An associate degree is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by community colleges, junior colleges, technical colleges, and bachelor's degree-granting colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study usually lasting two years. In the United States, and to some extent in Western Canada, an associate degree is equivalent to the first two years of a four-year college or university degree. It is the lowest in the hierarchy of post-secondary academic degrees offered in these countries.
It is roughly equivalent to the foundation degree and the Business and Technology Education Council's Higher National Diploma in Britain, the two-year General Academic Studies Degree (French: diplôme d'études universitaires générales, DEUG) in France, the Higher Education and Training Awards Council's Higher Certificate in the Republic of Ireland.[1] In 2000, Hong Kong introduced associate degrees, as an equivalence to higher diplomas. These programs are mainly provided through affiliated colleges at universities. In 2004, Australia added "associate degree" to the Australian Qualifications Framework. This title was given to more academically focused advanced diploma courses. However, very few courses yet use the new title. In the Netherlands, there were four pilots between 2005 and 2011 to assess the added value of the associate degree.[2] In 2011 the associate degree has been added to the Dutch system of higher education as a means to close the gap with the vocational education system.[3]
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The associate degree is awarded to students who complete 2 years of schooling. The requirements usually include courses such as English composition, Algebra, social interaction, humanities, etc. Some people refer to associate degrees as "two-year" degrees because it is possible to obtain the degree in approximately that long. For students who place into developmental (sometimes called pre-college or remedial) courses, the time will be extended since these credits will not apply toward the associate degree.
A lesser diploma, called a certificate, is awarded for specific studies that may be completed in one year or less, for example certification in a particular field of information technology may only run for four to six months.
At 2-year colleges in the United States, more students attend part-time than full-time.[4] To accommodate part-time students, many of whom work, most US community colleges offer required courses during evening and weekend hours and, increasingly, online (the Sloan Consortium reports that 51% of all degrees earned online are associate degrees.)[5]
Data on associate degrees are frequently disaggregated by curriculum: vocational or nonvocational. The Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS) counts nonvocational degrees under the category "Arts and Sciences or General Programs"; vocational degrees are counted under six headings:
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