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University training credit (, or CFU) is a method used in
Italian universities Higher education in Italy is mainly provided by a large and international network of public and state affiliated universities. State-run universities of Italy are under the supervision of Italian's Ministry of Education. There is also a number ...
to measure the workload required of the
student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution, or more generally, a person who takes a special interest in a subject. In the United Kingdom and most The Commonwealth, commonwealth countries, a "student" attends ...
to obtain a degree. It's a
course credit A course credit is a measure of the size of an educational course, often used to determine whether the requirements for an award have been met, to facilitate transfer between institutions, or to enhance intercomparability of qualifications. Credit ...
system of Italy. They constitute a simplification regarding the recognition of exams taken in other Italian or European universities (for example within the Erasmus programme) and are transferable through the
European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is a standard means for comparing academic credits, i.e., the "volume of learning based on the defined learning outcomes and their associated workload" for higher education across the Eu ...
( ECTS).


History

With the Berlinguer reform, issued in the wake of the innovations introduced first by the Bassanini reform and then by the
Bologna process file:Bologna-Prozess-Logo.svg, 96px, alt=Logo with stylized stars, Logo file:Bologna zone.svg, alt=Map of Europe, encompassing the entire Bologna zone, 256px, Bologna zone The Bologna Process is a series of ministerial meetings and agreements b ...
, they were introduced pursuant to the MUR decree Decree 3 November 1999, n. 509 University Education Credits (CFU) to facilitate movement within the system, which can also be acquired through work or professional activities. The acquisition methods were then modified by some ministerial decrees issued on 16 March 2007 during the Prodi II government. Law 30 December 2010, n. 240, as part of the
Gelmini reform The Gelmini reform (Italian: ''riforma Gelmini'') refers to the set of acts of the Italian Republic – issued during the Berlusconi IV Cabinet – concerning the education sector in Italy. Entering into force during the Minister of Education ...
, then placed a maximum limit on the recognition of credits deriving from non-academic experiences. For exchange students, the host university must choose whether to award the lowest, average or highest possible equivalent grade.


General description

Each university exam is associated with a certain number of credits; a single CFU is equal to 25 hours of student effort. Each academic year consists of 60 training credits. To obtain a three-year degree (laurea triennale), 180 ECTS are required; for the
master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
(laurea magistrale) 120 (while the previously called "specialist degree" consisted of 300 training credits including those recognized at entry and those recovered relating to any training debts). Single-cycle master's degrees such as ''Medicine and Surgery'' or ''Law'' require 360 and 300 respectively. Of the 25 hours, a variable portion (in relation to the class tables of the degree courses and what is decided by the competent collegial bodies for the individual study courses), but never less than 50% (except in particular cases represented by activities with a high experimental or practical: for example internships and workshops), is reserved for individual study. The remaining amount is represented by
lecture A lecture (from ) is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical information, history, background, theo ...
s, classroom exercises, seminars, i.e. what is physically provided by the university (some universities also include in the credit pool a conventionally fixed time dedicated to intermediate and/or final evaluation tests). Training credits can be acquired not only by taking exams, but also with professional and/or work experience; each university department can determine the recognition of credits obtained through work,
internship An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used to practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and g ...
s or otherwise. In any case, no more than 12 credits can be obtained deriving from these activities.


Specific types


Medical specialties

As regards doctors in specialist training, the commitment for CFU is weighted according to two types of activities: * professionalizing activities (practical and internship ones); * other types of activities. For professionalizing activities, 1 CFU is equivalent to 30 hours of commitment instead of 25 hours. This allows the trainee's weekly hourly commitment to be equal to that expected of full-time doctors at the National Health Service (38 hours per week). In fact, the rule requires that at least 70% of the activities be of a professionalizing nature. From this it follows that the 60 annual CFU are divided by a minimum of 42 professional CFU (60*0.7=42) (equal to 1260 annual hours of commitment: 42 CFU * 30 hours/CFU = 1260 hours) and 18 "ordinary" CFU (equal to 450 annual hours of commitment: 18 CFU * 25 hours/CFU = 450 hours), for a total of 1710 annual hours, up to a maximum of 60 professionalizing CFU (equal to 1800 annual hours of commitment: 60 CFU * 30 hours/CFU = 1800 hours). Considering that the trainee is entitled to up to 30 days of annual leave, the annual working days (on 5-day working weeks) are approximately 230 per year (365*5/7-30=230.71), equal to approximately 46 weeks of 5 working days (230/5=46). It therefore follows that the theoretical weekly time commitment of the trainee would be approximately between 37 and 39 hours per week (1710/46=37.2; 1800/46=39.1). That is, between approximately 1.25-1.5 CFU depending on the type of activity (professionalizing/non-professional).


AFAM institutes

The AFAM institutions possess training credits similar to CFUs called CFA (academic training credits), regulated by the Presidential Decree of 8 July 2005, n. 212.Decreto del Presidente della Repubblica 8 luglio 2005, n. 212
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327062844/http://archivio.pubblica.istruzione.it/comitato_musica_new/normativa/allegati/dpr212_05.pdf , date=27 marzo 2014 URL consultato il 28/11/2010 1. The academic training credit, hereinafter referred to as credit, corresponds to 25 hours of commitment per student; by ministerial decree, variations in increases or decreases in the aforementioned hours can be determined for individual schools, within the limit of 20 percent. 2. The average amount of learning effort carried out in a year by a full-time student is conventionally set at 60 credits. 3. The ministerial decrees also determine, for each school, the fraction of the overall time commitment that must be reserved for personal study, laboratory activities or other individual training activities. The same decrees normally assign 30 percent of the overall commitment of each credit to theoretical lessons, 50 percent to theoretical-practical activities and 100 percent to laboratory activities. 4. The credits corresponding to each training activity are acquired by the student by passing the exam or other form of profit verification provided for by the teaching regulations, without prejudice to the fact that the evaluation of profit is carried out in the manner referred to in article 10, paragraph 4, letter d). 5. The total or partial recognition of credits acquired by a student, for the purpose of continuing studies in another course of the same institution or in other institutions of higher artistic and musical education or universities or of higher technical education referred to in article 69 of law 17 May 1999, n. 144, is the responsibility of the institution that welcomes the student, with predetermined procedures and criteria established in the respective teaching regulations. 6. Forms of periodic verification of the credits acquired may be foreseen in the teaching regulations, in order to evaluate the relevance of the related cognitive contents and the minimum number of credits to be acquired by the student in specific times, diversified for full-time students in studies or at the same time engaged in work activities. 7. The institutions can recognize as credits, according to criteria predetermined in the teaching regulations, the professional knowledge and skills acquired in the specific discipline. 8. In the first application of this regulation, by decree of the Minister, after consulting the CNAM, the correspondences between the credits acquired in the previous system and the credits foreseen in the new courses are identified. (Presidential Decree 8 July 2005, n. 212)


See also

*
European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is a standard means for comparing academic credits, i.e., the "volume of learning based on the defined learning outcomes and their associated workload" for higher education across the Eu ...
( ECTS) *
Course credit A course credit is a measure of the size of an educational course, often used to determine whether the requirements for an award have been met, to facilitate transfer between institutions, or to enhance intercomparability of qualifications. Credit ...
*
Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery A Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (; MBBS, also abbreviated as BM BS, MB ChB, MB BCh, or MB BChir) is a medical degree granted by medical schools or universities in countries that adhere to the United Kingdom's higher education trad ...
(MBBS) * Academic grading in Italy *
Latin honors Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...
*
Honours degree Honours degree has various meanings in the context of different degrees and education systems. Most commonly it refers to a variant of the undergraduate bachelor's degree containing a larger volume of material or a higher standard of study, ...


References

Universities in Italy Academic transfer Student assessment and evaluation