Oxford's degree titles (honours & Oxon)

I realised that most (or all) of the degree titles at Oxford are attached with the word ‘honors’ (whether should this be single or joint). And I also realised that the same courses at most of the non-Oxbridge universities do not have these ‘honours’ strings attached to them (I know Durham does, but LSE doesn’t). What does this mean or signify in realistic sense?

And also… the Oxon titles are attached to every single degrees awarded by Oxford (BA History (Hon) Oxon, e.g.). Are the degrees awarded by other unis also have the abbreviated names of the institutions attached to them? (e.g. BA History LSE, etc.)?

Just curious
Thanks :smile:

Reply 1

rottcodd

3

Everyone graduates with honours, unless you leave early. When you get your degree, you refer to it as just that: BA History or whatever (It's usually taken as read that it's with honours). You can put the name of the institution in brackets after, if you want.

Reply 2

Elles

17

Realistic sense - "honours" means nothing unless it's a degree that doesn't have conventional classifications, where it means extra well done. If it has classifications then what matters is the 3rd/2:2/2:1/1st because very rarely would someone get a degree without honours.

(Oxon) tends to be used once you upgrade your BA to an honorary MA after however many terms (an old admin thing to give you voting rights or something blah blah blah). Tis to indicate it is honorary, from Oxford & not a proper MA.

Writing BA (Oxon) would look a bit stupid, IMHO. & unnecessary - on a CV you'll have University (+-College) details anyway, just wait till you have an MA and a better excuse to flout the 'I went to OXON, don't you know!'.

Reply 3

Cirsium

19

In the school I work in, the section of the diary that has all the names of staff in it has all our degrees listed after our names; and everyone has something to indicate institution

Reply 4

thomasjtl

9

Giving the institution along with the degree isn't unusual when giving your postnominals (which you probably wouldn't on your CV anyway) and has nothing to do with oxbridge 'fake' MAs. Although it does conveniently clarify any confusion over whether your MA is 'real' or not.

Assume any degree is with honours if it's from a english university pretty much- when you get a 1st what that means is you graduated with first class honours. If you do pretty badly and get worse than a 3rd you can graduate without honours and get a pass degree, typically.

Reply 5

Angelil

19

Oxford is just one of a few universities that can have the Latin postnominal, however :yep:

Reply 6

thomasjtl

9

the official university publications guidelines now say to use Oxf. rather than Oxon. it'll never catch on.

Reply 7

pf1

4

Angelil

Oxford is just one of a few universities that can have the Latin postnominal, however :yep:

Out of curiosity, which others have this (except Cambridge, obviously)?

Reply 8

Andy the Anarchist

10

pf1

Out of curiosity, which others have this (except Cambridge, obviously)?

Dublin I think

Reply 9

Angelil

19

pf1

Out of curiosity, which others have this (except Cambridge, obviously)?

Cambridge (Cantab), Exeter (Exon), York (Ebor), Durham (Dunelm)...are the first ones that come to mind. A full list can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_post-nominal_letters#United_Kingdom (scroll down)

Following the Exon/Oxon pattern, one of my friends made a very rude comment about what the theoretical postnominal for someone graduating from LJM could be :p:

Reply 10

El Salvador

21

Original post by Elles

Realistic sense - "honours" means nothing unless it's a degree that doesn't have conventional classifications, where it means extra well done. If it has classifications then what matters is the 3rd/2:2/2:1/1st because very rarely would someone get a degree without honours.

(Oxon) tends to be used once you upgrade your BA to an honorary MA after however many terms (an old admin thing to give you voting rights or something blah blah blah). Tis to indicate it is honorary, from Oxford & not a proper MA.

Writing BA (Oxon) would look a bit stupid, IMHO. & unnecessary - on a CV you'll have University (+-College) details anyway, just wait till you have an MA and a better excuse to flout the 'I went to OXON, don't you know!'.

Having '(Oxon)' after 'MA' is no different from having it after 'BA'. By your reasoning, on a CV you will still list 'The University of Oxford' so why '(Oxon)' after 'MA' then?

And the upgrade to an MA has nothing to do with voting rights. Anyone who ever matriculated (ie you don't actually have to graduate, although you could be striped off your rights) as members of the university are entitled to a vote in the congregation for the election of the Chancellor (a position currently held by Lord Chris Pattern, last governor of Hong Kong).

You get an MA 21 terms (3 terms = 1 year) after you matriculate because back in the days, bachelors were nothing, and some universities even give you one when you matriculate. The degree you are going for would actually be called a magister (master) instead. Liberal arts were taught in universities and before attend universities a lot younger so they did a degree for 7 years (hence the time to an MA). This is the reason why Dublin and the ancient Scottish universities all award masters' with undergraduate programmes. Oxbridge were the first to actually make bachelors mean anything, whilst The University of London was the first to break out of the mold and not award masters' as bachelors altogether. Similar problem can be found in Oxford everywhere, like BCL being in fact a master's degree.

Reply 11

El Salvador

21

Original post by Cirsium

In the school I work in, the section of the diary that has all the names of staff in it has all our degrees listed after our names; and everyone has something to indicate institution

I actually read on a school's website earlier with teachers listing 'CELTA, University of Cambridge' which I found very dishonest.

CELTA is a certificate for people who wish to teach English as a second language but is not considered a teaching qualification, or an actual qualification at any meaningful form (not a degree or postgraduate studies definitely). It takes only six to eight weeks, and you don't actually get to be taught by Cambridge tutors or visit the university. It's organised and issued by Cambridge Examinations, the same organisation who does IELTS and GCSE among many other things.

Reply 12

El Salvador

21

Original post by thomasjtl

the official university publications guidelines now say to use Oxf. rather than Oxon. it'll never catch on.

It's more on how it should be mentioned elsewhere but not really as a postnominal I believe.

Reply 13

Elles

17

Original post by clh_hilary

Having '(Oxon)' after 'MA' is no different from having it after 'BA'. By your reasoning, on a CV you will still list 'The University of Oxford' so why '(Oxon)' after 'MA' then?

To make explicit in a postnomial that it is honorary... you get plenty of opportunity for postnomials outside of a CV.
My point was more that 'BA (Oxon)' isn't necessary(/convention/harder to justify the showing off!) as for people who actually need to know where you went it'd be on a CV anyway.

You feel so passionately on this topic that you resurrected a 5 year old thread to post? :dontknow:

Anyhow - shall take it as a sign that I really do need to get mine sorted. :biggrin:

Reply 14

ZakV

8

Thought Hons was used depending on whether you completed your degree with a dissertation component?

Reply 15

El Salvador

21

Original post by Elles

To make explicit in a postnomial that it is honorary... you get plenty of opportunity for postnomials outside of a CV.
My point was more that 'BA (Oxon)' isn't necessary(/convention/harder to justify the showing off!) as for people who actually need to know where you went it'd be on a CV anyway.

You feel so passionately on this topic that you resurrected a 5 year old thread to post? :dontknow:

Anyhow - shall take it as a sign that I really do need to get mine sorted. :biggrin:

I was googling something else (very different) and this came up so I thought I'd respond.

You do actually need to state it. It's not showing off to tell people where you got the degree from. And you can argue for a need to specify because in a lot of other universities, BA does mean only a bachelor of arts, and they have other degrees like BSc, BSS, BBA, etc which Oxford doesn't offer. (At the same time there are postgraduate degrees from Oxford which start with a 'B' such as BCL.)

With the MA, it still doesn't make sense. Not only is it not honorary (in the technical sense), you also say '(Hon)' after an honorary degree, not just the university. Most people, in Britain or elsewhere, don't know the MAs do not require additional studies from the BA holders so '(Oxon)' would definitely not make it if you want to make it known.

Reply 16

jack_flowers

Original post by Elles

Realistic sense - "honours" means nothing unless it's a degree that doesn't have conventional classifications, where it means extra well done. If it has classifications then what matters is the 3rd/2:2/2:1/1st because very rarely would someone get a degree without honours.

(Oxon) tends to be used once you upgrade your BA to an honorary MA after however many terms (an old admin thing to give you voting rights or something blah blah blah). Tis to indicate it is honorary, from Oxford & not a proper MA.

Writing BA (Oxon) would look a bit stupid, IMHO. & unnecessary - on a CV you'll have University (+-College) details anyway, just wait till you have an MA and a better excuse to flout the 'I went to OXON, don't you know!'.

How do British Honours 3rd/2:2/2:1/1st translate roughly into American Grade Point Averages? Where graduation with 90-100% = A; 80-89% = B; 70-79% = C, and below 70 (2.0 on a 4.0 scale) is failing. Thanks.