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Bachelor of Arts (B.A. or A.B.), from the Latin Artium Baccalaureus) is an undergraduate bachelor's degree awarded for either a course or a program in the liberal arts or the sciences, or both. A B.A. degree program generally lasts three years in South Africa, New Zealand, Switzerland, Australia, India and the United Kingdom (except Scotland), and four years in the United States, Canada and Pakistan.
Difference between the B.A. and B.Sc./B.S. The Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Bachelor of Science (BS or BSc) are similar in some countries, in that they are the most common undergraduate degrees. In the United States and Canada, both degrees consist of a general education component (matriculants take courses in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and mathematics). They typically require students to declare a major, take a certain number of elective courses, and sometimes have basic skills components (writing or computer proficiency exams), however, in countries not requiring a general education component - such as Australia - the subjects studied likely are different in each degree. The BS degree typically specifies more courses in the major (or cognate fields) than does the BA degree. The BA focuses on creating a well-rounded graduate through exposure (formal study) to natural sciences, social sciences, and foreign languages. Predictably, the BS degree tends to be awarded more often in the natural sciences than in the humanities. In the United States, the BS is also often awarded in pre-professional academic majors than purely academic: the BS degree is offered in Finance, Accounting, Criminal Justice, Fire Science, Transportation Studies and the like than the BA degree. Finally, the BA degree is used four times as often by arts and sciences colleges than by professional and technical schools. Beyond these differences, the variation between the BA degree and the BS degree depends on the policies of the colleges and universities. B.A. and B.Sc. degrees in the UK In the UK, usage varies: most universities distinguish between Arts and Science subjects through awarding either a BA or BSc depending on field on study. However, Oxford and Cambridge traditionally award BAs to undergraduates having completed the Part II Tripos (Cambridge) or Finals (Oxford) examinations in any subject (including the sciences). This degree is then superseded by an MA awarded five years after matriculation. The ancient universities of Scotland award an Master of Arts to arts undergraduates but a BSc to science undergraduates. A Bachelor of Arts in the UK receives the designation BA or AB for an ordinary/pass degree and BA(Hons) or AB(Hon) for an honours degree. EU harmonisation European Union members states' ministers of education have agreed on a harmonization of the educational cycles within the EU. One part of this agreement is the division into an undergraduate and a graduate level of higher education. Following this so-called "Bologna/Berlin declaration" (see Bologna process for more information), universities in the EU are now in the process of reorganizing their courses in order to offer Bachelor and Master degrees. Many universities have already changed to the bachelor/master model, and the others soon will. Subjects of the humanities and social studies can be completed with a BA at an increasing number of universities in Germany already, for example. This means EU countries are giving up their traditional magister or diploma courses to make switching and comparing universities easier. The reason for this rationalization is because the English magister ("master") and baccalaureus ("bachelor") classifications developed separately from most European countries. For example, in some universities of countries like Portugal and Brazil, the baccalaureus ("bacharelato") is granted as an intermediate step before a full degree is achieved through 1 or 2 extra years of study (leading to a two-stage degree). See also: Degrees of Oxford University. The BA is supposed to last three/four years, the MA one/two years but a BA is required first. The BA and the BA (Hons) in Australia In Australian universities, the BA is usually undertaken over a period of three years, with students able to combine a number of coursework disciplines under the degree. It is a requirement that students pursue at least one Major area of study, in which study in that subject area is undertaken at all three year-levels of the degree (first, second and third year). Occasionally, students will choose to pursue a second Major, but more often 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 to make up the degree. Unlike in other countries, Australian students do not receive an overall grade for their Bachelor of Arts, with varying levels of 'honours'. It is optional that at the conclusion of their third year of study (and provided they possess a grade average of 75% or higher across their Major area of study) that students will undertake an Honours (or fourth) year. This year is generally composed of a coursework component (including seminars or tutorials, with smaller written components) and a dissertation (15-20,000 words). It is the final grade of this year which determines whether the student graduates with 'first' or 'second' class honours. On graduation, students are permitted to append the abbreviation 'BA' to their name; those who have completed the Honours year may style themselves 'BA (Hons)'. The Honours degree (or its equivalent international degree) is generally the basic qualification required to pursue higher degrees by research, including the MA and PhD. See also | ||||||||
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