Details on the Exam Grading System at University of Bologna and on conversion to ECTS scale
The performance of a student will be assessed for each course in a variety of forms (written exams, oral exams, tests, etc.) in accordance with the decision of each professor, under the general rules established by the Italian law. A description of the assessment methods and criteria is presented in the description of each course.
University of Bologna uses a grading scale from 1/30 to a maximum of ‘30/30 cum laude’. The Minimum passing grade is 18/30. A “Fail” or “Withdrawn” grade may be recorded if lower scores are obtained, but such fail scores are never reported in the official transcripts.
Sometimes Italian scores are converted to the ECTS system (e.g. in transcripts to/from other European universities). The ECTS scale is a grading system designed to facilitate the transfer of academic results (grades) between different national assessment systems in the European Higher Education Area. It allows the conversion of the grades from one country into grades used in another country, following common European rules.
ALTHOUGH THE ECTS SYSTEM USES LETTERS FROM A TO F FOR SCORING, THE MEANING OF SUCH LETTER SCORING IS DIFFERENT FROM THAT USED BY U.S. AND OTHER NON-EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES. A DIRECT CORRESPONDENCE IS NOT PRESENT.
The ECTS scale is based on the results obtained by a uniform group of students (usually all students enrolled in a Program or in a School of the University in the same year) in a given period of time (usually from the beginning of academic year to the date at which scores are calculated), according to the following rule:
More information on the ETCS grading tables can be found at the following link.