An academic credit (CFU, Credito Formativo Universitario, or ECTS, European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) is a unit of measurement (1 CFU=25 hours) used to determine the workload required of a student to complete a course or training activity. Each course within a degree programme has its own workload expressed in credits. For instance, a 6-credit course is equivalent to an average effort of 150 hours, approximately 60 of which are dedicated to taught activities and the rest is intended for individual study. Other training activities which are not directly related to a course (for instance, the thesis, the final project, an internship…) are also measured in credits.
The sum of your course credits and training activity credits for a certain academic year makes up your Annual Personal Study Plan (carico didattico).
Credits are also used to measure the overall workload needed in order to achieve your final degree, as indicated here below:
Master’s degree programmes (2nd level):120 credits
(a Master’s degree can be achieved only after having earned a Bachelor’s degree)
The overall number of credits includes the Thesis and the internship (if any).
It does not include the credits of the Italian language exam (for students with a non-italian qualification who attend a programme partially or entirely taught in English).
You can add extra credits (maximum 12 credits) to your Personal Study Plan, thus exceeding the 120-credit threshold required for graduation. Extra credits count towards the calculation of your final average grade.
These rules do not apply to special courses and projects.