From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South
Africa
In universities in Australia, New Zealand and South
Africa, the B.A. degree can be taken over three years of
full-time study.[4] Students must pursue at least one ma-
jor area of study, and that subject is studied in all of the
three years. At some universities students may choose
to pursue a second major; alternatively, the remainder
of the degree is taken up with a minor area of study (in
the first two years) and other individual or stream-based
subjects make up the degree. Unlike in other countries,
students do not receive an overall grade for their Bach-
elor of Arts degree with varying levels of honours. In-
A certificate or diploma evidencing the granting of a bachelor’s stead, students have the option, after their third year of
degree study and provided they have achieved a minimum aver-
age grade in their major area, of a further one year hon-
B.A., BA, A.B., AB),
A Bachelor of Arts (B.A. BA A.B. or AB from the ours course. Thus, to achieve an honours degree, an ex-
Latin artium baccalaureus, is a Bachelor’s Degree awarded tra "postgraduate" year must be completed; see Bache-
for an undergraduate course or program in either the lib- lor’s degree: Honours Degrees and academic distinctions.
eral arts, the sciences, or both. Bachelor of Arts degree Canadian colleges and universities typically offer a 4
programs generally take three to four years depending yr B.A. At most universities an honours designation can
upon the country, academic institution, and specific ma- be earned through specified course work, a high grade
jors or minors. average, and the completion of a thesis or dissertation.
Diplomas generally give the name of the institution, On graduation, students are permitted to append the
signatures of officials of the institution (generally the post-nominal letters "B.A." to their name and those who
president or rector of the university as well as the secre- have successfully completed the honours year may style
tary or dean of the component college), the type of de- themselves "H.B.A." or "B.A. (Hons.)" depending on the
gree conferred, the conferring authority and the location style the granting university chooses.
at which the degree is conferred. Degree diplomas gen- In general, in all four countries, the H.B.A. or BA
erally are printed on high quality paper or parchment; (Hons.) degree is the basic qualification required to pur-
Individual institutions set the preferred abbreviation for sue higher degrees by research, including the M.A. and
their degrees.[1] Ph.D degrees. In Canada, however, a B.A. with a high
grade average is also sufficient for graduate studies. For
Regional differences entry to professional programs such as law, or to the
MBA, a B.A. is typically accepted (provided that the grade
The Bachelor of Arts degree is usually attained in four average is sufficient).
years in Lebanon, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil and the
rest of Latin America, Canada, Egypt, Iran, Japan, Nigeria, Netherlands / Europe
Serbia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, the Russian
In the Netherlands, the Bachelor of Arts and Master of
Federation, Scotland, South Korea, Iraq, Tunisia, Turkey
Arts degrees were introduced in 2002. Until then there
and the United States.[2][3]
was a single program which led to the doctorandus de-
In contrast, the Bachelor of Arts degree course gener-
gree. This comprised the same course load as the Bach-
ally lasts three years in nearly all of the European Union
elor and Master programs combined. (The title doctor-
countries. It also takes three years in Albania, Australia,
andus was used in almost all fields of study; other titles
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, India, Israel, New
were used for legal studies (meester) and engineering (in-
Zealand, Iceland, Norway, Singapore, the Caribbean,
genieur).) Those who had already started the doctorandus
South Africa, Switzerland, and the Canadian province of
program could, upon completing it, opt for the doctoran-
Quebec.
dus degree (entitling them to use "Drs." in front of their
name), or could use the Master’s degree (post-nominal
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Bachelor of Arts
letters) in accordance with the new standard. A similar United States
practice has been introduced in other EU countries, ac-
In the United States, the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or Artium
cording to the Bologna Process.
Baccalaureus (A.B.) is one of two basic undergraduate de-
grees. The other is the Bachelor of Science. At most in-
United Kingdom and Ireland stitutions, the B.A. and B.S. have all but identical require-
In the United Kingdom (excluding Scotland) and Republic ments of 120 semester hours or 180 quarter hours for
of Ireland, the first degree course normally lasts 3 years, a basic undergraduate degree. Curricula leading to the
but nomenclature varies: 19th-century and later univer- B.A., however, often require a certain minimum number
sities usually distinguish between arts and sciences sub- of the total degree credits be drawn from coursework in
jects by awarding either a B.A. or B.Sc. degree. However, topical areas historically associated with the liberal arts
some older or ancient universities, such as Oxford, Cam- - such as language, literature, humanities, mathematics,
bridge[citation needed] and Dublin traditionally award B.A.s history, physical sciences, and social sciences. At Eastern
to undergraduates having completed the final examina- Michigan University, for example, 75 of the minimum 124
tions, e.g. Part II Tripos (Cambridge), Final Honour credits must be earned in these subject areas - whatever
Schools (Oxford), Moderatorship (Dublin), in most sub- the student may choose as a major or minor subject - in-
jects including the sciences. The degree of M.A. can be cluding one year of study over two consecutive semesters
claimed for a nominal administrative fee, usually 21 of one foreign language.
terms after matriculation. For many centuries, the bach-
elor’s degree was an intermediate step and was awarded
for much of the work carried out in later times at sec- See also
ondary schools. The names of the final secondary school • Associate of Arts
exams in France and Spain (and increasingly in Britain - • Lady Literate in Arts
the International Baccalaureate) come from this: le Bac- • Bachelor of Fine Arts
calauréat and el Bachillerato, respectively. • Bachelor of Science
Scottish Universities award a Master of Arts degree to • Educational attainment in the United States
humanities or arts graduates, but a B.Sc. to science grad-
uates. This course takes 4 years for an honours degree
and three for an ordinary (in Scotland it is possible to opt References
to take an ordinary degree rather than this simply rank- [1] An Explanation of Degree Abbreviations - Harvard
ing below a third class honours). University Commencement
A Bachelor of Arts is entitled to the designation B.A. [2] Distance Learning Bachelor Degree Programs
for an ordinary/pass degree and B.A. (Hons.) for an hon- [3] FAST-US-5 United States Education Reference File
ours degree (but the latter is often abbreviated to simply [4] Bachelor of Arts degrees, Australian National
B.A.). University
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Categories:
• Bachelor's degrees
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