The ECTS credit system was created in order to establish common procedures that would guarantee the recognition of academic equivalence of studies carried out in other countries.
With this system relations between institutions are strengthened by the transparency created through the use of ECTS instruments, which results in greater options for students who can take a period of study in another institution of higher education with full academic recognition, a mandatory condition mobility. This means that the period of study abroad will replace a comparable period of study at the institution of origin (including examinations and other forms of assessment), although the content of the study program may vary.
The key instruments of the ECTS system:
- ECTS credits indicate the amount of work to be done by the student for each curricular unit quantified in a numerical value. These credits also translate the amount of work involved in each curricular unit in the face of the overall workload required to successfully complete a year of studies, and go beyond their respective hours of attendance.
- The ECTS Guide provides a set of essential information for the student and staff about the institution, its mode of operation, and its training offer.
- The learning agreement containing the description of the study program at the host institution and its ECTS credits that will be recognized to the student after mobility. This document commits the parties involved to compliance in the contract by signing before the mobility. It is up to the student to fulfil the study program contained in this agreement, and to send it to the institution to recognize academically and fully the credits obtained; it is up to the host institution to guarantee the defined curricular units.
- The transcript of records showing the results obtained by the student during mobility and for each course unit, namely ECTS credits, grades obtained (according to the local classification system) and, if possible, grades obtained according to the ECTS scale.
Regulamento Sistema de Créditos Curriculares no P.PORTO
Decreto-Lei n.º 42/2005
ECTS GUIDELINES
Diploma Supplement
The Diploma Supplement is a bilingual document, Portuguese and English, complementary to the diploma awarded at the end of a study program, which includes detailed information on the Portuguese Teaching System, the Institution of Education, the academic training and results obtained as well as the complementary and differentiating activities developed by the graduate and that accompanied his academic career.
It provides standardized and intelligible information nationally and internationally, facilitating personal, academic and professional recognition.
The Polytechnic of Porto was one of the 38 European institutions distinguished in 2006 with the Diploma Supplement Label, an international quality certification awarded by the European Commission, valid for a period of three years. Thus, P.PORTO became the first Portuguese public polytechnic institute to obtain this seal of quality. P.PORTO has adhered to the principles of the European Higher Education Area, by issuing, since the academic year 2003/2004, the Diploma Supplement to all graduates.
