I teach in the programme BA Spanish in a Caribbean university. Each semester has 13 weeks of teaching and about 3 additional weeks for exams. I realised that the difference in contact hours is huge compared with other universities.
Also, the program consists of 6 semesters, and the students are required to do one Spanish language course per semester. Other courses include Hispanic literature, Hispanic culture, Translation, Business Spanish... They all differ in the number of contact hours.
The Spanish language courses require 6 contact hours per week, plus 6 more hours of autonomous work. And each language course counts for 3 local credits. Students are required to do one Spanish language course per semester, for 6 semesters.
The workload for a Spanish language course in the BA Spanish at my university is:
12 hrs per week * 13 weeks = 156 hours (3 credits)
However, a Hispanic Literature course has half the workload and counts for the same number of credits:
3 contact hours + 3 individual work = 6 hours per week
6hrs per week * 13 = 78 hours (3 credits)
In the Univerisity policy it states that a course that has 3 contact hours per week counts for 3 credits.