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Undergraduate education

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Undergraduate education is education taken prior to gaining a first degree, hence in many subjects in many educational systems, undergraduate education is post-secondary education up to the level of a bachelor's degree, such as in the United States, where a university entry level is known as undergraduate,[1] while students of higher degrees are known as graduates,[2] while in some other educational systems and subjects, undergraduate education is post-secondary education up to the level of a master's degree, for example some science and engineering courses in Britain or some medicine courses in Europe.


English, Welsh and Northern Irish system

Students in England,Wales and Scotland enter university at the age of eighteen,usually having studied A-levels and thus having had fourteen years of schooling.

Undergraduate applications to nearly all UK universities are managed by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).[3]

For their first degree, most students read for the degree of bachelor, which usually takes three years, however in the sciences and engineering integrated courses covering both undergraduate level and advanced degree level leading to the degree of master[4], usually taking four years and including a research project or dissertation are popular. Given the integrated nature of these programs someone who gains a master's degree via an integrated program is not admitted to the degree of bachelor; the exception being some Oxbridge degrees where a BA would be conferred after the first three years even on those reading the sciences.

Master's degrees conferred after an extended programs are not to be conflated with the degree of Master of Arts conferred at Oxbridge which is not a substantive qualification, but reflects the ancient practice of those two universities of promoting Bachelors of Arts to Masters of Arts (and thus full membership of the University) six or seven years after matriculation.[5]

Honours degrees and integrated master's degrees are awarded with 1st, upper 2nd, lower 2nd or 3rd class honours. If a student passes the course but fails to do so sufficiently well for third class honours to be awarded he will be awarded with an ordinary degree. Some graduates write "Hons" after their degree postnominals to show that they have an honours degree rather than an ordinary degree however some consider this to be an affectation.

Many universities offer sandwich courses or extramural year which offer work placements whereby the student works for a short period of time in a relevant industry before he completes his studies. Taking a sandwich course may make the course last a year longer than it would otherwise.

Apart from a single private university, Buckingham, all universities with the power to award degrees are heavily state financed however they also rely on tuition fees set by the government at a maximum index-linked level, repayable after graduation contingent on attaining a certain level of income, and with the state paying all fees for students from the poorest backgrounds. UK students are generally entitled to student loans for maintenance with repayment contingent on income.[6] Unlike in other European countries, the British government does not own the universities' assets and university staff are not civil servants. United Kingdom universities are therefore better described as autonomous intellectually independent institutions with public funding, rather than public universities per se. The crown does not control syllabi,with the exception of teacher training. The crown restricts the power to award degree to those with a royal charter, in the case of traditional universities, or authorisation from the Secretary of State for Universities, in the case of modern universities. Universities accredited in foreign countries,such as Richmond University are however free to operate.

Scottish system

Students in Scotland usually enter university at the age of seventeen hence courses take an extra year compared to England,Wales and Northern Ireland.

At the older universities the degree of Master of Arts is conferred in the arts subjects after four years while the newer universities instead conferrer the degree of Bachelor of Arts.The degree of Master of Arts conferred by the Ancient Scottish Universities is equivalent to the degree of Bachelor of Arts at other universities and does not require the level of study necessitated for the other degrees of master awarded by these universities. The degree instead reflects the ancient traditions of these universities.[7]
In the sciences students usually read for the degree of bachelor which usually takes four years however as with the rest of the UK integrated master's degrees are popular in science and engineering, although in Scotland they last for five years.

Degree classification is as that of the rest of the UK. Students who apply for a Scottish University while attending a Scottish secondary school do not need to pay for university tuition fees as it is paid for on their behalf by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland.

Irish system

Eire's Higher Education system is similar to that of the United Kingdom, reflecting the shared origins of undergraduate education for both countries. The bachelor degree generally lasts three years.

Other European systems

In many other, particularly continental European systems, something like an "undergraduate" degree in the American sense does not exist. Unlike in the US, where students engage in general studies during the first years of tertiary education and only specialize in a "major" during the last years of college, European students enroll in a specific course of studies they wish to pursue right from the beginning, as they are expected to have received a sound general education already in the secondary level, in a school such as a gymnasium or lycée. At university, which they can enter at an age as early as 18 or even 17 in many countries, they specialize in a subject field which they pursue in a curriculum of, in most cases, four or five years of studies. The fields available include those which are only taught as graduate degrees in the US, such as law or medicine.

If there is a separate undergraduate degree, higher degrees (Licence, Master, Doctorat) can be gained after completing the undergraduate degree. In the traditional German system, there were no undergraduate degrees in some fields, such as engineering: students continued to Master's level education without any administrative breakpoint, and employers would not consider half-finished Master's degrees. In many countries, the English distinction between a bachelor's and master's degree is only now being introduced by the Bologna process. Under the new Bologna reform, universities in Central Europe are introducing the Bachelor level (BA or BS) degree, often by dividing a 5-year Master-level program into two parts (3-year Bachelor's + 2-year Master's), where students are not obligated to continue with the second Master's-degree part. These new Bachelor's degrees are similar in structure to British Bachelor's degrees.

In the traditional German system, there is a vocational degree (Diplom FH) that is similar in length, and is also considered an academic degree. Though it is designed as a specialist degree, in contrast to the Diplom degree at Universität, which claims to be more generalist. Germany itself, however, is currently abolishing the legal distinction between Fachhochschule and Universität. They are both translated as university and they both provide bologna-compliant and equivalent postgraduate degrees. [8]

At some Swedish universities (such as the Royal Institute of Technology), PhD courses are sometimes referred to as "graduate courses", whereas courses for other students (up to master level) sometimes are referred to as "undergraduate courses".

United States' System


Unlike in the British model, degrees in law and medicine are not offered at the undergraduate level and are completed as graduate study after earning a bachelor's degree. Neither field specifies or prefers any undergraduate major, though medicine has set prerequisite courses that must be taken before enrollment.


Indian system

In India it takes three or four years to complete a "graduate" degree. The three year undergraduate programs are mostly in the fields of arts, humanities, science etc, and the four year programs are mostly in the fields of technology, engineering, medicine, etc.

Pakistan system

In Pakistan it takes two years to complete a "graduate" degree after completion of undergraduate degree. The four year undergraduate programs are mostly in the fields of arts, humanities, science, technology, engineering, medicine, etc.

Brazilian system

Brazil follows the major traits of the European system; school is free of charge from kindergarten up to postgraduation, a right stablished in Brazil's Constitution. Students choose their majors before joining the university. Admission to university is obtained by means of a competitive entrance exam known as Vestibular (a concept somewhat similar to the Baccalauréat in France). Undergraduate degrees may be: technical degrees, usually 3 years long; bachelor's degrees, which usually take 4 or, in the case of law, 5 years to complete, or professional diplomas, which normally require 5 or, in the case of medicine, 6 years to complete. Bachelor's degrees are awarded in most fields of study in the arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics, and natural sciences. Professional diplomas on the other hand are awarded in state-regulated professions such as architecture, engineering, psychology, pharmacy, dental medicine, veterinary medicine, and medicine properly.

South African system

The South African system usually has a 3-year undergraduate Bachelor’s degree, with one or two majors. (There are exceptions, such as the medical qualification (MBChB) which is six years.) A fourth year, known as an Honours year, is considered a post-graduate degree. It is usually course-driven, although may include a project or thesis.

Nigerian system

In Nigeria, undergraduate degrees (excluding Medicine, Engineering, Law and Architecture) are four-year based courses. Medicine (MBBS)and Architecture normally take 6 years to complete studies while Law and Engineering courses take five years to complete studies.


  1. UCLA An example of a typical university entry level in the USA--- "division of undergraduate Education"
  2. Harvard University Different learning levels in a university in the USA
  4. point 45 of The framework for higher education qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland [1]
  5. The note after point 46 in The framework for higher education qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland [2]
  7. FAQ 11 of Annex 1 of The national qualifications framework for higher education qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland - July 2000
  8. Ländergemeinsame Strukturvorgaben - Beschluss der Kultusministerkonferenz vom 10.10.2003 i.d.F. vom 15.06.2007

See also


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