The student’s academic workload is based on ECTS credits. The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is a system of academic credit transfer used by institutions of higher education across Europe.

The total program load is made up of contact hours (lectures, labs, seminars, research projects) and independent student work (non-contact hours).

At Skoltech: 1 ECTS credit = 27 astronomical hours.

The minimum required load for MSc programs is 120 credits distributed over 2 years of study. For PhD programs, it is 240 credits over 4 years. In order to maintain full-time status, it is obligatory to accumulate not less than 12 credits each term.

Skoltech uses the grading scale from A (highest) to E (lowest) and F for fail. An alternative scale is Pass/Fail. More details are available here.

Students receive a full amount of credits for grades A-E or Pass and 0 credits for failing (F). The grading criteria and evaluation methods for each curriculum element are described in course syllabi and are available on the Skoltech website here.