, may require up to 180 or 300 ECTS credits in total.

180 ECTS credits is the standard requirement for a European Bachelor's degree, representing three years of full-time study (60 ECTS per year). Each academic year of full-time study in the European system is worth 60 ECTS, equating to roughly 1,500–1,800 hours of total student workload per year.

1 ECTS credit is approximately equal to 0.5–0.67 US semester credit hours. Conversely, 1 US semester credit hour is roughly equivalent to 1.5–2 ECTS credits. So a typical 120-credit US Bachelor's degree converts to approximately 180–240 ECTS credits, depending on the institution's workload definition.

Yes — ECTS is based on total student workload, which includes lectures, seminars, self-study, project work, internships, and thesis preparation. As long as you can document the hours involved, any form of structured academic activity can be converted to ECTS credits using the 25–30 hours per credit formula.

ECTS can be applied to any structured learning program where the total workload is measurable. Short certificate programs and diplomas may carry partial ECTS values. European vocational qualifications also use ECTS-aligned frameworks in many member states.

You can still calculate ECTS credits by working from total study hours rather than credit labels. For US quarter credits, 1 quarter credit typically equals about 1 ECTS credit since each quarter credit represents roughly 10 hours of contact time plus independent study. Use the workload-based method in this calculator for the most accurate result.