Transferring Universities Mid-Degree in Europe: Credit Recognition and ECTS Transfer

What ECTS transfer means outside formal exchanges

The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) gives every course a credit value based on the total workload needed to complete it, typically 25-30 hours per credit, so a full academic year usually totals 60 ECTS. This shared framework, described in the European Commission's ECTS Users' Guide , is what makes it possible to compare coursework completed at one European university against requirements at another.

Inside a formal Erasmus+ exchange, credit transfer runs through a signed Learning Agreement, agreed before you leave, so recognition is close to automatic if you complete the agreed courses. Transferring universities mid-degree outside an exchange, moving permanently rather than for one semester, works differently: there is no pre-agreed learning agreement, so the receiving university evaluates your record from scratch.

Who decides what transfers

The receiving university, not your current one, makes the call on which of your completed credits count toward its own program. It reviews your Transcript of Records, course descriptions, and sometimes exam content, then decides whether each course maps closely enough to something in its own curriculum to grant credit.

This means the same set of completed courses can transfer differently depending on where you apply. A course that maps neatly onto a required module at one university might only count as a general elective, or not count at all, at another with a different curriculum structure. Contact the receiving university's international office or academic advisor before you apply to get an early read on how your credits are likely to be treated.

Legal basis: the Lisbon Recognition Convention

The Lisbon Recognition Convention , adopted by the Council of Europe and UNESCO in 1997, sets out the principle that qualifications and periods of study should be recognized unless a substantial difference can be demonstrated by the institution assessing them. This shifts the burden: the receiving university has to show why credits do not transfer, rather than you having to prove why they should.

In practice, this principle gives you a stronger position when a university tries to reject credits without a clear academic reason, but it does not guarantee automatic transfer. Universities still exercise judgment on curriculum fit, and the convention mainly protects you from arbitrary or blanket refusals rather than mandating a specific transfer outcome.

The transfer process step by step

1. Request an official Transcript of Records from your current university, listing every completed course, its ECTS value, and your grade.

2. Identify target universities and programs, checking each one's entry requirements as if you were a new applicant, since most institutions run mid-degree transfers through their standard admission process rather than a separate track.

3. Contact the receiving university's international office or admissions team to ask about credit recognition before you submit a full application, so you know roughly what to expect.

4. Submit your transcript, course descriptions or syllabi for completed modules, and any required language or entry test results alongside your application.

5. Wait for the university's formal credit evaluation, usually issued alongside or shortly after your admission decision, confirming exactly which credits count and what you still need to complete.

6. Confirm your new expected graduation timeline once credits are confirmed, since gaps in recognition can add a semester or more to your original plan.

Documentation receiving universities ask for

• An official Transcript of Records, ideally in English or the receiving country's language, or accompanied by a certified translation.

• Course descriptions or syllabi for each completed module, since grade and credit value alone are often not enough for a fair comparison.

• Proof of your current enrollment status or a certificate confirming you completed the courses listed.

• Language proficiency proof matching the receiving program's teaching language, even if you already met a different language requirement at your current university.

• National recognition center (ENIC-NARIC) documentation in some cases, particularly if you are moving between countries with different grading scales.

ENIC-NARIC centers, the national contact points for qualification recognition across Europe, can also issue an independent comparison of your grades and qualification level if the receiving university asks for third-party verification rather than relying only on your transcript.

What can go wrong

Grading scale differences cause the most disputes: a course graded on a national 1-10 or 1-20 scale needs converting to the receiving country's scale, and universities do not always use the same conversion table. Ask upfront which conversion method the receiving university applies, since this affects both credit recognition and your final degree classification.

Program structure differences also cause partial recognition even when subject content overlaps closely. A three-year bachelor's built around a different sequence of core and elective courses than your target program can leave gaps that show up only after formal evaluation, so treat any early informal estimate from an international office as provisional until you have the university's written decision.