diff --git a/admin/tool/uploadcourse/classes/course.php b/admin/tool/uploadcourse/classes/course.php
index 7656ae8b593..c0f7b539b2f 100644
--- a/admin/tool/uploadcourse/classes/course.php
+++ b/admin/tool/uploadcourse/classes/course.php
@@ -703,10 +703,18 @@ class tool_uploadcourse_course {
             $coursedata += $courseformat->validate_course_format_options($this->rawdata);
         }
 
-        // Special case, 'numsections' is not a course format option any more but still should apply from defaults.
+        // Special case, 'numsections' is not a course format option any more but still should apply from the template course,
+        // if any, and otherwise from defaults.
         if (!$exists || !array_key_exists('numsections', $coursedata)) {
             if (isset($this->rawdata['numsections']) && is_numeric($this->rawdata['numsections'])) {
                 $coursedata['numsections'] = (int)$this->rawdata['numsections'];
+            } else if (isset($this->options['templatecourse'])) {
+                $numsections = tool_uploadcourse_helper::get_coursesection_count($this->options['templatecourse']);
+                if ($numsections != 0) {
+                    $coursedata['numsections'] = $numsections;
+                } else {
+                    $coursedata['numsections'] = get_config('moodlecourse', 'numsections');
+                }
             } else {
                 $coursedata['numsections'] = get_config('moodlecourse', 'numsections');
             }
diff --git a/admin/tool/uploadcourse/classes/helper.php b/admin/tool/uploadcourse/classes/helper.php
index 2e514a70f21..2325c9c02ae 100644
--- a/admin/tool/uploadcourse/classes/helper.php
+++ b/admin/tool/uploadcourse/classes/helper.php
@@ -286,6 +286,25 @@ class tool_uploadcourse_helper {
         return $roles;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Helper to detect how many sections a course with a given shortname has.
+     *
+     * @param string $shortname shortname of a course to count sections from.
+     * @return integer count of sections.
+     */
+    public static function get_coursesection_count($shortname) {
+        global $DB;
+        if (!empty($shortname) || is_numeric($shortname)) {
+            // Creating restore from an existing course.
+            $course = $DB->get_record('course', array('shortname' => $shortname));
+        }
+        if (!empty($course)) {
+            $courseformat = course_get_format($course);
+            return $courseformat->get_last_section_number();
+        }
+        return 0;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Get the role renaming data from the passed data.
      *