Course mapping for exchange students

At many universities you study several courses in parallel during the entire semester. At Uppsala University, you take courses sequentially one after the other, not in parallel. This is why you need to map the courses you will study during your exchange.

Background information

The academic year in Sweden is divided into two semesters. The academic year consists of 40 weeks (20 weeks per semester), and begins with the autumn semester and finishes with the spring semester. There are no formal holiday periods during the semester. There are however short breaks over Christmas and Easter.

Semester dates

​2023/2024

  • Autumn 2023: 28 August – 14 January
  • Spring 2024: 15 January – 2 June

2024/2025

  • Autumn 2024: 2 September – 19 January
  • Spring 2025: 20 January – 8 June

2025/2026

  • Autumn 2025: 1 September – 18 January
  • Spring 2026: 19 January – 7 June

Uppsala University has campuses in two cities far apart from each other: Uppsala, on mainland Sweden, and Visby, on the island of Gotland. Therefore, you need to make sure that you choose courses located either only in Uppsala or only in Visby.

You must meet the entry requirements for each course you select. The more specific the entry requirements, the more specific your answer must be.

For example, if a course requires “object-oriented programming” it is not enough to have taken any programming course. You must, in this case, be able to refer to an object-oriented programming course in your transcript of records.

All courses are labelled with the cycle and the in-depth level:

  • The cycle: if the course is of a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree.
  • The in-depth level: the expected number of credits a student will have completed within that specific subject area by the time they take that course (e.g. 7.5, 15 or 30 credits).

Credits

The duration and extent of programmes and courses is expressed in a system of credits equivalent to ECTS credits - that is, you take 30 credits per semester for full-time studies. A full academic year corresponds to 60 credits, thus, one semester corresponds to 30 credits. Furthermore, one semester corresponds to 20 weeks and one week corresponds to 40 hours of study. Each week of full-time study is worth 1.5 credits.

How to calculate ECTS credits?

In our requirements and selection criteria, you can see that we have instructions regarding credits. The credits refer to the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) credits. If your previous university uses a different credit system and does not provide conversion between your local credits and ECTS credits, we will convert your local credits into ECTS credits.

60 ECTS credits correspond to one full-time academic year. Knowing the total number of credits needed to get a degree in your local credit system and the duration of the degree (the number of years), we can estimate the conversion factor (CF) as follows:
CF = (the number of years × 60) / the total number of credits

For example, if your 3-year Bachelor’s degree corresponds to a total of 120 credits in your system, then:
CF = (3×60) / 120 = 1.5

This means that a 4-credit course in your system corresponds to 4×CF = 6 ECTS credits.

Grading scales

Uppsala University uses five different grading scales. Each faculty decides which of the grading scales will be used in that faculty. The syllabus for a course must always specify which grading scale will be used for that particular course.

The syllabus must specify the course goals, formulated as intended learning outcomes. The goals describe the requirements for a passing grade. The requirements for higher grades must be formulated in terms of increasing levels of quality of goal attainment.

Grading scales for first- and second-cycle courses as of 23 October 2018. The following grading scales are used at Uppsala University:

  • Fail (U), Pass (G)
  • Fail (U), Pass (G), Pass with distinction (VG)
  • Fail (U), Pass (3), Pass with credit (4), Pass with distinction (5)
  • Fail (U), Pass (B), Pass with credit (Ba), Pass with distinction (AB)
  • Fail (F), Sufficient (E), Satisfactory (D), Good (C), Very good (B) Excellent (A)

The grade “Fail” does not appear on an official transcript of records.

If a student receives a passing grade, no re-takes or supplemental assignments can be done to receive a higher grade, nor can a student be re-registered on the course.

How to map your courses

There are two key concepts students must understand to map their courses: study periods and pace of study.

There are four study periods during a semester. Period 1 starts on the first day of the semester and ends approximately five weeks later, when period 2 starts, et cetera. The study period of each course is defined by actual dates (YYYY-MM-DD), for example from 2019-09-02 to 2019-10-02, or weeks.

Please note that in the exchange student course catalogue, period 1 and 2 are merged and called period 1, while period 3 and 4 are merged and called period 2. As this may be confusing, please always check the actual dates that courses are given.

The duration and extent of programmes and courses is expressed in a system of credits, equivalent to ECTS credits. A full academic year corresponds to 60 credits and one semester corresponds to 30 credits. Courses at Uppsala University are often given during 5 or 10 week periods (7.5 or 15 credits courses).

  • 100% pace of study equals full-time studies, i.e. 7.5 credits over 5 weeks
  • 50% pace of study equals half-time studies, i.e. 7.5 credits over 10 weeks
  • 25% pace of study equals part-time studies, i.e. 7.5 credits over 20 weeks

In order to get an even pace of study, students should make sure they have a 100% pace of study in each of the four study periods. This could mean one course with a 100% pace of study per period, or two courses with a 50% pace of study per period.

Pace of study formula

Still can’t work out your pace of study? Try the following formula:

(credits of one course)/(duration of one course in weeks x 1,5) x 100 = % pace of study

If the figure you get is less than 100 the course you are interested in is likely designed to be taken in conjunction with another course.

diagram showing course mapping for exchange students.

Three examples of acceptable ways to map your courses and one example of a non-acceptable way to map courses for one exchange semester of full-time studies.

  1. Acceptable: Four 7.5 credit courses, each with a 5 week duration (100 % or full-time pace of study), one after the other
  2. Acceptable: Two 15 credit courses, each with a 10 week duration (100 % or full-time pace of study), one after the other
  3. Acceptable: Two 7.5 credit courses, each with a 5 week duration (100 % or full-time pace of study), one after the other, followed by two 7.5 credit courses, each with a 10 week duration (50% or part-time pace of study for each course) taken in parallel.
  4. Non-acceptable: Two 7.5 credit courses each with a 5 week duration (100 % full-time pace of study) at the same time, i.e. in parallel, followed by a 7.5 credit course overlapping a 15 credit course.

Courses for exchange students

Explore the selection of courses for exchange students at Uppsala University.

Temporary changes and extra drop-in sessions

  • Drop-in is canceled 5 December 2024.

Drop-in: Consult an International Officer

Meet with our International Officers to discuss your inquiries regarding your studies. You have the option to connect through Zoom or have an in-person meeting. Drop-in sessions are not available on public holidays and during breaks such as Christmas, Easter, and summer vacation.

Uppsala students

Visby students

Other contact details

Unit for International Mobility

Email: mobility@uu.se

Visiting address: Segerstedthuset, Dag Hammarskjölds väg 7, Uppsala

Postal address: P.O. Box 256, SE-751 05 Uppsala

Phone number: +46 18 471 00 00 (switchboard)

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