ECTS meaning in Austria: convert ECTS to hours and workload
Written by Kerstin Lakits, 05.02.2026
Especially at the beginning of your studies, the many university abbreviations such as ECTS, STEOP or SWS can be quite confusing. What is ECTS? In Austria, 1 ECTS = 25 hours of total workload. This means that ECTS credits (ECTS points) include classes, self-study and exams – not just the time you spend sitting in a lecture hall.
However, these abbreviations are based on simple concepts that are meant to help you plan your studies more effectively and realistically.
To save you time and confusion, we’ve put together everything you need to know about common university abbreviations. This guide shows you how to convert ECTS to hours, plan a realistic semester workload, and use ECTS for exchange (e.g., Learning Agreement and Transcript of Records).
What is ECTS?
The ECTS points meaning is simple: it measures total study workload. The main purpose of ECTS at university is to make academic achievements comparable and to realistically estimate the workload required for a course or degree.
ECTS stands for the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System. It is a standardized unit used across Europe to measure student workload and was introduced as part of the Bologna Process to make degree programs and academic achievements more transparent, consistent and comparable across Europe.
In practice, you’ll encounter ECTS everywhere: in the course catalogue, in your Learning Agreement for an exchange semester, or in the Transcript of Records that documents all your completed courses.
If you’re wondering what ECTS means, think “workload,” not “classroom hours”. ECTS are not grades. One ECTS point does not indicate how well you passed a course, but how much time is expected for it, including classes, self-study, exams and preparation.
Convert ECTS to hours
If you’re wondering how many hours 1 ECTS is, in Austria it’s 25 hours. This official conversion is the basis for calculating ECTS into hours and helps students plan their studies and semester workload realistically.
ECTS to hours table
Converting ECTS into hours is easy and based on a fixed rule in Austria: the number of ECTS multiplied by 25 equals the total workload in hours.
Formula: Hours = ECTS × 25 (Austria).
This allows you to quickly calculate how much time you should plan for a single course or for an entire semester.
In the table below, you’ll find typical ECTS-to-hours conversions that help you realistically judge your study workload.
- ECTS
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 5
- 30
- 60
- Hours
- 25
- 50
- 75
- 125
- 750
- 1500
What counts as workload?
When converting ECTS into hours, it’s not just the time spent in class that is taken into account. ECTS credits reflect the total workload, meaning everything you realistically need to invest for a course.
The ECTS workload includes:
- Attendance time in lectures, exercises or seminars
- Preparation and follow-up work for classes
- Literature research and reading
- Exercises, written assignments and group work
- Exam preparation
- The exam itself
STUWO tip: Don’t just plan for classroom hours but also consider deadlines, study phases and exam preparation. Especially in courses with continuous assessment, the workload often adds up much more over the semester than you initially expect.
How to plan your semester workload (practical guide)
Semester hours per week (SWS) tell you how much time you’ll actually spend in class each week. One SWS usually equals 45 minutes per week over the course of a semester, so it’s basically your fixed lecture time.
But that’s only part of the picture. A typical full-time benchmark is ~30 ECTS per semester. And you can’t work that out from SWS alone, because two courses with the same contact hours can feel completely different once assignments, reading and exams kick in.
That’s why good semester planning goes beyond classroom hours. Start with your fixed commitments (work, commuting), then budget hours for ECTS. This gives you a much more realistic idea of how full your weeks will actually be.
Also be smart about your course mix. Mix course types: a project-heavy course can feel heavier than the same ECTS in lectures. Combining lectures with seminars or smaller classes can help keep the workload balanced instead of everything piling up at once.
Bachelor vs Master credits
Typical bachelor ECTS credits are around 180, which are typically spread across the minimum study period as 30 ECTS per semester. Typical ECTS credits for masters are around 120, usually completed over four semesters with 30 ECTS each.
For both bachelor’s and master’s programs, ECTS credits include:
- Courses with and without continuous assessment, such as lectures, exercises, seminars, lecture-based exercises and introductory seminars
- Mandatory internships (depending on degree program)
- Self-study (research, studying, homework, preparing presentations, etc.)
- Exam preparation
- Final papers and theses (seminar papers, bachelor’s thesis, master’s thesis, etc.)
- Final exams
Use ECTS for exchange (recognition)
One of the biggest advantages of the ECTS system is that it makes studying abroad much easier. ECTS help ensure that the courses you take during your exchange semester can be recognised by your home university afterward.
Before you go abroad, you’ll usually start with the course catalogue of the host university. This is where you choose courses that are comparable in content and workload to those at your home institution.
Next comes the Learning Agreement. This document is agreed on before your exchange and defines which courses you’ll take and how many ECTS they’re worth. This helps ensure your courses will be recognised. After completing your exchange semester, the host university issues a Transcript of Records. This document officially lists all the courses you completed and the ECTS credits you earned. Your home university then uses it as proof to recognise those credits and add them to your degree.
Austria add-on: SWS vs ECTS
Some timetables mention both ECTS and SWS, which can be confusing at first glance. In Austria, SWS (semester hours per week) describe only the actual time spent in the classroom per week, while ECTS credits represent the total workload, including self-study, exams and assignments.
There is no universal SWS to ECTS conversion. In short: SWS and ECTS measure different things (contact time vs total workload).
FAQs: ECTS meaning in Austria
How many hours is 1 ECTS in Austria?
1 ECTS = 25 hours in Austria
Can I use an ECTS calculator?
Yes. An ECTS calculator simply multiplies your ECTS credits by 25.
Formula: ECTS × 25 = hours (Austria).
What is the difference between ECTS credits and grades?
ECTS credits measure how much work a course requires, not how well you did. Grades reflect performance; ECTS reflect workload. You can pass a course with different grades, but the ECTS value stays the same.
How does ECTS work for exchange and recognition?
ECTS make it easier to get courses recognised after an exchange semester.
Is 1 ECTS always 25 hours in Europe?
Not always. While 25–30 hours per ECTS is common across Europe, the exact number depends on the country and university. In Austria, the standard value is 25 hours per ECTS.
Why does my course feel heavier than its ECTS suggest?
Because ECTS are an average estimate. Courses with many assignments, group projects or continuous assessment often feel more time-consuming than lecture-based courses with the same ECTS value.
