Credit and Grading Systems at Partner Institutions
KIMEP’s partner institutions use a range of different credit and grading systems to evaluate their students’ academic performance. Please check what kind of credit system your host institution uses.
European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS)
The ECTS system is used across Europe for credit transfer (student mobility) and credit accumulation (learning paths towards a degree). It also informs curriculum design and quality assurance.
Institutions which apply ECTS publish their course catalogs on the web, including detailed descriptions of study programs, units of learning, university regulations and student services. Course descriptions contain learning outcomes (what students are expected to know, understand and be able to do) and workload (the time students typically need to achieve the learning outcomes), expressed in terms of credits. In most cases, student workload ranges from 1,500 to 1,800 hours for an academic year, and one credit corresponds to 25-30 hours of work.
The following institutions use the ECTS as their grading system:
Aarhus School of Business, Denmark
Arnhem Business School, HAN University, the Netherlands
Amsterdam University, the Netherlands
Tilburg University, the Netherlands
Eindhoven Technical University, the Netherlands
Jonkoping International Business School, Sweden
Lund University, Sweden
Humboldt University, Germany
Freie University Berlin, Germany
University of Applied Sciences in Schmalkalden, Germany
Weisbaden University, Gemany
University of Duesto, Spain
University of Algarve, Portugal
Collegium Civitas, Warsaw, Poland
BI Norwegian School of Management, Oslo
Stockholm School of Economics in Riga (SSE in Riga), Latvia
Academic performance at the SSE in Riga is evaluated on a 200-point scale:
0-99 = fail; 100-139 = pass; 140-159 = pass with merit; 160-200 = excellent.
University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary
Please see the Grading Scale to learn more about the grading policy used by Corvinus University of Budapest.
The KIMEP and American system of evaluating students’ performance:
American universities usually require students to obtain 120 credits in order to complete an undergraduate degree. Degree programs are designed to last four years, thus to graduate on time a student needs to take an average of fifteen credits per semester. Credits represent the number of hours spent in class per week. There are fifteen weeks in a semester, thus a one-credit course is nominally equal to fifteen hours in class. A normal course is worth three credits, equaling 45 hours in class.
1. As of the 2000-2001 academic year, KIMEP has used an American credit system as its educational foundation. For each course that a student successfully completes, a certain number of credits is awarded. The usual number of credits awarded for a full semester course is three.
2. Once a student has accumulated the total number of credits stipulated in their degree requirements, they are eligible for graduation. Each program at KIMEP requires students to complete a different number of credits to graduate.
3. Courses that are assigned different numbers of credits are automatically weighted differently in regards to a student’s GPA. Courses that have a higher credit value have more effect on a student’s GPA than those with a lower value.
4. The credit system allows for flexible planning of courses.
The following partner universities use the American credit and grading system:
Wyoming University, USA
University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA
University of Northern Colorado, USA
University of San Francisco, USA
California State University, Long Beach, USA
East Tennessee State University, USA
University of Fraser Valley, Canada
Middle East Technical University, Turkey
American University in Central Asia (AUCA), Kyrgyzstan
Kyung Hee University, South Korea
Sungkungkwan University, South Korea
Korea University Business School, South Korea
Please see the Academic Credit and Grading Scale to learn more about the credit system and grading policy used by Korea University.
Hong Kong Baptist University, China
Please see the Teaching Styles and Grading Scale to learn more about the grading policy used by Hong Kong Baptist University.
Pai Chai University, South Korea
The grading system:
A+: 4.50 — 4.45 A : 4.44 — 4.00
B+: 3.99 – 3.50 B : 3.49 – 3.00
C+: 2.99 – 2.50 C : 2.49 – 2.00
D+: 1.99 – 1.50 D : 1.49 – 1.00
F : 0.99 – 0.00
Sookmyung Women’s University, South Korea
Academic records are decided on the basis of exams, attendance, assignments, and performance. Grades vary from A+ to F. The method evaluation is normally relative, but when this is impossible because of the characteristics of the subject or where the enrollment number is less than 20, the method of absolute evaluation is used.
The grading scale:
A: 100% – 93%
A-: 92% – 90%
B+: 89% – 88%
B: 87% – 83%
B-: 82% – 80%
C+: 79% – 78%
C: 77% – 73%
C-: 72% – 70%
D+: 69% – 68%
D: 67% – 63%
D-: 62% – 60%
F: 59.9 and less
