Undergraduate education is the post-secondary education previous to the postgraduate education.
It includes all the academic programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example,
in the United States an entry level university student is known as an undergraduate, while
students of higher degrees are known as graduates. In some other educational systems and subjects,
undergraduate education is post-secondary education up to the level of a master's degree;
this is the case for some science courses in Britain and some medicine courses in Europe.
Programs Indian system
In India the Graduation system is classified into two Undergraduate and Postgraduate Systems.
It takes three or four years to complete an "undergraduate" degree. The three-year undergraduate
programs are mostly in the fields of arts, commerce, science etc., and the four-year
programs are mostly in the fields of technology, engineering, pharmaceutical sciences, agriculture
etc. However, for medicine, law and architecture, the period has been five years.
English, Welsh, and Northern Irish system Students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
may usually enter university from the age of eighteen, often having studied A-levels
and thus having had thirteen to fifteen years of schooling. Occasionally students who finish
A Level or equivalent qualifications early may enter below this age but large universities
are now setting lower age limits of 16 or 17 after a number of well publicised "child
prodigies" were found to be emotionally and mentally unprepared for university life.
Applications for undergraduate courses in UK higher education are made through the Universities
and Colleges Admissions Service. For their first degree, most students read
for the degree of bachelor, which usually takes three years, however in the sciences
and engineering integrated courses covering both undergraduate level and advanced degree
level leading to the degree of master, usually taking four years and including a research
project or dissertation are popular. Given the integrated nature of these programs someone
who gains a master's degree via an integrated program is not admitted to the degree of bachelor.
Master's degrees conferred after extended programs are not to be conflated with the
degree of Master of Arts conferred at Oxbridge and Dublin, which is not a substantive qualification,
but reflects the ancient practice of those three universities of promoting Bachelors
of Arts to Masters of Arts six or seven years after matriculation.
Honours degrees and integrated master's degrees are awarded with 1st, upper 2nd, lower 2nd
or 3rd class honours. If a student passes the course but fails to do so sufficiently
well for third class honours to be awarded he will be awarded with an ordinary degree.
It is possible to use the abbreviation "Hons" after the degree postnominals to indicate
that the degree has been passed with honours and is not an ordinary degree.
Many universities offer sandwich courses or an extramural year, which offer work placements
for a short period of time in a relevant industry before students complete their studies. Taking
a sandwich course may make the course last a year longer than it would otherwise.
Apart from a single private university, Buckingham, all universities with the power to award degrees
are heavily state financed. However, they also rely on tuition fees set by the government
at a maximum index-linked level, repayable after graduation contingent on attaining a
certain level of income, and with the state paying all fees for students from the poorest
backgrounds. UK students are generally entitled to student loans for maintenance with repayment
contingent on income. Unlike in other European countries, the British government does not
own the universities' assets and university staff are not civil servants. United Kingdom
universities are therefore better described as autonomous, intellectually-independent
institutions with public funding, rather than public universities per se. The crown does
not control syllabi,with the exception of teacher training. The crown restricts the
power to award degrees to those with a royal charter, in the case of traditional universities,
or authorization from the Secretary of State for Universities, in the case of modern universities.
Universities accredited in foreign countries,such as Richmond University are, however, free
to operate. Universities often use a CRM system to communicate
with prospective students from initial enquiry through to enrolment to increase their conversion
and retention rates. An increasingly popular choice of student recruitment CRM is Student
CRM by Data Harvesting in the UK. Scottish system
Students in Scotland usually enter university in the year they turn eighteen, hence courses
take an extra year compared to England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
At the older universities the degree of Master of Arts is conferred in the arts subjects
after four years while the newer universities instead confer the degree of Bachelor of ArtsThe
degree of Master of Arts conferred by the Ancient Scottish Universities is equivalent
to the degree of Bachelor of Arts at other universities and does not require the level
of study necessitated for the other degrees of master awarded by these universities. The
degree instead reflects the ancient traditions of these universities.
In the sciences, students usually read for the degree of bachelor, which usually takes
four years. However, as with the rest of the UK, integrated master's degrees are popular
in science and engineering, although in Scotland they last for five years. Degree classification
is as that of the rest of the UK. Irish system
Ireland's Higher Education system is similar to that of the United Kingdom, reflecting
the shared origins of undergraduate education for both countries. In the UK, a four year
is normally a master's degree. In Ireland, four year courses are more commonly called
honours bachelor's degrees. Other European systems
In many other, particularly continental European systems, an "undergraduate" degree in the
American sense does not exist. Because students are expected to have received a sound general
education at the secondary level, in a school such as a gymnasium or lycee, students in
Europe enroll in a specific course of studies they wish to pursue upon entry into a University.
In the US, students only specialize in a "major" during the last years of college. Specializing
in a field of study upon entry into a university means most students graduate after four to
five years of study. The fields available include those only taught as graduate degrees
in the US, such as law or medicine. If there is a separate undergraduate degree,
higher degrees can be gained after completing the undergraduate degree. In the traditional
German system, there were no undergraduate degrees in some fields, such as engineering:
students continued to Master's level education without any administrative breakpoints, and
employers would not consider half-finished Master's degrees. In many countries, the English
distinction between a bachelor's and master's degree is only now being introduced by the
Bologna process. Under the new Bologna reform, universities in Europe are introducing the
Bachelor level degree, often by dividing a 5-year Master-level program into two parts,
where students are not obligated to continue with the second Master's-degree part. These
new Bachelor's degrees are similar in structure to British Bachelor's degrees.
In the traditional German system, there is a vocational degree that is similar in length,
and is also considered an academic degree. Though it is designed as a specialist degree,
in contrast to the Diplom degree at University, which claims to be more generalist. Germany
itself, however, is currently abolishing the legal distinction between Fachhochschule and
University. They are both translated as university and they both provide bologna-compliant and
equivalent postgraduate degrees. The undergraduate phase in The Netherlands
can be fulfilled either at university or at the University of Applied Sciences. Except
for some specific exceptions, only at universities students are able to graduate for their masters
or be promoted. These two institutions differ from each other in the level students learn
abstract concepts. Whereas theories are created at the university, at the University of Applied
Sciences theories are taught to be applied correctly.
Not obligatory but ubiquitously applied at Universities in the Netherlands are the propaedeutic
exams. The entire curriculum of the first two semesters of the bachelors programme is
part of the propaedeutic exams. In most bachelor's studies, students are required to obtain their
propaedeutic certificate within three semesters after starting the course. A propaedeutic
certificate also counts as a requirement for participating in a university level bachelor's
study. The propaedeutic exams have the purpose of assessing whether a student has the appropriate
capacities in order to complete the course. At some Swedish universities, PhD courses
are sometimes referred to as "graduate courses", whereas courses for other students sometimes
are referred to as "undergraduate courses". In the French system, the first degree of
tertiary education was reached two years after the baccalauréat. Amongst these degrees the
university-delivered DEUG has disappeared, whereas Diplôme universitaire de technologie,
Brevet de Technicien Supérieur or classe préparatoire aux grandes écoles still exist.
According to the Bologna process, these two-years curriculum will be replaced by the three years
licence, yet existing. United States system
In the United States of America undergraduate refers to those who are studying for a bachelor's
degree. The most common method consists of four years of study leading to a Bachelor
of Arts, a Bachelor of Science, or sometimes another bachelor's degree such as Bachelor
of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Social Work, Bachelor of Engineering, Bachelor of Science in Public
Affairs, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, or Bachelor of Philosophy Five-Year Professional
Architecture programs offer the Bachelor of Architecture Degree or sometimes Master of
Architecture degree. Unlike in the British model, degrees in law
and medicine are not offered at the undergraduate level and are completed as professional study
after earning a bachelor's degree. Neither field specifies or prefers any undergraduate
major, though medical schools have set prerequisite courses that must be taken before enrollment.
Some students choose to attend a community college for two years prior to further study
at another college or university. In most states, community colleges are operated either
by a division of the state university or by local special districts subject to guidance
from a state agency. Community colleges award associate degrees of different types, some
intended to prepare students to transfer to four-year schools, Associate of Science),
and others intended to provide vocational skills and training for students wishing to
enter into or advance in a profession. Those seeking to continue their education may transfer
to a four-year college or university. Some community colleges have automatic enrollment
agreements with a local four-year college, where the community college provides the first
two years of study and the university provides the remaining years of study, sometimes all
on one campus. The community college awards the associate's degree, and the university
awards the bachelor's and master's degrees. However, some community colleges, such as
Brazosport College in Lake Jackson, Texas offer bachelor's degrees along with associate's
degrees. Pakistani Education System
In Pakistan, it generally requires three years to complete a Bachelor degree in Arts such
as BA, four years in Sciences, Engineering or Business Administration such as BS, BEb
tech or BBA and five years for bachelor degrees in Medicine, Pharmacy Bachelor of Pharmacy
and Architecture after successfully completing 12 years of schooling. In addition to coursework,
some degrees necessarily require to complete full-time apprenticeship after formal studies
as in case of the MBBS degree which requires 1 year of Residency making the total length
of program 6 years. In addition to this, 4 years Bachelors degree is offered in various
universities of Pakistan such a s University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila, Lahore,
NUST, LUMS, FAST etc. The modern educational system comprises the
following five stages: The Primary school lasting five years for children 5 – 9 years
old in grades one to five; a Middle school of three years for children 10- to 12-years-old,
covering grades six through eight; a two-year secondary, or Matriculation consists of grades
nine and ten, for children 13- and 14-years-old; a two-year higher secondary, or Intermediate
college, leading to an F.A. diploma in arts or F.Sc. in science; and a fifth stage covering
college and university programs leading to baccalaureate, professional, and master's
and doctorate degrees. The pre-primary or preparatory classes, called kachi or Nursery
school, were formally integrated into the education system in 1988.
Brazilian system
Brazil follows the major traits of the continental European system; free public schools are available
from kindergarten up to postgraduation, both as a right established in Article 6, caput
of the Brazilian Constitution and as a duty of the State in Article 208, Items I, IV and
V, of the Brazilian Constitution. Students choose their specific course of studies before
joining the university. Admission to university is obtained by means of a competitive entrance
exam known as Vestibular. There's a new system, adopted by most federal universities, that
uses the high school national examination result as part or a replacement of the Vestibular
grade. Depending on the chosen course, upon graduating the student shall be granted: a
technologist diploma, 3 years to complete, a bachelor's degree's diploma, which usually
takes 4 or, in the case of Law, Veterinary, Geology and Engineering, 5 years to complete;
or a professional diploma, which normally require 5 or, in the case of medicine, 6 years
to complete. South African system
The South African system usually has a three-year undergraduate Bachelor’s degree, with two
or three majors., which is six years.) A fourth year, known as an Honours year, is considered
a post-graduate degree. It is usually course-driven, although may include a project or thesis.
Nigerian system In Nigeria, undergraduate degrees are four-year-based
courses. Medicine and Architecture normally take six years to complete studies while Medical
Laboratory Science, Nursing, Law and Engineering courses take five years to complete studies,
usually, all six years are taken to improve their chances.
Hong Kong system In Hong Kong, the English system is followed.
Students sit for the Certificate of Education examinations at around sixteen years of age,
and the Advanced-level, or A-level examinations at around eighteen, then follow by three years
of undergraduate education, except for a few specific fields, such as medicine, nursing
and law. This is due to be changed, with five-year secondary education and two-year matriculation
combined and shortened to six years, and undergraduate education lengthened to four years. Students
may be able to receive general education in their first years in universities, more akin
to the North American system. The first batch of students under the new system will enter
universities in 2012. See also
Academic degree Bachelor's degree
Honours degree Bologna process
Doctorate Higher education
Master's degree Master's degree in Europe
Mature student Officer Candidate School
Postgraduate education Post-secondary education
Reserve Officers' Training Corps Undergraduate degree
University and college admissions Notes
^ University of California, Los Angeles—an example of a typical university entry level
in the USA—"Division of Undergraduate Education". ^ Harvard University Different learning levels
in a university in the USA ^ http:csecduac.in/viewtopic.php?t=1325
^ http:www.ucas.comwhoweare ^ point 45 of The framework for higher education
qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland [1]
^ The note after point 46 in The framework for higher education qualifications in England,
Wales and Northern Ireland [2] ^ http:www.studentfinancedirect.co.ukpage?_pageid=53,1262207&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
^ FAQ 11 of Annex 1 of The national qualifications framework for higher education qualifications
in England, Wales and Northern Ireland - July 2000
^ Ländergemeinsame Strukturvorgaben - Beschluss der Kultusministerkonferenz vom 10.10.2003
i.d.F. vom 15.06.2007 ^ http:www.hbo-raad.nl/english
^ "Yale College". Retrieved 21 January 2013. ^ "Brazosport College - Bachelor of Applied
Technology program". Brazosport College. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
^ http:education.stateuniversity.com1143/Pakistan-EDUCATIONAL-SYSTEM-OVERVIEW.html ^ Constitution of Brazil. Retrieved November
26, 2012 ^ Brazilian Ministry of Education website.
Retrieved November 26, 2012