
A certificate or diploma evidencing
the granting of a bachelor's degree
Bachelor of Arts (
B.A. or
A.B.), from the
Latin artium baccalaureus, is a
bachelor's degree awarded for an
undergraduate course or
program in either the
liberal arts, the
sciences or both.
A Bachelor
of Arts degree program generally lasts three years in nearly all of
the European Union countries as well
as in Australia, Bosnia and
Herzegovina
, Croatia
, India
, Iraq,
Israel
, New
Zealand
, Iceland
, Norway
, the
Canadian province of Quebec
, Singapore
, the
Caribbean
, South Africa and Switzerland
, whereas it usually lasts four years in Azerbaijan
, Bangladesh
, Canada
(outside
Quebec), Brazil
and Latin America, Japan
, Pakistan
, Scotland
, the Russian Federation
, Tunisia
, Turkey
and the
United
States
.
Diplomas generally give the name of the
institution, signatures of officials of the institution (generally
the president or rector of the
university
as well as the secretary or dean of the component
college), the type of degree conferred, the
conferring authority and the location at which the degree is
conferred. Degree diplomas generally are printed on high quality
paper or
parchment,
use ornate lettering and often include archaic terminology or
languages. Individual institutions set the preferred abbreviation
for their degrees.
Australia, New Zealand, South Africa
In universities in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, the
single degree B.A. can be taken full-time over a period of three
years.. To achieve an honours degree an extra year must be
completed. It is a requirement that students pursue at least one
major area of study and that subject
area is undertaken at all three year-levels of the degree (first,
second and third year). Depending upon the individual university's
course structure, students may choose to pursue a second major;
alternately, the remainder of the degree is taken up with a minor
area of study (study at first and second year levels) and other
individual or stream-based subjects make up the degree.
Unlike other countries, students from Australia, New Zealand and
South Africa do not receive an overall grade for their Bachelor of
Arts degree with varying levels of honours. Instead, students have
the option, at the conclusion of their third year of study and
provided they possess a grade average of 65 percent or higher in
their major area, to undertake an honours (or fourth) year. The
honours year generally comprises a coursework component (including
seminars or tutorials) and an original researched thesis or
dissertation of 10,000 to 20,000 words.
On graduation, students are permitted to append the
post-nominal letters "B.A." to their
name; those who have successfully completed the honours year may
style themselves "B.A. (Hons)".
The honours degree (or its equivalent international degree) is
generally the basic qualification required to pursue higher degrees
by research, including the
M.A. and
Ph.D degrees.
Britain and Ireland
In
Britain
and Ireland
, usage
varies: 19th-century universities and later usually distinguish
between arts and sciences subjects through awarding either a B.A.
or B.Sc. depending on field of study. However, the older or
ancient universities, such as
Oxford
, Cambridge
and Dublin
traditionally award B.A.s to undergraduates having
completed the final examinations (e.g. Part II
Tripos (Cambridge), Schools (Oxford), Moderatorship
(Dublin)) in most subjects including the sciences. The degree of
M.A.
can be claimed for a nominal sum, usually 21 terms after
matriculation. For many centuries, the bachelor's degree was an
intermediate step and was awarded for much of the work carried out
in later times by secondary schools (when the school system
developed). The name of the final secondary school exam in France
comes from this, Le
Baccalauréat.
The
ancient
universities of Scotland award a
Master of Arts degree to
humanities or arts graduates, but a B.Sc. to science
graduates.
A Bachelor of Arts graduate in Britain or Ireland receives the
designation B.A. for an ordinary/pass degree and B.A. (Hons.) for
an honours degree.
United States
In the
United
States
, the concept of "years" is based on credit hours and full-time study. The
"four years" expected to complete a B.A. degree is an estimate of
time it
should take to complete the required number of
credit hours. Thus, a B.A. could be achieved in less time if the
student "overloads", that is, takes more classes than
expected.
B.A. degrees are most commonly awarded for successful completion of
a "liberal arts" program (in majors such as English literature,
humanities, history, philosophy, communication arts, and political
science).
See also
References