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Difference between a BEng (Hons) and BEng, MEng and MSc

Hi, I'm in a slightly confused place right now.

I'm currently enrolled in the Engineering Foundation Year at the University of Southampton and I plan on taking Electrical and Electronic Engineering next year. (I still have a year to decide though.)

I have three main questions:

1. What is the difference between a BEng(Hons) and a BEng.
- On the list of undergraduate subjects, BEng in Mechanical Engineering has a '(Hons)' next to it while there is no such thing on the EEE page. From what I've been reading, a Hons degree is important when pursuing postgrad studies.

2. Is a BEng+MEng the same as a BEng+MSc?
- I do have the option of completing an MEng in EEE (4 years) but is that considered an Honours degree? Theres no information on the website.
I have seen on several posts that a MSc is more valuable than a MEng but takes more time. However, a BEng + MSc is also 4 years (the same as an MEng.)

3. The MSc for Nanoelectronics and Nanotechnology page states the entry requirements as "an upper second-class honours degree". Does this mean a BEng (Hons) or a MEng (Hons)? Since I cannot figure out if my MEng in EEE has Hons, this has me really confused.

Thank you in advance.
1: hons generally means a higher standard of study than a non hons degree. Better to contact the uni about it.

2: an MEng is a integrated masters, it involves a BEng and then a masters year done part of it. Neither is more valuable, for my course we have an MEng programme and MSc's, the MEng allows us to pick and choose MSc modules (that's specific to my course), it was explained that the MSc here is generally targeted towards international students who want the standard of education offered from the UK.

3: BEng, you wouldn't require a masters to do another.
1) BEng(Hons) is a higher level degree than a BEng, however BEng in England you would usually refer to a BEng(Hons) as a BEng because the (Hons) is implied, I would assume this is what happened and I highly doubt that Soton is offering BEng degrees without honours as a normal practice.

2) You would either do a standalone MEng or BEng+MSc, for MEng and BEng all years will run from September-ish to June-ish and for MSc the year will run from September-ish to August-ish. This extra time is to do your dissertation as you would start it in semester 2, compared to semester 1 for the undergraduate degrees, and you can work on it full time. So the MSc is slightly longer not significantly so.

Their reputation is pretty much equal, although I would say that a preference for the MEng is growing for a number of reasons such as it becoming the standard route, inclusion of a significant group project, the ability to assume a higher level of knowledge in 4th year compared to the MSc, and developing better relationships with professors and other university staff.

3) Either BEng(Hons) or MEng(Hons). The (Hons) is much more commonly left off for MEng as it would be extremely difficult to end up with an MEng Ordinary degree as every uni I've seen requires you to maintain a 55%+ average through 1st and 2nd year. I'm not sure if your university would even let you graduate with an MEng ordinary degree and I'm pretty sure they would give you a BEng(Hons) based on your top 360 credits instead.
(edited 6 years ago)

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