A credit system is a method that allows credits to be allocated to all components of a curriculum. The definition of credits in higher education is based on the following parameters: the student's workload, knowledge acquired and number of course hours.

The ECTS facilitates the reading and comparison of courses of study for all students, both local and foreign. It also facilitates mobility and academic recognition. The ECTS helps universities to organise and review their courses of study. The system can be used in the context of various teaching programmes and methods. It reinforces the appeal of European higher education for students from other continents.

The ECTS relies on the convention according to which the work a full-time student provides during an academic year corresponds to 60 credits. A student's workload falls within a full-time course of study in Europe being, in most cases, for a duration of 36 to 40 weeks a year, the value of a credit thus represents 24 to 30 hours work. By workload, we mean the time an average student needs in theory to achieve all the results required at the end of the training course.

The credits are a means of quantifying training objectives. They correspond to a range of skills defining what the student will know, understand and be capable of doing after finishing his or her training course, whatever the duration. ECTS credits are only obtained after fully completing the work needed and the appropriate assessment of the training course results.
ECTS credits are attributed based on the official duration of a course of study.

The student's workload includes the time spent in attending lessons, taking part in seminars, studying independently, preparing for and taking exams, etc...
Credits are attributed to all components of a course of study (modules, lessons, work placements, dissertations, theses, etc...), depending on the quantity of work each activity requires in relation to the total work needed to finish a complete year of study in the concerned programme of study.