The Course Guide is a basic tool of the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) to achieve the objective of "promoting European cooperation in quality assurance through the development of comparable methodologies and criteria" (Bologna declaration). 

In reality, what is called a Course Guide is a detailed planning of any subject or module based on the principles guiding the Convergence process in the creation of a European Higher Education Area. If in other types of planning or programmes of subjects or modules the focus was on the content (selection of content, its structure and distribution in the programme, assessment criteria, etc.), in this case the focus is twofold: the content and the students' work around that content. 

Considering the amount of work students will have to do on a subject or module as a basic reference point in order to have the best guarantees of successfully passing it means, on the one hand, introducing the philosophy of approaching learning as a substantive element in the design of teaching and, on the other, it is one of the elements that will necessarily have to derive from the exchange and teamwork of the teaching staff on the same course.