Managing your study programme

Starting from the application period in the home university, the student is encouraged to think about the learning activities he or she will take at UCL. Even if the initial proposal will often be subject to change, it is essential for the student to take charge of his or her own training programme. The objective of this exercice is to have a list of learning activities at UCL that fit in with the study programme at the home university.

Here are the concepts and tools to help you draw up your individual study programme at UCL:

1. ECTS credits

ECTS credits are the measuring units to build your programme. They reflect the amount of work necessary to pass a particular learning activity (e.g. a course or a seminar) and are calculated taking into account the total time needed in order to achieve the desired learning outcomes, including the time spent in individual study.

Being a standard European measure, ECTS credits will make it easier for your studies at UCL to be recognized by your home university.

A standard academic year is equivalent to 60 ECTS credits. Depending on how long you will stay at UCL, you must therefore, in general, make up a programme of 30 credits (one semester) or 60 credits (two semesters). The exact number of credits you need to take is set by your home university, depending on your individual learning path. However, at UCL you will be expected to make up a programme sufficiently close to the workload of a typical full-time academic semester or year.

2. Choosing courses

Choosing your courses and other learning activities must be done in close consultation with your academic tutor at the home university. Whether you are looking for equivalent or complementary courses, the overall objective should be the coherence of the study period at UCL with the degree programme at your home university.

All the courses available at UCL are published on the website. Both the individual course descriptions as well as the details on Bachelor and Master degrees are available in French and English. There are various ways to gain access to this rich source of information:

if you know the title of the course, or if you wish to search for it by key words, you can use the course description search engine;
alternatively, and to approach the course description in the context of the UCL degree programme of which it forms part, you can consult the UCL study programme.

When making a choice, you should pay careful attention to certain practical points listed in the course description, such as the year(s), the semester(s) and the language of instruction.

As soon as your application has been accepted by your home university, please do not hesitate to contact the UCL faculty exchange coordinator for help and advice.

3. Learning agreement

When your courses have been choosen a Learning agreement will be drawn up. This document lists the learning activities to be followed and the credits to be achieved upon satisfactory completion of the course assessments. In general, the learning agreement is first validated by your home university and then forwarded to the host faculty at UCL. Agreed by all three parties, it is your guarantee that the activities which you complete satisfactorily during your stay at UCL will be fully recognized by your home university.

The Learning agreement is the reference document for managing your programme; all exchange students are entitled to expect that it is signed before they leave for UCL.

If the initial programme is modified, you are required to have any amendments agreed in writing by the UCL faculty and the home university. To do this, an Annex to the learning agreement must be drawn up.

| 17/03/2011 |