Honours degree

Examples of honours degree include the honors bachelor's degree in the United States; the bachelor's degree with honours in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, and India; the honours bachelor's degree in Ireland; the bachelor with honours and bachelor honours degree in New Zealand; the bachelor with honours and honours bachelor's degree in Canada; and the bachelor honours degree in Australia. In South Africa the bachelor honours degree is a postgraduate degree that follows on from the completion of a bachelor's degree. The undergraduate master of arts degree awarded by the ancient universities of Scotland in place of the bachelor of arts may be awarded as an honours or non-honours degree; these are at the same level as equivalent bachelor's degrees. At master's level, the integrated master's degrees in British universities, which students enter at the same level as bachelor's degrees, are also honours degrees.

Many universities and colleges offer both honours and non-honours bachelor's degrees. In most countries where honours degrees are granted, they imply a higher level of achievement than a non-honours degree. In some countries (e.g. Australia), an honours degree may also involve a longer period of study than a non-honours degree. Students who complete all the requirements for a non-honours bachelor's degree but do not receive sufficient merit to be awarded an honours degree would normally be awarded a non-honours degree (sometimes known as a "pass", "general" or "ordinary" degree), although students who do not complete the requirements for an integrated master's honours degree may receive a bachelor's honours degree. In England, Northern Ireland and Wales, almost all bachelor's degrees are awarded as honours degrees; in contrast, honours degrees are rarely awarded in the United States.

The current British undergraduate degree classification system, with its division into first, upper and lower second, and third class honours, was developed in 1918 to distinguish between students on the basis of their academic achievement. The concept of an "honours" degree goes back much further than this, however, as there were examinations for honours in the original regulations of the University of London in 1839, and Nevil Maskelyne being recorded as taking a bachelor's degree with honours at Cambridge in 1754. Other countries and territories influenced by this system include Australia, Brunei, Canada, New Zealand, Malta, Singapore, South Africa, The Netherlands and Hong Kong.

Europe

France

In France, the honours degree may correspond to the double licence diploma. It lasts the same length of time as the general bachelor's degree, but requires a higher level of study. It is generally offered in faculties with post-graduate degrees, whereas the double licence degree is mainly offered in undergraduate schools or colleges.

However, the honours degree, with its additional year after the bachelor's degree, corresponds more closely to the maîtrise diploma, a one-year master's degree in France. It corresponds to the first year (M1) of the french French master's degree.

Ireland

In the Republic of Ireland, honours bachelor's degrees are at level 8 of the National Framework of Qualifications and are Bologna first cycle degrees. They normally follow a three or four year (180-240 ECTS credits) course. The higher diploma may be awarded at the same level following a single year of study (60 ECTS credits) and is normally taken following an honours degree as a conversion course. Ordinary (non-honours) bachelor's degrees are at level 7 of the framework and take three years (180 ECTS credits) to complete.

Italy

In Italy, honours degrees can refer to the educational programs offered by superior graduate schools, where enrolment is often based on competitive entrance examinations. These institutions include the Scuola Normale Superiore and the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, the Scuola Galileiana di Studi Superiori in Padua, and the Sapienza School for Advanced Studies in Rome, among others. The master's honours program is equivalent to a master universitario di II livello.

Malta

A number of honours degrees are offered by the University of Malta and the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST), usually indicating an extra year of study with an undergraduate dissertation or a specialisation within a three-year programme.

Netherlands

In the Netherlands an honours degree can be gained by completing a bachelor's programme at a liberal arts "honours college", or by completing an "honours programme" of 30 ECTS credits in addition to a regular bachelor's programme. In most universities, honours programmes offer an interdisciplinary approach, blending teachings from social, natural and medical sciences, as well as knowledge from the fields of business and economics, art and law to all honours students. To gain access to this programme, prospective students must demonstrate outstanding academic performance and average a GPA of minimum 7.5/10 at the end of their studies to graduate with honours.

United Kingdom

England, Wales and Northern Ireland

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, bachelor's degrees are normally awarded "with honours" after three years of study. The bachelor's degree with honours meets the requirements for a higher education qualification at level 6 of the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications in full, and is a first-cycle, end-of-cycle award on the Qualifications Framework of the European Higher Education Area established by the Bologna process. Students can be awarded an "ordinary" degree if they achieve the required learning outcomes over a smaller volume of studies than is required for an honours degree, e.g. only passing 300 credits rather than the 360 usually required for an honours degree. In addition to bachelor's degrees, four-year integrated master's degrees, which combine study at the bachelor's and master's levels, are also awarded with honours.

The University of Oxford does not award honours with its standard BA degree, but considers students who gain a third class degree or better to have "achieved honours status".

Scotland

In Scotland, all undergraduate degrees with honours must be of four-year duration. Students can choose to do the honours degree or the general (or pass/ordinary) degree. The first two years of both types of degrees are the same; however, after that, students who pursue the honours route will complete more advanced subjects and a dissertation in their last year, while students who choose to do the general degree will complete their third year at a lower level of specialisation.

Entry into the honours year in Scotland is generally not restricted and students are encouraged to take the honours year as the general/ordinary/pass degree does not provide the same level of depth and specialisation.

Students enrolling in the honours programme but failing to achieve the required academic merit for honours are awarded a pass/ordinary/general degree.