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British undergraduate degree classification
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The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme for undergraduate degrees (bachelor's degrees and some master's degrees) in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variations) in other countries, such as India, the Republic of Ireland, Kenya, South Africa, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Malta and Canada.
The Latin honors system used in the United States and Canada is different but has some similarities.
Degree classification
A degree may be awarded with or without honours, with the class of an honours degree based on the average mark of the assessed work a candidate has completed.
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The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme for undergraduate degrees (bachelor's degrees and some master's degrees) in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variations) in other countries, such as India, the Republic of Ireland, Kenya, South Africa, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Malta and Canada.
The Latin honors system used in the United States and Canada is different but has some similarities.
Degree classification
A degree may be awarded with or without honours, with the class of an honours degree based on the average mark of the assessed work a candidate has completed. Below is a list of the possible classifications with common abbreviations. Honours degrees are in bold:
- First-Class Honours (First or 1st)
- Upper Second-Class Honours (2:1)
- Lower Second-Class Honours (2:2)
- Third-Class Honours (Third or 3rd)
- Ordinary degree (Pass)
- Fail (no degree is awarded)
The system does allow for a small amount of discretion and candidates may be elevated to the next degree class if their average mark is close or the median of their weighted marks achieves the higher class, and they have submitted many pieces of work worthy of the higher class. However, they may be demoted a class if they fail to pass all parts of the course even if they have a high average.
There are also variations between universities (especially in Scotland, where honours are usually reserved only for courses lasting four years or more, with a three-year course leading to the awarding of an Ordinary degree - see Master of Arts (Scotland)) and requirements other than the correct average are often needed to be awarded honours. (In Scotland it is normal to start University a year younger than in the rest of the United Kingdom as the Scottish Highers exams are taken at age seventeen, not eighteen, so four-year courses end at the same chronological age as a rest-of-UK three-year course, assuming no 'gap years'.)
When a candidate is awarded a degree with honours, '(Hons)' may be suffixed to their type of degree, such as BA (Hons) or BSc (Hons).
At Oxford and Cambridge, honours classes apply to examinations, not to degrees. Thus, in Cambridge, where undergraduates are examined at the end of each Part (one- or two-year section) of the Tripos, a student may receive different classifications for different Parts. The degree itself does not formally have a class. Most Cambridge graduates use the class of the final Part as the class of the degree, but this is an informal usage. At Oxford, the Final Honour School results are generally applied to the degree.
In some universities, candidates who successfully complete one or more years of degree-level study, but do not complete the full degree course, may be awarded a lower qualification: a Certificate of Higher Education or Higher National Certificate for one year of study, or a Diploma of Higher Education or Higher National Diploma for two years.
The Graduateship (post-nominal GCGI) and Associateship (post-nominal ACGI) awarded by the City & Guilds of London Institute are mapped to a British Honours degree.
The Engineering Council Graduate Diploma set at the same level as the final year of a British BEng.
First-class honours
In most universities, First-Class Honours are the highest honours that can be achieved, with about 11% of candidates achieving a First nationally for the academic year 2006/07.
A minority of universities award First-Class Honours with Distinction, informally known as a "Starred First" (Cambridge, York) or a "Congratulatory First" (Oxford). These are seldom awarded.
A "Double First" can refer to First-Class Honours in two separate subjects, e.g., Classics and Mathematics, or alternatively to First-Class Honours in the same subject in subsequent examinations, such as subsequent Parts of the Tripos at the University of Cambridge. At Oxford, this term normally refers to a First in both Honour Moderations and the Final Honour School.
Upper second-class honours
The bulk of university graduates fall into Second-Class Honours, which is usually divided into Upper Second-Class Honours and Lower Second-Class Honours. The first of these is commonly abbreviated to 2:1 (pronounced two-one).
Many competitive jobs in the UK now have a minimum requirement of a 2:1 for graduate entry.
Many reputable universities have a university-wide minimum requirement of a 2:1 for entry into their postgraduate degrees.
Such disparity between 2:1 and 2:2 degrees has become a matter of controversy recently as the difference between achieving the two grades can often be slight.
About 45% of all graduates achieve a 2:1.
Lower second-class honours
This is the second division of second-class degrees and are abbreviated as 2:2 (pronounced two-two).
About 30% of graduates in the UK gained a lower second-class degree.
Third-class honours
Third-Class Honours is the lowest honours classification in most modern universities. (Until the 1970s, Oxford awarded Fourth-class Honours degrees, but did not distinguish between "Upper-" (2.1s) and "Lower-Seconds" (2.2s), and so still had four classes like other establishments.) Roughly 7.2% of students graduating in 2006 with an honours degree received a Third. Third Class honours were traditionally regarded as 'a Gentleman's degree'.
Ordinary degree
An Ordinary degree is a pass degree without honours. A number of universities offer Ordinary degree courses to students, but most students enroll in Honours degree courses. Some Honours courses permit students who fail the first year by a small margin (around 10%) to transfer to the Ordinary degree. Ordinary degrees are sometimes awarded to Honours degree students who do not complete an Honours degree course to the very end but complete enough of it to earn a pass.
Aegrotat degrees
A candidate who is unable to take his or her exams because of illness can sometimes be awarded an aegrotat degree; this is an honours degree without classification, awarded on the understanding that had the candidate been well, he or she would have passed.
Progression to postgraduate study
Regulations governing the progression of undergraduate degree graduates to postgraduate programmes vary between universities, and are often flexible. A candidate for a postgraduate master's degree is usually required to have at least a 2:2 degree, although candidates with 2:1s are in a considerably stronger position to gain a place on a postgraduate course and to obtain funding. Some institutions specify a 2:1 minimum for certain types of master's program, particularly the masters by research. Candidates with a Third or ordinary degree are sometimes accepted, provided they have acquired satisfactory professional experience subsequent to graduation. A candidate for a doctoral programme who does not hold a master's degree is nearly always required to have a First or 2:1. For highly desirable programmes a First is usually required.
Medical degrees
In Britain, medicine is taught as an undergraduate course and, upon successful completion of the course, the student is awarded joint bachelor degrees in medicine and in surgery. The two degrees cannot be awarded separately, and entitle the holder to be called "doctor".
The bachelor of medicine awarded in the UK is equivalent to the doctor of medicine in the US, Canada, etc. However a doctorate of medicine degree (if awarded in the UK) is a separate academic degree equivalent to a PhD which a medic can undertake in postgraduate study. Some clinicians hold both PhD & MB degrees.
Unlike most undergraduate degrees they are not awarded first, second or third class degrees. Individual exams are marked as pass, fail or merit (which is the equivalent of a first in most other degrees). Distinctions can be awarded for certain parts of the course to the best students (who will usually have several merits already). Honours are awarded at some institutions for exceptional performance throughout the course. Very few are awarded.
Undergraduate degree honours slang
A form of rhyming slang has developed from degree classes, usually using names of famous people. Due to the conventions of rhyming slang, only the person's first name is used, the last name referencing the degree by rhyming with it. This was reported by the BBC in 2000, but the extent to which these abbreviations are actually used remains doubtful and seemingly unlikely.
- A First is apparently known as a "Geoff" or a "Damien" after Geoff Hurst or Damien Hirst.
- A 2:1 is apparently known as an "Attila" or a "Don" after Attila the Hun or Don Juan
- A 2:2 is apparently known as a "Desmond" or a "Dezza" after Archbishop Desmond Tutu or a "Drinker's Degree".
- A Third is occasionally known as a "Douglas" or a "Thora" after Douglas Hurd or Thora Hird; it is also sometimes called a "Gentleman's Degree".
A Third is also known as a 'Richard' after the monarch Richard III. However, this is used primarily as a derogatory term, due to the more common meaning of that term, a fecal reference in rhyming slang to the word turd. A third is also referred to as a 'Vorderman' after the British television celebrity Carol Vorderman who received a Third at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.
See also
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