Degree Programs & Courses Organization and Structure

ECTS Credits & Grading System

Grading of academic attainments

All academic attainments are graded in accordance with the European Credit Transfer System ECTS. A certain number of ECTS credits must be attained in each study program before a degree can be awarded. The plans of studies and associated regulations define the scope of the individual study programs.

Student workload

The student workload covers all the work they need to devote to learning activities in order to obtain their degree. This includes things like attending lectures and seminars, reading mandatory literature and preparing for and sitting examinations.

One credit is equivalent to 25-30 hours' work (student workload). One year of full-time study completed with 60 ECTS credits would therefore take 1,500-1,800 hours. We recommend that regular students try and pick up 30 ECTS credits per semester.

We recommend that exchange students, depending on their language skills, try and acquire between 20 and 25 ECTS credits.

Grading System

The University of Bern has the following grading system:

Grade Rating
excellent   
5.5       very good
5 good
4.5       satisfactory 
adequate
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1


inadequate