BSc Hons equivalecy

Hi Emmu,

Here is my two cents worth. I am from South Africa, where an Honours degree is as long as four years and is regarded as a post graduate qualification. That means, you study and complete a three year undergraduate degree and a further year for an honours (post-graduate degree). However, I have come to learn that the UK doesnt really regard a honours as a post graduate degree, hence one can study for and finish an honours degree as a single programme as opposed to my country where you complete an undergraduate (bachelors) and then embark on further study (usually 1 year) to complete your honours. If you look at the programmes offered at Oxford Brookes University (OBU), for example, BSc (hon) Accounting & finance, is an undergraduate degree offered as a single programme, whereas in South Africa this is divided into two programmes, namely; Bachelors and then the honours component which is regarded as post-graduate.

Although the length of time a qualification takes can be used to gauge it against other programmes, it is not the only quality determining factor. It’s important to look at content, level of difficulty and quality among other things. For example, a programme that is offered over four years at one university, because the modules have been broken down into component parts in order to make it manageable for learners, could be compressed and offered over three years at another institution. Thererfore, this doesnt really make the three year programme inferior to the four year programme.

I hope this assists, good luck and enjoy your studying!

Regards,
Lebo

Doesn’t matter what any overseas university degrees mean – Oxford Brookes is an English university and so its degrees comply with the UK system – simples! Most UK degree courses last 3 years by the way although a few take 4 years.

Just for the record a BSc (Honours) in the UK is a first degree it is not a case of the “UK doesnt really regard a honours as a post graduate degree” the fact is in England an Honours degree it is NOT a post graduate degree and never has been. Post-graduate degrees are called a Masters in the UK or a PhD – Doctor of Philosophy (confusingly even if the subject studied had nothing to do with philosophy!) and take another 2 or 3 years each to achieve after being awarded the first degree). First degrees have the designation B (for bachelor) and post-graduate degrees are labelled M (for Masters) so a BA, BSc or BEd are all first degrees and an MA, MSc etc. indicate the post-graduate masters level (and then there is the PhD after which if you pass, you are awarded the title ‘Dr’.)

There are currently 4 classes of first degree in England: 1st, Upper 2nd (known as a 2.1), Lower 2nd (known as a 2.2) and 3rd class honours. I read some rubbish on this site that someone had received an A class degree. No, what they probably got was an A for their RAP grade. The final class awarded for the OBU degree depends on your average ACCA exam grade. Somewhere in the info pack it tells you what your average grade must be to get which class of degree so you need to look at this and also your RAP grade to work out exactly what class of degree you will end up with. End of.

UK education system goes like that , O levels is 11 years of education, A levels 13 years of education, Bachelor degrees 3 years, total 16 years of education; in comparison USA , high school : 12 years of education, Bachelors ; 4 years total; 16 years. UK 3 year degree considered equal to 4 years degree at many universities, you need to check with the university where you want to pursue masters.