THE APPLICATION METHODOLOGY OF THE TRANSFERABLE STUDY CREDITS SYSTEM

IN THE

NATIONAL DEFENCE UNIVERSITY „Carol I” - R e v i s e d E d i t i o n -

-BUCHAREST, 2013-

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ELABORATION TEAM: Lieutenant General Prof. Teodor FRUNZETI PhD. Commander (Colonel) Vasile BUCINSCHI PhD.

Colonel LaurenŃiu DUłESCU PhD. Lieutenant Colonel Valentin MANEA

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER I Legal foundation ......................................................................................................5

CHAPTER II General Principles.......................................................................................................5 CHAPTER III Allocation of transferable study credits on study programs ......................................7 CHAPTER IV

Equivalence of transferable study credits ..................................................................9 CHAPTER V Final and transitional dispositions............................................................................ 10

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Chapter I

LEGAL FOUNDATION

Art. 1. – The allocation of transferable study credits, in the National Defence University „Carol I”, has the legal foundation:

a) National Education Law, no. 1/2011, with subsequent amendments and completions;

b) Government Decision no. 707/2012 for the approval of the fields classified list and the specializations / university study programs, the structure of

higher education institutions, the areas and study programs accredited or temporary licensed to operate, the geographic locations of deployment, the number of credits de transferable study credits for each academic programme, in education and language teaching, and also the maximum number of students that can be enrolled in the academic year 2012-2013, through the Government Decision no. 69/2013;

c) Government Decision no. 1418/2006 for the approval of the external evaluation methodologies, standards, reference standard and the list of performance

indicators of the Romania Agency of Quality Assurance in Higher Education; d) Government Decision regarding the organization of the study programs

in higher military educational institutions under the Ministry of National Defence, no. 606 of 23.06.2005;

e) The disposition of the Minister of Education and Research concerning the full implementation of the European Transferable Credit System, no. 3617 of

16.03.2005.

Chapter II

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Art. 2. – The credit allocation is in accordance with the international academic practice, following the methodology of the European Transferable Credit System, which says that 60 credits represents the numerical equivalent for the normal amount of specific work of an academic year, and 30 credits usually correspond to a semester of higher education.

Art. 3. – The application of European Transferable Credit System (ECTS), in the National Defence University „Carol I”, have the following objectives:

a) The rationalization of the student’s working program and the avoidance of under/overload by the realistic assessment of the curriculum, and also by considering the necessary and possible amount of work for all the tasks required to the students in the same period of time;

b) The development of the organizational and normative framework for the recognition of the study periods of the students within university, in other

universities in the country or abroad; c) The compatibility of the study programs with national and European

standards of university education; d) The facility of students’ mobility.

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Art. 4. – The system of study credits, in the National Defence University „Carol I”, has the following features:

a) Transferability – represents the property of credits to be recognized regardless of specialization, profile or institution at which they were obtained, on

condition that the disciplines files to be compatible. The transfer of the credits can be:

• horizontal, relating to the credits transferability between the specializations from the same domain or related fields, representing

the basis of access to dual license, without restoring the common routes of different specializations;

• intra and interinstitutional, which refers to the possibility of credits recognition between the colleges and universities, this being the

basis of student mobility;

• temporal, referring to the possibility of recognition in advance or delay (reprogramming) of the credits within the cycles of studies, including the extension or shortening of the studies, this being the

basis of the individualized paths of studies. b) Mobility – represents their transferability expression in the plan of

establishing the professional routes and of the students’ mobility between the intra and inter university structures. The credits parcels once obtained can be included in building of any specialization route which covers these disciplines, on condition that they work with curricula and comparable credits systems and to have

collaboration agreements. The credits mobility requires the flexible interpretation of the compulsory, optional or facultative discipline.

c) Imperishability – represents their property to be final once they have been obtained and to be recognized throughout the study program, including the period of its extension, their recognition not being affected by the program or curriculum changing. For the students who have interrupted the studies or return to university in order to continue their studies in cycle I, II or III to a new

specialization, the imperishability of the credits is recognized for a period of 5 years from the completion of the legal studies (the year promotion in which he graduated within legal studies program.)

Art. 5. (1) - ECTS is a system centered on the student, being based on the quantification of the amount of work required to achieve the objects of the study program.

(2) The system involves specifying, in the educational plans, of the objectives, as effectives of learning and also setting in the course description of the competences that will be acquired by the students.

Art. 6. (1) – The credits represents numeric values, between 1 and 30, associated to the disciplines, the training courses and research projects included in the curricula.

(2) The credits reflect the work quantity invested by the student to acquire the

discipline and skill acquisition, resulted in: attending lectures, seminars, scientific workshops, practical courses, lectures, exercises, applications; conducted personal study; tutoring; independent study; teamwork; interships or documentation; project development; evaluation activities.

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(3) The volume of student’s activity and quantified in a credit point is about 25 hours.

(4) The credits don’t determine the importance, difficulty or detail level (depth) of a discipline and don’t measure the teacher’s work (training), but the

student’s (learning). (5) The importance of the discipline in the curriculum or the difficulty of the

content does not represent criteria for increasing the number of credits allocated. (6) The same discipline can be provided with a different number of credits in

the curricula structure of the various study programs in the university. (7) The number of credits can not be achieved in stages.

(8) The standard learning period of a discipline is usually of one semester; there are also disciplines spread over two semesters, which will be credited for the period of study.

Art. 7. (1) - The credits do not replace the student's assessment, and its aim is not to measure the quality of learning.

(2) The combination between credits and grades represents the student’s performance, both qualitatively and quantitatively.

(3) The condition of a discipline promotion is the one specified in the system of grades assessment. Regardless of the grade obtained after the knowledge verification / evaluation, the number of credits is the one determined for each subject by the curriculum. (4) The evaluation of the knowledge gained by students in each subject takes the form of exam (EO, ES), oral examination (C) and verification (V) during the

semester, by written papers, projects, laboratory work, etc. Art. 8. - The allocation of credits refers to all the disciplines of the

curriculum, including the design work and internships. Art. 9. - In the process of credits determining it must be ensured a fair

correlation between the number of credits for each discipline and various levels of study. In the context of cyclical hierarchy of the curricular structure in the first

cycle of studies, the share is owned by theoretical training, while in the second and third cycle the focus is on the practical and individual training, creativity and scientific research.

Art. 10. - The transfer of credits may be operated only within the same university course.

Art. 11. - The promoted disciplines, implicitly afferent credits, are recognized in any case, less the one of expulsion for fraud in the exam.

Chapter III

ALLOCATION OF TRANSFERABLE STUDY CREDITS

ON STUDY PROGRAMS

Art. 12. (1) - In the National Defence University "Carol I", the basic unit in the curriculum is the semester. It contains at least 14 weeks of teaching, 3 weeks of

research activity and 3 weeks of examination session. (2) The curricula include the basic objectives of education and main competencies of graduates, according to the assumed missions.

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(3) The study subjects in the curriculum are stipulated in a logical succession and they take into consideration the curriculum requirements fulfillment, expressed and assumed by the main beneficiary, Ministry of National Defence. (4) The curricula include compulsory, optional and facultative subjects.

(5) Compulsory subjects take into consideration that the students should gain basic knowledge specific to the studied domain. (6) Optional subjects aim the deepening of some particular study directions and students’ specialization. (7) Facultative subjects aim to complete and gradate some issues both in the speaciality and in complementary fields.

Art. 13. (1) - Each semester has 30 transferable study credits for compulsory and optional subjects, irrespective of education form (full time, part time or at distance). (2) Facultative subjects, regardless of the semester in which they are listed in the curriculum, ends with "sample test", and the credit points are awarded are above the 30 of that semester. Art. 14. (1) - National Defence University "Carol I" organizes and conducts

programs in cycle I - Bachelor's degree in Military Science, Information and Public

Policy, with a duration of three years, corresponding to a total number of 180 transferable study credits.

(2) The curricula contain fundamental subjects (minimum 17%), basic and specialty subjects in the field (minimum 60%) and complementary disciplines (up 8%), grouped themselves in compulsory, optional and facultative.

(3) Under the license university studies there is an internship lasting at least 4 weeks. The internship has allocated 1.5 transferable study credits for each week of practice. They are included in the 180 credits of the study program. The number of credits allocated to the internship is not split. (4) The entrance to the license examination is conditioned by getting all the credits required by the compulsory and optional subjects chosen from the

curriculum. (5). The license university studies are finalized by the dissertation exam. Dissertation has allocated 10 transferable credits, which are awarded in addition to the 180 credits of the study program. Art. 15. (1) - The University organizes and conducts programs in cycle II - Master studies, in the fields Military Science and National Security and

Information, for terms of 1, 1.5 and 2 years, corresponding to a total number of 60,

90 and 120 study transferable credits. (2) The curricula include advanced knowledge disciplines and

complementary training modules, grouped themselves in compulsory, optional and facultative. (3) Within the master studies there is training session lasting at least 2 weeks. The training session has allocated 1.5 transferable study credits for each week of

training. They are included in the number of credits for the study program. (4) The admission at the dissertation exam is conditioned by getting all the

credits for the compulsory and optional subjects chosen from the curriculum. (5) Master studies are finalized with the dissertation exam. The thesis has allocated 10 transferable credits, which are awarded in addition to the program of

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study. Art. 16. - Promotion to the next year of study at the university and master's degree courses can be done by getting a number of at least 30 transferable credits from compulsory courses, students being required to obtain the total number of

credits provided in the curriculum until the final examination of the studies cycle. Art. 17. (1) - The University organizes and conducts programs in the cycle III - doctoral studies, in the Military Science and National Security and Information with duration of 3 years. (2) The doctoral studies have two successive stages: the advanced academic training program and research program.

(3) The advanced academic training program is done during a semester. The training is conducted according to the curriculum developed by the school and approved by the University Senate PhD.

(4) The compulsory and optional disciplines have allocated a total number of 30 transferable credits.

(5) Obtaining the credits is conditioned by the successful PhD exams in the subjects in which the students wish to obtain some credits.

Art. 18. - For the post-graduate education, conducted mainly through post-academic programs of continuous training and professional development, the transferable study credits are allocated to the disciplines included in the curricula taking into consideration the principles set out in this methodology.

Art. 19. (1) - At the university level, it is set up a committee led by the deputy dean for education that analyzes the way in which the transferable credits

were distributed in the curriculum. (2) After the review, the Commission proposes the faculty council to adopt or

renew the curricula as appropriate. Art. 20. - On the basis of the criteria, the number of transferable credits

allocated to the disciplines, the design activities and training stages in the curriculum is determined by the Faculty Council and approved by the senate,

together with the curriculum.

Chapter IV

EQUIVALENCE OF TRANSFERABLE STUDY CREDITS

Art. 21. (1) - The credit points associated to the disciplines are transferable within the National Defence University "Carol I", from the faculties of Romania

that are accredited or authorized to function temporally, as well as from foreign universities that are accredited or authorized to operate provisional in the country where they operate. (2) At the student’s request to the faculty council at the beginning of the academic year, the credits for a subject can be equated with the credits obtained from a subject with equivalent theme from another college or university specialization

within the University. (3) The credits obtained by the students in the international programs will be equated within the compatibility of curricula of the institutions involved. (4) The Faculty Council is empowered to decide on the equivalence of the credits obtained by the students in other study programs offered by the university or other

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universities. The decision of the faculty council is subject to validation of the university senate. (5) If the number of credit points initially obtained is lower than the curriculum of the study program run by the faculty which equals, the department that oversees the

curriculum for the training sets additional chapters. In order to obtain the credits difference, the students will be assessed on the acquisition of knowledge and skills established by additional topics. (6) If the number of credit points initially obtained is greater than the curriculum of the destination faculty, the excess is not recorded over the number of graduation credit points and is not equivalent with the credit points from other disciplines.

(7) The credits obtained in the conditions of the present article are considered to have been obtained during the semester in which the discipline is included in the curriculum. (8) In case of the equivalent examinations, in the Diploma Supplement will be written the name of the discipline from the curriculum of the study program run by the faculty where he did his studies, indicating in comments that the discipline was equated.

Art. 22. - The transfer of the credits is automatically done in case of the mobility under European programs or if the period of study was conducted in a school with which the National Defence University "Carol I" concluded a preliminary agreement. The number of credits that can be equated is of the amount up to 120, and 180 credit points for the entire period of schooling. The transfer of credits is done automatically in the common disciplines to all curricula.

Art. 23. - The credits obtained by the students in the disciplines of different study programs, organized under the agreements / protocols of cooperation / collaboration agreements between the National Defence University "Carol I" and similar educational institutions in the country and / or abroad, will be equated under the conditions set out in these conventions / protocols.

Chapter V

FINAL AND TRANSITIONAL DISPOSITIONS

Art. 24. - In case of a student who, at the end of the academic year and after outstanding exams in the winter session, has not accumulated a minimum of credits established by the University Charter, the Board of the Faculty may propose the Senate of the National Defense University to expel him.

Art. 25. (1) - Every year, the National Defence University "Carol I" elaborate, through the Educational Management Department, an informational package designed as a Study Guide for students, but also to inform the potential partners of interuniversity cooperation. (2) The Study Guide includes, in addition to elements of university identifying, the following: summary of the institutional structure of the university

and the facilities offered on campus; programs of study offered; the schedule of the academic year; the enrollment procedures; the synthetic presentation of curricula applied for each year of study; specifying the period / periods in each semester / academic year in which they make choices for the optional and facultative subjects

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included in the curriculum; the rules under which it is enabled the transfer of credits obtained by promoting a / some subjects from other faculties / universities; for all university courses it is specified the set of rules under which the consistency of knowledge and skills training for the field preparation is ensured.

(3) The Study Guide is displayed on the university website at least two weeks before the beginning of the academic year. Art. 26. - At the university level, the application of transferable credits system is the responsibility of deputy commander for education (prorector).

Art. 27. (1) - The provisions of this methodology is applicable starting with the academic year 2013-2014.

(2) On the 30th of September 2013, The methodology of according the

transferable credits in National Defence University "Carol I", 2009 Edition, is hereby repealed.

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