ACADEMICS >> Credit Hours

CREDIT HOURS

Definitions

The semester (FALL/SPRING) credit hour is the basic unit of academic credit granted by Shanghai Normal University. One semester credit is equivalent to one contact hour (60 minutes) of faculty instruction time per week for 15 weeks. Therefore the total contact time (also known as ‘instructional time’) for a whole semester is determined for all sessions.

Courses offered by Shanghai Normal University International Summer and Winter Session require a minimum of 60 contact hours (3600 minutes) for one course, which is equivalent to 4 credits in the U.S. system or 10 ECTS in the European System.

Shanghai Normal University Equivalencies of the Credit Hour

Equivalent total contact time of a course (3 credit to 5 credits) is calculated as below. ALL FALL/SPRING/SUMMER session courses must follow this policy.

3-credit course: 3 credit × 60 min × 15 weeks = 2700 contact minutes = 45 contact hours = 3 credits in U.S. System = 7.5 ECTS in European System

4-credit course: 4 credit × 60 min × 15 weeks = 3600 contact minutes = 60 contact hours = 4 credits in U.S. System = 10 ECTS in European System

credit course: 5 credit × 60 min × 15 weeks = 4500 contact minutes = 75 contact hours = 5 credits in U.S. System = 12.5 ECTS in European System

SUMMER AND WINTER SESSION CLASS

Course credit earned in each summer and winter session is equivalent to the same course credit offered in the FALL or SPRING term. The SUMMER and WINTER semesters vary in length, allowing that students can finish the program with a high flexibility through the 3-week, 4-week and 5-week session. However the total contact time of SUMMER and WINTER session still adheres to the standard of the FALL/SPRING session contact time as announced above in Shanghai Normal University Equivalencies of the Credit Hour.