What does MA stand for

I was browsing through the website of University of Glasgow and i found a few courses with MA next to them, as per my knowledge MA stands for masters in arts but why was the course under undergraduate degree then? Is it a combined bachelors + masters course?
Hope someone can help...

Reply 1

CompSciJP

15

Yes, it will be an Integrated Masters programme, typically studied for four years and you will obtain a masters degree at the end. MA are typically for Humanities.

Reply 2

DataVenia

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Original post by vaidika

I was browsing through the website of University of Glasgow and i found a few courses with MA next to them, as per my knowledge MA stands for masters in arts but why was the course under undergraduate degree then? Is it a combined bachelors + masters course?
Hope someone can help...

Correct. It's a "combined bachelors + masters course", normally called an "integrated master's" because the master's degree is integrated with the bachelor's degree.

Sometimes, if you change you mind partway through the course you can change to the regular 3-year bachelor's version. Sometimes you can't. So check.

One advantage is that if you think you might want to do master's degree, then you don't need to make a separate application as your bachelor's degree comes to an end, and you don't need to worry about moving town/university if you get accepted elsewhere.

One disadvantage is you never actually get a bachelor's degree. So you can't put BA (Hons), MA after you name, and if someone asks where you did your bachelor's degree (or whether you got a 2:1 or a first) you have to explain the whole integrated master's thing. This might not be an issue for you, but it bugs me.

Reply 3

JeremyStudy

11

Original post by vaidika

I was browsing through the website of University of Glasgow and i found a few courses with MA next to them, as per my knowledge MA stands for masters in arts but why was the course under undergraduate degree then? Is it a combined bachelors + masters course?
Hope someone can help...

This is from the website of Glasgow:
At Glasgow (and the other three ancient universities in Scotland), an Honours level degree in the Arts is called a Master of Arts (MA) and an Honours level degree in the Social Sciences a Master of Arts (Social Sciences). These should not be confused with the Master of Arts offered by some universities in England, which refers to a postgraduate qualification.

Hope this helps!

Reply 4

DataVenia

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Original post by JeremyStudy

This is from the website of Glasgow:
At Glasgow (and the other three ancient universities in Scotland), an Honours level degree in the Arts is called a Master of Arts (MA) and an Honours level degree in the Social Sciences a Master of Arts (Social Sciences). These should not be confused with the Master of Arts offered by some universities in England, which refers to a postgraduate qualification.

Hope this helps!

How strange. I clearly need to stop answering questions about Scottish universities. Everything works so differently there!

Reply 5

Jess_Lomas

17

Also courses with integrated masters have higher entry requirements so keep that in mind when applying

Reply 6

JeremyStudy

11

Original post by DataVenia

How strange. I clearly need to stop answering questions about Scottish universities. Everything works so differently there!

yeah scottish universities work differently. However it's the same names for science degrees I think

Reply 7

PQ

Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Original post by Jess_Lomas

Also courses with integrated masters have higher entry requirements so keep that in mind when applying

Not Scottish undergrad MAs. They’re usually lower requirements than the equivalent English degrees because they accept entry with Highers at 17 and not Advanced Highers at 18.

The Scottish and English systems aren’t directly comparable.

Some Scottish universities offer MEng and equivalents - they’re 5 year degrees in Scotland rather than the 4 year equivalent in England (and consequently have lower entry requirements than the English equivalent).

Reply 8

Reality Check

22

Original post by vaidika

I was browsing through the website of University of Glasgow and i found a few courses with MA next to them, as per my knowledge MA stands for masters in arts but why was the course under undergraduate degree then? Is it a combined bachelors + masters course?
Hope someone can help...

Even more confusingly, an 'MA' at Cambridge isn't a degree at all, but an indication of achieving a certain status at the university. An undergraduate BA who has held that degree for six years can proceed to the degree of MA without any further examination or work (the reasons for this are historical).

The 'Oxbridge MA' confuses the hell out of a lot of people, who naturally assume an 'MA' is a Level 7 qualification in the same way as an M.Phil, M.Res, PGCE etc would be. It's not...

What does MA stand for

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