Bachelor of Letters

Bachelor of Letters, usually abbreviated to B.Litt., from the Latin Baccalaureatus Litterarum, is a second undergraduate university degree in which students specialize in an area of study relevant to their own personal, professional or academic development. This area of study may have been touched on in a prior undergraduate degree but not studied in depth, or may never have been formally taught to the student. The degree is less often awarded now than in previous centuries, and is, at the current time, only awarded by two universities in Australia.

United Kingdom

The degree was awarded by the University of Oxford and a small number of other universities, including the University of Birmingham. It was still available at Oxford in 1977 though it has since been replaced by the more research-based Master of Letters.[1][2]

United States

In the late 19th century the degree was awarded at the University of Michigan.[3] During the early years, Marywood University, formerly a women's college, offered the degree.[4]

Australia

Although the BLitt was once awarded by many Australian universities, the degree is now only offered at Monash University, as well as at the University of Western Australia, exclusively for graduates of the University's Bachelor of Arts.[5][6]

Notes

  1. ↑ Examination decrees and regulations (University of Oxford, 1977): "Of the Admission of Candidates for the Degree of Bachelor of Letters i. Any person may be admitted to a course of special study preparatory to research, to be pursued at Oxford, as a Probationer-student for the Degree of Bachelor of Letters..."
  2. ↑ "About our programmes - University of Oxford". University of Oxford. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  3. ↑ Charles Willcox, ed., General Register, University of Michigan (1892), pp. 36-40
  4. ↑ Dunn, Josephine Marie; Kashuba, Cheryl A. (2007). Images of America — The Women of Scranton: 1880-1935. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 59–61. ISBN 9780738538587.
  5. ↑ "Bachelor of Letters (0202) - Undergraduate Course - Arts - Monash University Handbooks 2014". Monash University. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  6. ↑ "3.2.10 Bachelor of Letters pass degree (10170)* : UWA Handbooks 2014 - Rules : The University of Western Australia". University of Western Australia. Retrieved 29 November 2013.