Erasmus Credits - Why do we need 60?

Knight990

Hey lads, i'm a student in IT Tallaght doing European Studies but i'm over in Germany on Erasmus at the minute.

Since i've been here, i've been working to get the 60 credits that I was told that I need to get to get into 4th year. After meeting and chatting to other students that i've met here, and looking it up online, i've found that some colleges only need 40 credits. Something that irritates me to no end is that i've seen that some colleges require no credits at all.

This is pretty much directed at any former (or current) Erasmus folks who can probably pretty well understand the situation

Does anyone know why we need 60 and others don't?

I know it sounds like a bit of a thick question to ask this far into the year, but with the workload that's piling up in front of me in a rush to get enough, it's something I decided to ask.

What irks me is that to get the 60 credits, i've had to take courses in English (just for the sake of passing and getting enough credits to get into 4th year, I couldn't do that auf Deutsch). If I didn't have to get these credits, or at least not so many of them, I might have been able to take courses in German that might have actually improved my German language skills to a higher degree (which I had thought was the point of this little trip).

Thoughts, experiences, answers, anything is welcome.

unreggd

I think if you do an erasmus you're aiming for an international degree, so the extra credits would be a language.

That was the case with a mate anyways. They didnt complete an erasmus in Germany due to illness so didnt get a full international BA

Ask

pluie

i'm not sure about this but i think under the contract of erasmus you must get 60 credits. if some colleges only require their students to get 40 or whatever credits then they obviously reward them the other 20 credits for no reason or for extra course work. i'd imagine the colleges that don't require credits don't treat the erasmus year the same as tallaght does. in european studies you must complete it in order to advance to the next year because there is no 3rd year in the course, whereas the students from the other colleges may choose to do erasmus as an extra year within the course, therefor they may not require the credits for their degree.

Jk_Eire

As far I understand you need 60 credits per year to progress to the following year and a total of 240 credits to earn you Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree.

I was on Erasmus in 2006/2007, same course in Tallaght as yourself, but I went to Spain. Most of NUI and UCD folk I met needed 40 credits but I think I recall them making up the other 20 up in other ways. Essays about their experiences and bonus credits for language courses among other things.

In Valladolid, we received credits for completing official language courses and students who fell short were assigned tasks over the summer. Mostly essay based. Some also had to do extra work the following September after their exit interview to make up for credits.

I managed to get 60+ credits, but took a couple of English based classes to make sure I got enough. No shame in that. They were fairly interesting classes that were related to the degree anyway. I remember some of the lads in Germany taking some pretty cool and interesting classes through English. Was thinking about doing music myself. Whatever gets you over the line really. The official language course I took in Valladolid was worth 10 credits too.

Anyway, from what I remember, a fair few of the year fell short and ended up doing something to make up the extra credits. Unless you've next to no credits, I remember the lecturing staff being accommodating enough with helping students get the extra credits.

My advice, if you think you might be falling short, would be to ask lecturers in your host college if you can do project based work instead of an exam, or even have a chat with them and see what they can do for you. You'd be surprised. I barely failed one class and met the professor for a chat about an alternative to sitting the repeat exam the following Sept or doing an essay to make up the marks, and she just decided to pass me anyway since I made the effort to attend a few classes. Lovely lady. There were a good few stories like that from the lads in my class. Some got credits for just showing up to class and interacting a little bit.

Also, let the lecturing staff back in Tallaght know if you're stuck for credits well in advance (before summer break) and they'll be fairly reasonable. Just don't turn up at your exit interview and say you're short 30 credits.

Some students ended up having to repeat a semester abroad since they were short too much. I was actually jealous of them.

Can't believe it's been 5 years since I went on Erasmus! :eek:

Knight990

Cheers for all the replies so far guys.

I managed to get 60+ credits, but took a couple of English based classes to make sure I got enough. No shame in that.

Had to do the same myself, but there's no shame at all in it as you said. Whatever gets the job done and back 4th year. Glad to hear from someone in the same course, too.

As you guys have said, 60 does seem to be the quota, either way. I've brought myself up to 54 so far with the classes I have, so I can only do the work and hope for the best. I'll be sure to let them know well in advance and see what the story is - the folks in Tallaght are understanding, so it should be grand.

Can't believe it's been 5 years since I went on Erasmus!

Time flies eh? I can't believe its already almost May. Three more months and thats the year ticked off the list of things to do, and back to the depressing land!