EC and grading information
Learn more about your course load, study credits and the grading system in place at Leiden University.
Study load and credits
Our credit system is based on the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). The normal full time study load for a semesters is 30 ECTS, and 60 ECTS in a year. A full Bachelor degree consists of 3 years of 60 ECTS each, 180 ECTS in total.
Exchange and study abroad students must take between 15 and 30 ECTS per semester.
One study credit (EC) is equivalent to 28 hours of work and includes lectures/tutorials, reading, preparing for tests, exams, the writing and assessment of papers, etc.
Most courses are either 5 or 10 ECTS. There are some exceptions in the Faculty of Science and at the LUMC.
Course levels
A Bachelor ‘s degree in The Netherlands takes three years and Master’s degree takes one or two years to complete.
Students in the Netherlands specialise in their major subject from the start.
Each course/project is assigned one of six levels from 100 to 600. This range covers everything from introductory work to original research.
- 100, 200 and 300 are bachelor level courses
- 400 is either advanced bachelor or master level
- 500 and 600 are master level courses.
Marking system
The Dutch marking system runs from 1 (very poor) to 10 (outstanding). The lowest pass mark is 5.5 (minimum pass); marks 9 and 10 are rarely given.
- 10 outstanding
- 9 excellent
- 8 very good
- 7 good pass
- 6 sufficient
- 5,5 minimum pass
- 5 and lower, insufficient
- P Pass (or V = voldoende)
- F Fail (or O = onvoldoende)
- WD Withdrawn
- I Incomplete (may still be completed according to Departmental guidelines)
Leiden University College uses the letters A to F for its grading: A, B and C are passing grades