ECTS Mechanisms
The Erasmus Mundus Master DMKM takes advantage, to quantify and evaluate the study period of students, of the ECTS assignment mechanism already in use at each partner university. According to the ECTS mechanism, “grading” is based on a five-mark scale, with the following definition:
| ECTS Scale | Definition | Best next |
| A | Excellent | 10,00 % |
| B | Above Average | 25,00 % |
| C | Average | 30,00 % |
| D | Below Average | 25,00 % |
| E | Just sufficient | 10,00 % |
| FX | Fail - some more work required before the credit can be awarded | |
| F | Fail - considerable further work is required | |
To ease the comparison and the harmonization, here report here the grading scale used in each of the countries participating to the Master and its corresponding meaning.
France
Universities and high schools usually use a 20-point scale:
| 18-20 | Congratulations (Félicitations du jury are not an official grade) |
| 16-17 | Very good (Très Bien : TB) |
| 14-15 | Good (Bien: B) |
| 12-13 | Satisfactory (Assez Bien : AB) |
| 10-11 | Pass (Passable: P) |
| 0-9 | Fail (Insuffisant : I) |
Italy
Universities use a 30-point scale:
| ECTS Grade | Definition | % of successful students | Corresponding Italian grades |
| A | Excellent | 10% | 30-30 cum Laude |
| B | Very Good | 25% | 27-29 |
| C | Good | 30% | 24-26 |
| D | Satisfactory | 25% | 21-23 |
| E | Sufficient | 10% | 18-20 |
| FX-F | Fail | 0-17 |
Spain
High education uses a 10-point scale. Marks are rounded to one decimal place.
The following table gives a rough approximation of the correspondence between grades in Spanish academic records and ECTS:
| Estimated ECTS Grade | Definition | Grade in Spanish Academic Records | |
| A | Matrícula de Honor | Highest 5% | 9.0-10.0 |
| A | Sobresaliente | Highest 10% | 9.0-10.0 |
| B-C | Notable | Next 55% | 7.0-8.9 |
| D-E | Aprobado | Next 35% | 5.0-6.9 |
| FX-F | Suspenso | | 0-4.9 |
To get the diploma the students must obrtain 120 ECTS after their four semesters study. Among the taught modules, we distinguish three categories: common courses (CC), specialty courses (SC) and methodology (MC) or language (LC). The credit value associated to each common course or specialty course module is 4 ECTS, while the credit value of methodology and language modules is 3.
During the first semester, the students need to follow 6 “common modules”, one “language module” and one “methodology module”, which corresponds to 6x4 + 2x3 = 30 ECTS
During the second and third semester, the students must follow two “common modules”, four “speciality modules” and two “language modules”. It is supposed that students follow two different language courses. Usually, one corresponds to the language of the country where they are staying and the other to the language of the country where they will stay. However, it is also possible for them to improve their English. For each of the second and the third semester this corresponds to 2×4 + 4×4 +2×3 = 30 ECTS. Note that the students have to choose two specialties, one for each semester that are locally taught. Consequently, they have to visit the places where those specialties are taught.
The practical training in an industrial environment or in an academic laboratory that lasts all the fourth semester is scored 30 ECTS.
The following table summarizes all this information:
| Semester | Common courses | Speciality courses | Language course | Methodology | ECTS |
| 1st semester | 6 → 6x4=24 ects | 1 → 3 ects | 1 → 3 ects | 30 ects | |
| 2nd semester | 2 → 2x4=8 ects | 4 → 4x4=16 ects | 2 → 2x3=6 ects | 30 ects | |
| 3rd semester | 2 → 2x4=8 ects | 4 → 4x4=16 ects | 2 → 2x3=6 ects | 30 ects | |
| 4th semester | Practical training in an industrial environment or in an academic laboratory 30 ECTS | 30 ects | |||
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