College Degree

A bachelor's degree (Artium Baccalaureus, A.B. or B.A.) is usually an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course or major that generally lasts for three, four, or in some cases and countries, five or six years. It may also be the name of a postgraduate degree, such as a Bachelor of Civil Law (granted by the University of Oxford).

Under the English system, and those influenced by it such as the Canadian, Irish, Indian, Maltese, Singaporean, and Hong Kong systems, undergraduate degrees are differentiated either as pass degrees or as honours degrees, the latter denoted by the appearance of "(Hons)" after the degree abbreviation. An honours degree generally requires a higher academic standard than a pass degree, and in Malta, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, and some Canadian Universities an extra year of study. In Scotland, there also exist Designated Degrees.

England, Wales and Northern Ireland

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland there are two different types of degree: Honours degrees and Ordinary degrees. The degrees awarded carry a designation related to the broad subject area such as B.A., B.Sc, B.Eng etc. The majority of Bachelor's degrees are now honours degrees. Prior to the mid 20th century all candidates would take an Ordinary degree and then be selected to go on for a final year for the Honours degree. Now this may be reduced to two either by direct second year entry (for people who have done foundation degrees or changed subject or similar) or by doing compressed courses (which are currently being piloted by a small number of newer universities[1]). Industrial years or language study abroad can extend the course to four years. For funding reasons (funding for undergraduate programs is automatic, funding for postgraduate programs is not) it is becoming increasingly common to skip the bachelor's stage entirely and go straight to masters level on a four year (five year if with industrial experience) course (which often shares the first three years with the equivalent bachelor's course).

Honours degrees are of a superior academic standard. However the practice of writing 'Hons' as part of the degree designation is unofficial and is considered by many as an affectation. An Honours degree is always awarded in one of four classes depending upon the marks gained in the final assessments and examinations. The top students are awarded a first class degree, the next best, an upper second class degree (usually referred to as a 2:1), the next a lower second class degree (usually referred to as a 2:2), and those with the lowest marks gain a third class degree. An Ordinary or unclassified degree (which does not give the graduate the right to add '(Hons)') may be awarded if a student has completed the full honours degree course but hasn't obtained the total required passes sufficient to merit a third-class honours degree. An ordinary degree usually requires 300 CATS points whereas an honours degree requires 360 CATS points. It is possible to be awarded an ordinary degree with distinction if the average of the 300 CATS points is 70%+.

The Graduateship (post-nominal GCGI) awarded by the City & Guilds of London Institute is mapped to a British Honours degree [2]

The Associateship (post-nominal ACGI) is conferred by the Council of the City & Guilds of London Institute on the recommendation of the Dean of the City and Guilds College in recognition of the ability to demonstrate, to the level equivalent to that of a degree of Bachelor of Science (Engineering), or Bachelor of Engineering, or Master of Engineering, the understanding and application of the principles of a branch of Engineering or of Computing Science approved by the Institute. http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/registry/studentrecords/universityandcollegecertificates/

For a detailed explanation of the classification system see British undergraduate degree classification.

Ordinary degrees are unclassified degrees awarded to all students who have completed the course and obtained sufficient marks to pass the final assessments and examinations. Ordinary degree courses usually have lower entry requirements than Honours degree courses. Although Ordinary degree courses are often considered to be easier than Honours degree courses, this is not always the case, and much depends on the university attended and the subject being studied. Some progressive and inclusive modern universities offer the opportunity for Ordinary degree students to transfer to an Honours degree course in the same subject if an acceptable standard is reached after the first or second year of study.

United States

Almost all U.S. universities and colleges award bachelor's degrees with honors -- usually "cum laude" (with praise), "magna cum laude" (with great praise) and "summa cum laude" (with highest praise) -- degrees without honors are awarded "rite."^{[citation needed]} Requirements for such notations of honors generally include minimum Grade Point Averages, with the highest average required for the "summa" distinction. In the case of a few schools, a senior thesis for degrees in the humanities, and laboratory research for "pure" science degrees is also required. A notable exception is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which does not have a dean's list, cum laude recognition, or undergraduate honors subjects. Some schools require students to pass comprehensive exams in order to receive a bachelor's degree.

In the U.S., bachelors' degrees typically require four years of full-time study, although some universities and colleges allow ambitious students to complete them in less time. Some U.S. colleges and universities have a separate academic track known as an "honors" or "scholars" program, generally meant for the top students of the school and offering more challenging courses or more individually-directed seminars or research projects. The students are awarded the same bachelor's degree as students in the regular course, but with the notation "in cursu honorum." Usually, the above "laude" honors are separate from the notation for this honors course, but a student in the honors course generally must maintain grades at least worthy of the "cum laude" notation anyway.^{[citation needed]} Hence, a student from such a school might receive a diploma Artium Baccalaureatum rite or Artium Baccalaureatum summa cum laude in the regular course, or Artium Baccalaureatum summa cum laude in cursu honorum, for instance.

As of 2003, one in four U.S. adults (27 percent) had attained at least a bachelor’s degree, an all time high.^[1]