ECTS at the Jagiellonian University

The European Credit Transfer System (ECTS), was developed by the Commission of European Communities under the ERASMUS (European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students) programme (1988-1995), with the aim to provide common procedures for academic recognition of studies abroad. ECTS, sometimes referred to as a common language for academic recognition, is used to weigh and compare learning achievements, and to transfer the results from one school to another. It has been tested for six years as a pilot project for five subject areas: Business Administration, Chemistry, History, Mechanical Engineering and Medicine, involving 145 higher education institutions in all EC Member States and EFTA countries.

ECTS provides benefits to students and higher education institutions.

Students gain academic recognition of their studies abroad; access to regular courses alongside local students; the benefit of full participation in the academic life of the host institutions; and the chance for further studies abroad, either at the host institution or another chosen university.

Higher education institutions are allowed to create a transparent curricula by providing detailed information about the curricula and its relevance towards a degree; and higher education institutions preserve their autonomy and responsibility for all decisions concerning students' achievements, without amending existing courses and assessment methods.

ECTS credits definition is as follows: They are a value allocated to course units to describe the student workload required to complete them. They reflect the quantity of work each course requires in relation to the total quantity of work needed to complete a full year of academic study at the institution--which includes lectures, practical work, seminars, private work in the library or at home, and examinations or other assessment activities. Therefore, ECTS is a relative value given to the studentsÕ efforts and achievements.

60 ECTS credits represent the workload for one year of study. Usually 30 credits are given per semester (six month study period) and 20 credits given per term (trimester, i.e. four month study period). No special courses are set up for ECTS purposes, but all ECTS courses are mainstream courses of the participating institutions, the same as those taken by home students under normal regulations. Participating institutions are free to subdivide the credits for the different courses. ECTS credits are also allocated to practical placements and optional courses which are an integral part of the course of study at both the home and host institution. ECTS credits are awarded only to students who complete the required courses and pass all the examinations or other assessments.

Aware of the possibilities and chances opening with the integration with EU countries, the Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University decided to launch a ECTS scheme, with the help of the TEMPUS programme. The Tempus Compact Measures project "Chemical Credit Transfer System" (CHECTS) submitted in May 1996, was accepted and is currently being used.

The CHECTS project is derived from the activities of the Utrecht Network. The Utrecht Network (UN) consists of 23 prominent universities from the EU and EFTA countries co-operating internationally in the broadest sense of the word--involving interests such as student mobility, staff exchanges, internationalisation of curricula, and development of joint curricula and double degrees. The group works with a number of external partners from Central/Eastern Europe (CEE), The United States, Africa and other regions. In the framework of MJEP 4547 ["Tempus Utrecht Network" (TUN)], 17 universities of the UN, together with 12 universities from CEE, completed a large-scale student and staff exchange. TUN has provided an increase of information and knowledge for the partners involved (educational programmes, admission criteria, etc.) as well as an increase in contacts between staff members.

TUN also revealed some weaknesses in the present-day Polish educational system which negatively affect East-West student mobility. The main problem involves a lack of academic recognition mechanisms; which means that the measurement of effort and achievement by each student involved in an exchange has to be individually considered and calculated upon his/her return to Poland. The lack of relevant information about partner institutions only complicates this process.

Thanks to TUN, Polish universities recognised the importance of the ECTS scheme, because many of EU partners were involved in ERASMUS ECTS Pilot Project. Sample ECTS information packages were collected and brought back to Poland by participating students and academic staff, and elements of ECTS such as the credit system and the information packages have gradually been adopted for use by some faculties.

After the TUN project was concluded, some partners continued to collaborate in order to disseminate and complement TUN achievements in the domains of academic recognition mechanisms and information exchange. After few months of discussion between TUN co-ordinators, Job Mulder (Utrecht University), Boel Bilgren (Lund University), Zofia Stasicka (JU) and Marek Frankowicz (Vice Dean of FCJU and Member of the Presidium of the Polish Chemical Society), following consultation with other partners, the decision was made to propose a Tempus Complementary Measures project, utilising JU as a co-ordinating institution, with four EU partners from the Utrecht Network: Bologna (UB), Coimbra (UC), Lund (LU) and Utrecht (RUU). Two other Polish universities were asked to join the project: Wroclaw University (WrU) and Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan (AMU) which is currently participating with JU in a Tempus JEP 8169 "ECEAPU" (Environmental Chemistry Education at Polish Universities). The project will be limited to the discipline of Chemistry. This choice was determined by the following factors:

Chemistry was one of the disciplines chosen for the Erasmus ECTS Pilot Project.
The Polish chemical academic community is well organised. From 1990, regular annual meetings of deans of Polish chemistry faculties take place.
In March 1995, at the Erasmus Congress in Lyon, 'Chemistry in Europe' state of art of European chemical education was presented; and an extensive report was published by M. Frankowicz, the only representative from CEE to participate in the Congress.
Environmental Chemistry was the subject of JEP 8169.
The Polish Chemical Society (PCS) has decided to give full support to the project.
The Federation of European Chemical Societies (FECS) Division of Chemical Education of FECS, displayed much interest in developing common educational projects and stimulating information exchange.

These issues relating to this project were discussed on 1 June 1996 in Dortmund. M. Frankowicz represented JU at this meeting. Michael Gagan, Head of Division of Chemical Education, agreed to take part in the CHECTS project and to participate in its monitoring and evaluation.

Realising how important this project would be to the development of Polish university chemistry and the spread of experience to other chemical centres, the Polish Chemical Society agreed to enter the CME consortium, represented by the President of the Society.

In summary, the proposed CME project is well anchored in the activities of the Polish and European chemical community.

EU Utrecht Network partners, as well as other Polish chemistry faculties which do not belong to the CME consortium, will also benefit from the program by sharing information on the Internet and participating in some activities.

The objective of this project is to create a national credit transfer system for Chemistry in Poland that will be based on nationally-oriented analysis and dissemination of results from several Tempus programmes (first of all, the Tempus Utrecht Network). It will be combined with the creation of an information exchange network on the Internet which will include a national report on Chemistry at Polish universities. The project is expected to have the following impact: At the University level, the project will introduce ECTS to the Chemistry Faculties, and have a direct impact on modernization of other Faculties programmes--ensuring the necessary coherence of study mechanisms within each university, which is a global educational strategy of JU, AMU, and WRU.

At the national level, the project will create a national network for chemical information, and introduce ECTS standards for chemistry, which will be disseminated to other universities (through the Conference of Deans of Polish Chemistry Faculties).

At the European level, the project will contribute to the development of larger educational initiatives, the promotion of information exchanges between EU and CEE, and the dissemination of information about Polish chemistry to EU countries. The first CHECTS seminar "ECTS and modernization of Polish chemistry studies" was held by the Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University from November 13-15, 1996. Among the participants, were representatives from Polish chemistry faculties not directly involved in the project (Warsaw, Lublin, Lódz, Gdansk and Torun), members of other JU faculties (Philology, History, Pharmacy) and a representative of Comenius University from Bratislava (Slovakia). EU partners were represented by Bengt Jergil and Bertil Holmberg (Lund), Angelo Vaccari (Bologna) and Michael Gagan (Open University & Division of Chemical Education of FECS). Bertil Holmberg, ECTS Promoter for Sweden, gave lecture on principles of ECTS and supervised a workshop on the practical aspects of ECTS introduction. Two sessions were devoted to discipline-specific topics, such as core curricula, current trends in the reform of Polish chemistry studies and a review of British, Italian, Swedish and Slovak study models. The participants endorsed the idea of creating an information management system on the Internet. The PCIM (Polish Chemistry Information Management) system will be launched by the end of February 1997.

More information on the development of the CHECTS project is available at the following e-mail address:

tempus@trurl.ch.uj.edu.pl

Marek FRANKOWICZ, Elbieta STOBIECKA

Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University