The LMD system: course units, credits, marks and GPA
Published on 6 October 2026 · SuGes
Bachelor, master, doctorate: LMD organises studies into semesters and course units that earn credits. Here is how it fits together — and how a course unit's mark is computed.
The three cycles
- Bachelor (licence): 6 semesters, 180 credits.
- Master: 4 more semesters, 120 credits.
- Doctorate: about 3 years of research after the master.
A semester is generally worth 30 credits. These are the European benchmarks; institutions adapt them in their regulations.
Course units and credits
A course unit groups one or more courses and carries credits in proportion to the workload. A passed unit's credits are "capitalised": the student keeps them, even if other units must be retaken.
A course unit's mark: coursework and exam
The mark combines continuous assessment (assignments, practicals, presentations) and the end-of-semester exam, with a weighting set by the institution.
Example: coursework out of 30, exam out of 70
- Coursework: 21/30 — Exam: 46/70
- Unit mark = 21 + 46 = 67/100, i.e. 13.40/20
- If the pass mark is 10/20, the unit is passed and its credits are earned.
Letter grades and GPA
Many institutions also convert the mark into a letter grade (A, B+, B…) and GPA points out of 4. Conversion scales vary: the same 13.40/20 may be a B or a B+ depending on the regulations. A semester's GPA is the average of each unit's points weighted by its credits.
Compensation
Some regulations allow a weak unit to be offset by a strong one within a semester, if the semester average reaches the threshold. Others forbid it for core units. This rule must be clearly set and applied identically to all students.