What is the difference between a BA degree and an honours degree?

1

I was looking at a degree course from the bath spa prospectus and it said that when you completed the 2 year foundation course you can apply for an honours degree.

Can someone explain what the difference is between a 2 year foundation degree and a 3 year (BA) degree?

What is an honours degree?

Reply 1

scraceus999

11

Umm you are confused arent you lol.

If you do the 2 years foundation, you can then progress onto the normal 3 year BA degree. Honours is the BA degree at a 2:1 level or above, so that depends on how you perform. They are the same thing so dont worry about it :smile:

Reply 2

Good bloke

19

scraceus999

Honours is the BA degree at a 2:1 level or above,

No; honours degrees are all results of third class honours or above (1st, upper second and lower second are all above third class honours). Below an honours degree is a n ordinary, or pass, degree. All are designated as BA, BSc or whatever.

Reply 3

noodles!

14

Alright, I'm confused now. Well, I was in the first place. So if I graduate with a 2:1 it will be a BA(Hons) yes?

Reply 4

scraceus999

11

Good bloke

No; honours degrees are all results of third class honours or above (1st, upper second and lower second are all above third class honours). Below an honours degree is a n ordinary, or pass, degree. All are designated as BA, BSc or whatever.

thats what i meant lol.....was having trouble getting it into words. When i said BA i didnt mean ONLY BA i only said that cos the OP was saying about his degree being BA.

I didnt think getting a 3rd resulted in honours? if you miss a third then you have failed, so where is tha gap between the pass degree and the honours?

Reply 5

TheBrightShadow

1

yes

Reply 6

Vincente

14

A foundation degree is a pre-university degree standard degree usually taken by students who lack the qualification to be admitted into a BA or BSC course. When completed you will then progress into the BA degree which is 3/4 years.

An honours degree means when you completed and passed a sufficient amount of modules within the degree (in my case you have to pass 11 out of 12). If you don't pass enough modules you will gain a normal degree with no degree classification i.e. (2:1, 2:2 etc).

Reply 7

Andysw

OP

1

But a 2 year foundation degree requires 160 tariff points. How does that make it for students who lack the qualification?

Reply 8

Vincente

14

Well for example a friend of mine needed ABB/BBB to gain admission to a foundation science degree. In his case he doesn't have science A levels.

Reply 9

Good bloke

19

scraceus999

I didnt think getting a 3rd resulted in honours? if you miss a third then you have failed, so where is tha gap between the pass degree and the honours?

Of course it does; what do you think it is third class of? Some courses will award pass (or ordinary)degrees below the level of third class honours, others will fail the student.

Reply 10

Andysw

OP

1

Vincente

Well for example a friend of mine needed ABB/BBB to gain admission to a foundation science degree. In his case he doesn't have science A levels.

Oh I see. So it's just a case of whether or not a student took a particular course for a-levels/btec.

But can you take a foundation degree for science (or other subjects) even though you have a-level science?

Reply 11

Good bloke

19

Andysw

But can you take a foundation degree for science (or other subjects) even though you have a-level science?

Of course. You may not have the right science qualification, or your maths record may be poor.

Reply 12

The_Lonely_Goatherd

20

Good bloke

No; honours degrees are all results of third class honours or above (1st, upper second and lower second are all above third class honours). Below an honours degree is a n ordinary, or pass, degree. All are designated as BA, BSc or whatever.

By the sounds of it, scraceus999 has heard the same thing as me. I've heard that I can only put BA Hons after my name if I get a 2:1 or above in my exams. Otherwise it's apparently just a plain BA. I've never had any confirmation or denial of that though :nah:

Reply 13

Good bloke

19

The_Lonely_Goatherd

By the sounds of it, scraceus999 has heard the same thing as me. I've heard that I can only put BA Hons after my name if I get a 2:1 or above in my exams. Otherwise it's apparently just a plain BA. I've never had any confirmation or denial of that though :nah:

In that case you have both been misinformed about the British system of degree classification.

The order goes:

•

First class honours

•

Upper second class honours

•

Lower second class honours

•

Third class honours

•

Ordinary degree

Below that you fail.

Reply 14

The_Lonely_Goatherd

20

Good bloke

In that case you have both been misinformed about the British system of degree classification.

The order goes:

•

First class honours

•

Upper second class honours

•

Lower second class honours

•

Third class honours

•

Ordinary degree

Below that you fail.

I'm glad to hear it :biggrin:

I thought it was just one of these weird Oxbridge rules :smile:

Reply 15

opalescence

My degree programme is a BA (Hons) in Business. I was told that not all the modules are necessary to get an ordinary degree. After reading this thread I am confused.
If I were to drop/fail those modules that are not necessary, will I still receive an ordinary degree?

Reply 16

Aliylum

3

As a 3rd year doing BA(hons) Business at Strathclyde:

BA is a 3 year course. You will have modules that are compulsory for everyone and modules that you can choose. To complete a full year, you need to have 120 credits worth of modules. For my uni, 1 module = 20 credits.

Honours is still part of a BA dergree but is a year extra. In this year you will submit a dissertation.

Entry into Honours year is considered in 3rd year by the uni and you need to meet a certain standard to be accepted for Honours - think its 60% average.

So basically Hons is more work (credits), at a higer level, requiring a dissertation and is only open to those who perform decently in years 1-3.

Lastly, I believe I am correct in saying that if you do a BA only, you just get a pass, pass with merit (60% avg) or pass with distinction (70% avg).

If you do a Hons then you get 1st class, upper and lower 2nd and 3rd class.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 17

Zedd

12

It depends upon whether you study in Scotland or not.

In Scotland a BA is a 3 year unclassified degree or as we term it: an ordinary degree, which is awarded mostly at non-ancient universities. There are two may ways of getting this degree: You can either opt to leave after the third year and receive a BA, or if you receive a degree classification of 3 in your honours studies then you will be awarded an ordinary degree (BA) instead of an honours degree (BA(Hons).

Reply 18

opalescence

@Aliylum: Thanks for clarifying. In my case, I am studying a course programme from England. If I choose to do only a BA, will I still be able to graduate with a BA without honours?

@Zedd: No, I am studying in England. Thanks for clarifying. Do you know the difference between the salary for a BA and a BA (Hons) holder?

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 19

Zedd

12

Original post

by opalescence

@Aliylum: Thanks for clarifying. In my case, I am studying in England. If I choose to do only a BA, will I still be able to graduate with a BA without honours?

@Zedd: No, I am studying in England. Thanks for clarifying. Do you know the difference between the salary for a BA and a BA (Hons) holder?

A non-honours degree is essentially worthless from what I can gather (honours degrees being so common these days most employers want a 2.1 or 2.2 honours degree to enter into graduate positions). The only instances where that isn't the case are when the degree is a professional degree, e.g., medicine, dentistry, vet med., nursing, etc. Really though it depends on what you want to do and what the businesses that you apply to are looking for.

What is the difference between a BA degree and an honours degree?

Related discussions

Articles for you

How The Student Room is moderated