The majority of course units at The University of Manchester are worth either 10 or 20 credits.
As a general rule, one UK credit equates to 10 hours of work; a 10-credit course unit therefore requires 100 hours of study on average.
Students should note that the number of credits associated with a course does not relate to the number of contact hours (lectures, tutorials etc) a week as is the case in some education systems.
The number of formal contact hours varies considerably between subjects. Course units within engineering and the sciences will normally have many more contact hours than course units in humanities, but the latter usually require the student to invest more time in library study.
As a guide for American students:
- 10 Manchester credits = 3 US credits
- 20 Manchester credits = 5 US credits
As a guide for EU students:
- 10 Manchester credits = 5 ECTS credits
- 20 Manchester credits = 10 ECTS credits