THE ECTS AND THE UNIVERSITY OF RUSE

The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) was introduced in Ruse University in the beginning of 2005/2006 academic year. The underlying condition in the methodology applied is that the full-time course of study in a given academic subject is determined as the sum total of contact hours, self-study hours per semester, hours allotted to work on the individual student assignment and self-study hours for exam preparation. For all academic subjects in a given semester, this time equals 800 hours. Each academic subject from the curriculum is awarded a credit equivalent depending on the full-time student workload in it. For a total of 800-hour workload and 30-credit-hour equivalent per semester, the academic credits for each subject are determined by dividing the full-time workload per subject by 26,67 hours, which correspond to one academic credit for Ruse University.

The above-mentioned components of self-study are defined in hours as follows:

1. The self-study hours per semester allocated to each subject are in direct proportion to its contact hours; They are determined by subtracting from the full 800-hour workload the contact hours, the hours allotted to work on the individual student assignment and self-study hours for exam preparation;

2. The hours for work on the individual student assignment during the semester are allocated to each subject based on the following ratios:

• for a course project - 60 hours per student per semester and 3 hours per student for the lecturer for each student guided;
• for a course work - 40 hours per student per semester and 2 hours per student for the lecturer for each student guided;
• for a course assignment - 20 hours per student per semester and 1 hour per student for the lecturer for each student guided;
• for a course paper, report, case study or lab work report, etc. - up to 10 hours per student per semester and 0,5 hours per student for the lecturer for each student guided;

3. The self-study hours for exam preparation are distributed among the subjects in a semester in direct proportion to the contact hours for each subject, while taking into account the weight quotients determined by the final assessment procedures, respectively.

The calculations needed for determining the full-time workload of each subject included in the semester and the allocation of academic credits is done using a system of electronic tables.