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 is different but has some similarities.

1 Degree classification
2 Progression to postgraduate study
3 Medical Degrees
4 Undergraduate degree honours slang
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] 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 up 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) 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 is normal in the rest of the United Kingdom as the Scottish Highers exams are taken at age seventeen, not eighteen, thus 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 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.

[edit] First-Class Honours

In most universities, First-Class Honours is the highest honours that can be achieved, with about 12% of candidates achieving a First nationally. ^[1]

A minority of universities award First-Class Honours with Distinction, informally known as a "Starred First" (Cambridge) or a "Congratulatory First" (Oxford). These are seldom awarded. In Oxford, the Congratulatory First involves a ceremony where examiners give a standing ovation.

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.

A Cambridge "Double First" originally referred to a first in two different Triposes. The phrase "Double First" originally referred to people who got firsts in both the classical and mathematical Triposes ("double men"). The two-Tripos criterion for a "double first", even in vaguely related subjects as English and History, constitutes a far higher hurdle than simply repeating the same performance in competition with the same students in a Part II of the same Tripos; it is harder because the subject matter is different, and the candidate has to reach a mark of excellence in competition with people who would have been studying the subject for longer at university level. However, this usage is less and less common in recent years and the term is now more frequently used in the ordinary sense of obtaining a first in subsequent examinations in the same subject, rather than in different subjects.

At Cambridge it is possible to obtain a Double Starred First (noted recipients being Quentin Skinner, Alain de Botton, Lee Kuan Yew, Timothy Winter (Abdal Hakim Murad),Orlando Figes and Enoch Powell). 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.

[edit] 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. These divisions are commonly abbreviated to 2:1 (pronounced two-one) and 2:2 (pronounced two-two).

Nearly three-quarters (73.3%) of 2006 graduates in the UK gained a second-class degree. ^[2]

[edit] 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.^[2] Third Class honours were traditionally regarded as 'a Gentleman's degree'.^[3]

[edit] Ordinary Degree

An Ordinary degree is a pass degree without honours. A number of universities offer Ordinary degree courses to students, but most students enrol 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.

[edit] 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 not been unwell, he or she would have passed.

[edit] 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.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 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 & MD 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.

[edit] 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, with the person's last name referencing the degree by rhyming with it.

A First is known as a "Geoff" or a "Damien" after Geoff Hurst ^[4] and Damien Hirst respectively.
A 2:1 is known as an "Attila" or a "Don" after Attila the Hun^{[citation needed]} and Don Juan^{[citation needed]} ('2:1' para-rhymes with "the Hun" and "Juan").
A 2:2 is known as a "Desmond" after Archbishop Desmond Tutu or a "Drinkers Degree".
A Third is known as a "Douglas" or a "Thora" after Douglas Hurd^[4] and Thora Hird respectively.

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.^[5] A third is also referred to as a 'Vorderman' after the British television celebrity Carol Vorderman who received a Third at Cambridge. ^[6]