University students could earn marks towards their degrees by volunteering with a charity or completing work placements.

Under a new credits system to be introduced in England from September next year students will be able to build up credits – or points – for the number of hours of work put in to their study and the level of achievement attained.

If they switch courses or university they will, in many instances, be able to take the credits with them and put them towards their new qualification.

The new credit framework guidance, published jointly by Universities UK, GuildHE and the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, could also enable students to build up credits for “experiential learning” done in the workplace or while volunteering, whether during or before their studies.

Although credit systems are already in operation in most universities, there is no single system operating in the whole of the country.

Professor Muriel Robinson, chairman of the Credit Issues Development Group, which has drawn up the framework, said she hoped that it would “foster a common approach and provide a reference point for those wishing to embark on, or build on, the use of credit across the full range of their higher education provision”.

The guidance document for the framework states that one credit, or point, would represent ten notional hours of learning. This would include not only formal contact hours but also preparation for these, private reading and study and the completion of formative assessment tasks and revision.

A bachelors degree would require a minimum of 300 credits, while a bachelors degree with honours would require 360.

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