An ECTS-recognition system at the home institution is a necessary condition for a study exchange at VIVES. Signing the learning agreement binds students to the programme and to the exams or tests. A student’s workload is measured in ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) credits. According to this system, 1 credit represents 25-30 hours of work.

Credits

Students coming to VIVES for a semester need to collect 30 credits, and a full year consists of 60 credits. Students wishing to take on more credits are free to do so, as these credits can be accumulated on a diploma-supplemented by the home institution. Attending courses without an evaluation at the end cannot be accepted at VIVES. Credits will not be given for attendance only. ​The diversity of disciplines enables us to offer, on top of our regular programme, a wide range of enriching courses, projects or extra programmes. We enumerate:

  • gathering all Erasmus students of the different study areas in specific courses, introducing them to topics such as the Belgian culture, European Citizenship, cross-cultural aspects...;
  • (socio)-cultural excursions in Belgium;
  • projects (in agreement with your own international coordinator) per study area;
  • practical experience matched to your own specialisation (be it business studies, computer sciences, social sciences, nursing, technology, teacher training). But please note that this has to be applied for in advance!
  • the number of credits that can be obtained amount to a minimum of 30 credits for one term (or 20 credits for 3 months). After your stay here, we will issue a Transcript of Records (based on the official ECTS-grading) containing all results you obtained here. We insist on full programmes (20 credits - period of 3 months / 30 credits - period of 5 months / 60 credits - period of 1 academic year).

Grading

The assessment system in Flanders consists of marks from 0 (very bad) to 20 (outstanding). This might be different than in your country. This page gives you more information on how to assess the grades you'll get for exams and assignments at VIVES University of Applied Sciences.

Specifications

  • B  BRUGGE11 / B  KORTRIJ01 grading system - BE NL - Flanders – Dutch speaking Belgium
  • Grading system: system is imposed by law (Flemish Decree)
  • Student target group: bachelor
  • Grade range: 0 to 20
  • Pass grade: 10
  • Other pass grade levels: >10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20

Description of the grading system

We have a system of 0-20 with an interval of 1 point. No half points are given. 10 is the pass mark. No overall average is necessary. Grades lower than 8 or higher than 18 are in practice seldom or never given. The median is often around 13-14. During deliberation in many faculties fails (below 10) can be condoned e.g. during deliberation, e.g. a 9 or even an 8. For such courses no credit certificate is given. The marks may also be weighted in terms of the ECTS weight. Normally the grading is absolute i.e. linked to how well the learning outcomes have been reached. Score distributions do not play a role.

Specific features

In principle the grading culture is the same everywhere, but there tend to be sometimes serious differences between professors. From the statistics, it seems that the pass mark is sometimes used as a ‘grace’ mark i.e. a professor does not want a student to fail only because of his course so he/she gives a 10.

Grade conversion

VIVES University of Applied Sciences is member of the Egracons (European Grade Conversion System) project. Egracons is a Lifelong Learning project (2012-2015) co-funded by the European commission aiming to facilitate exchange mobility by working out a conversion system based on ECTS grade conversion tables as recommended in the EU's 2015 ECTS Users’ guide. VIVES uses the EGRACONS Conversion Tool to convert marks / grades from one system to another.

VIVES University of Applied Sciences

International Offices:
VIVES Bruges: +32 50 30 52 33
VIVES Kortrijk: +32 56 26 41 64

Education and examination regulations

The education and examination regulations can be consulted here: