ECTS Grades: Combination of Norm- and Criterion-Referenced Grading

Abstract

One element of the Bologna process are ECTS grades that should be reported together with national grades. While ECTS grades are norm-referenced, most national grading systems in the European Union are criterion-referenced. As “proper statistical methods” were one of the main requirements for establishing ECTS grades (ECTS User’s Guide: European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System and the Diploma Supplement, Directorate-General for Education and Culture, European Commission, Brussels, 2005) and it was stated that ECTS grades are seldom reported (ECTS User’s Guide: European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System and the Diploma Supplement, Directorate-General for Education and Culture, European Commission, Brussels, 2005), this article describes the process of ECTS grade assignment and addresses various issues that might be a reason for the missing process implementation of ECTS grades. Furthermore, two important steps of the assignment process are discussed in detail and quality measures are proposed that may be used in various forms to monitor ECTS grade assignment.