Grading system
In the Italian university grading system, examinations are graded from 0-30, with 18 as the pass mark and 30 as a highest mark. A Cum laude can be added to the highest grade to signify a special distinction (30 cum laude)
The final graduation mark is out of 110 points. The minimum graduation mark is 66; the maximum is 110 cum laude. This mark is given on the basis of all exam marks and the final thesis.
Ects grading tables
The University of Pavia adopts the ECTS grading tables and grading scale, to facilitate the recognition of grades of incoming and outgoing mobile students.
The ECTS tables and grading scale are tools designed to facilitate the transfer of academic results (expressed in terms of grades) between different national assessment systems.
They are adopted by the universities in the countries belonging to the European Higher Education Area and they allow the conversion of the grades from one country into grades used in another country, following common European rules. Mobile students have the right to fair treatment and to transparency of their grades when credits are transferred from one institution to another, as access to further studies, grants or other benefits may depend on their level of performance.
To ensure transparent and coherent information on the performance of the individual student, each HEI should provide – in addition to their national/institutional grading scale and an explanation of the scale – a statistical distribution table of the passing grades awarded in the programme or field of study attended by the showing how the grading scale is actually used in that programme.
The University of Pavia, following the provisions of the ECTS Users’ Guide 2015 creates one ECTS grading table per each academic study field, on the basis of the statistical distribution of grades achieved by the students belongin the each group in the last three academic years.
Within each field of study, students are subdivided by study cycle (first, second and single cycle).
Each table contains the ECTS mark as well, to ease the recognition of marks of HEI still using them.
The ECTS grading scale is calculated as follows:
- Grade A correspondes to the marks obtained by the best 10% students;
- Grade B corresponds to the marks obtained by the following 25%;
- Grade C corresponds to the marks obtained by the following 30%;
- Grade D corresponds to the marks obtained by the following 25%;
- Grade E corresponds to the marks obtained by the final 10%.
CREDIT SYSTEM
The University of Pavia adopts the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS): 1 local credit (CFU) is equal to 1 ECTS credit.
The ECTS works to make studies more transparent and flexible by allowing credits taken at one higher education institution to be counted towards a qualification studied for at another.
ECTS credits represent students’ learning based on defined learning objectives and the associated workload. The system is central to the Bologna Process, and has been adopted by most countries in the European Higher Education Area.
Key characteristics of the system:
– Credits represent the student’s total workload with one credit being equivalent to 25 hours. – The average full-time workload for one academic year is 60 credits (1500 hours).
– The amount of time reserved for individual learning/educational activities must not be lower than 50%, except for courses that include practical or laboratory work.
– Credits are earned upon passing the course assessment.