[edit] Bachelor's degrees

In England, Northern Ireland and Wales, almost all bachelor's degrees are awarded as honours
degrees, sometimes indicated by '(Hons)' after the degree abbreviation without a space, for example
'BA(Hons)'.

At the Ancient universities of Scotland (St Andrews, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen) a BSc(Hons)
indicates a four year course, being the equivalent of the Scottish MA for science degrees. A Scottish
BSc without honours indicates a three year course with less specialisation (a General Degree).

Some of the following are postgraduate degrees in a few universities, but generally bachelors are
undergraduate degrees.

See also Bachelor's degree.

 BA - Bachelor of Arts
 BAcc - Bachelor of Accounting
 BAE - Bachelor of Arts and Economics
 BArch - Bachelor of Architecture
 BASc/BAS - Bachelor of Applied Science
 BCL - Bachelor of Civil Law
 BCoun - Bachelor of Counseling
 BD - Bachelor of Divinity
 BDes - Bachelor of Design
 BDS or BChD - Bachelor of Dental Surgery
 BEcon - Bachelor of Economics
 BEcon&Fin - Bachelor of Economics and Finance
 BEd or EdB - Bachelor of Education
 BEng or BE - Bachelor of Engineering
 BFA - Bachelor of Fine Art
 BFin - Bachelor of Finance
 BHSc - Bachelor of Health Science
 BLitt or LittB - Bachelor of Literature or Bachelor of Letters
 BMedSc or BMSc - Bachelor of Biomedical science
 BMid - Bachelor of Midwifery
 BMin - Bachelor of Ministry
 BMus or MusB - Bachelor of Music
 BNurs or BN - Bachelor of Nursing
 BPharm - Bachelor of Pharmacy
 BPhil - Bachelor of Philosophy
 BSc(Psych) - Bachelor of Science in Psychology
 BSc - Bachelor of Science
 BSc(Econ) - Bachelor of Science in Economics
 BSc(Eng) - Bachelor of Science in Engineering
 BSocSc - Bachelor of Social Science
 BTchg- Bachelor of Teaching
 BTech - Bachelor of Technology (not to be confused with BTEC)
 BTh, ThB or BTheol - Bachelor of Theology
 LLB - Bachelor of Laws
 MB or BM - Bachelor of Medicine
  BS, ChB, BChir or BCh - Bachelor of Surgery
 BVetMed / BVMS (Bachelors in Veterinary Medicine)/ & Surgery
 VetMB - Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine (Cambridge)

[edit] Master's degrees

See also Master's degree.

[edit] Undergraduate

These, like most bachelors degrees, are honours degrees, indicated by putting '(Hons)' after the degree
abbreviation. The majority of undergraduate master's degrees are within science and engineering
subjects. The undergraduate MAs of the ancient universities of Scotland are also honours degrees and
may also add '(Hons)'. MEng used to be offered by some universities as a postgraduate degree, but is
now an undergraduate degree.

 MA - with or without honours in Scotland or from Oxbridge

 MBiochem - Master of Biochemistry
 MBiol - Master of Biology
 MChem - Master of Chemistry
 MDiv - Master of Divinity
 MEcon - Master of Economics
 MEng - Master of Engineering
 MEnvSci - Master of Environmental Science
 MESci - Master of Earth Science
 MGeog - Master of Geography
 MGeol - Master of Geology
 MGeophys - Master of Geophysics
 MInf- Master of Informatics
 MMath - Master of Mathematics
 MMathPhys - Master of Mathematics and Physics
 MMORSE - Master of Mathematics, Operational Research, Statistics and Economics
 MNatSc - Master of Natural Science
 MNursSci - Master of Nursing Science
 MOcean - Master of Oceanography
 MPharm - Master of Pharmacy
 MPhys - Master of Physics
 MPlan - Master of Planning
 MSci - Master in Science (Master of Natural Science at Cambridge University)
 MStat - Master of Statistics
 MTheol - Master of Theology

[edit] Postgraduate

Postgraduate degrees are not honours degrees, and do not add '(Hons)' to indicate this. MA (Hons) is
only used for the undergraduate degree of the ancient Scottish universities: as there are no
examinations for the MAs in Oxford and Cambridge there are consequently no honours to be awarded.
The Oxbridge MA may be differentiated by putting the name of the institution after the degree, thus
'MA (Oxon)' or 'MA (Cantab)'. The MPhil is normally reserved for longer (often two year) research-
based masters degrees (as at Oxford), although at Cambridge the MPhil is usually either a nine-month
or twelve-month, either taught or research, degree. The MUniv is only ever an honorary degree.
Postgraduate masters degrees are considered higher status than undergraduate masters. Postgraduate
masters degrees are generally classified as pass, pass with merit and pass with distinction, although
not all universities incorporate merit. The percentage bandings for these award levels are usually 50%-
59% (pass), 60%-69% (merit) and 70%+ (distinction), although a merit banding of only 65%-69% is
used in some universities whilst a single pass banding of 50%-69% is usually used at universities that
do not award a merit.

 LLM - Master of Laws

 MA - Master of Arts
 MBA - Master of Business Administration
 MBiolSci - Master of Biological Science
 MClinDent - Master of Clinical Dentistry
 MDrama - Master of Drama
 MeB - Master of Electronic Business (eBusiness)
 MEd - Master of Education
 MFA - Master of Fine Art
 MJur - Master of Jurisprudence (Law) (Magister Juris at Oxford)
 MLib - Master of Librarianship
 MLitt - Master of Letters
 MMus or MusM - Master of Music
 MPH - Master of Public Health
 MPhil - Master of Philosophy
 MRes - Master of Research
 MSc - Master of Science
 MSSc/MSocSc - Master of Social Science
 MSt - Master of Studies
 MTh or MTheol - Master of Theology
 MUniv - Master of the University

[edit] Doctor's degrees

Due to the flexibility of Latin word order, there are two schools in the abbreviation of doctor's
degrees. At Cambridge, D follows the faculty (e.g. PhD, LittD.), while at Oxford the abbreviation D
precedes the faculty (e.g. DPhil, DLitt). Most universities in the UK followed Oxford for the higher
doctorates but followed international precedent in using PhD for Doctor of Philosophy. Doctor of
Medicine (MD or DM) is sometimes a professional doctorate (e.g. in the US and others) and
sometimes a research doctorate (e.g. in the UK and some of the Commonwealth). The degree of
Doctor of Medicine is considered by some as a higher doctorate. However, the MD/DM research
degree often requires a shorter period of study than, for example, a PhD and is considered by some
universities to be more on par with an MPhil than a PhD (at least in the UK, e.g. the University of
Manchester). Doctor of Philosophy is normally reserved for doctorates awarded on the basis of
original research, other junior doctorates have substantial taught elements. Higher doctorates are
normally awarded as honorary degrees (honoris causa), but can also be awarded on the basis of
published work. DUniv is only ever an honorary degree. The sorting between junior doctorates and
higher doctorates below is dependent on the granting institution. Several institutions consider some of
the junior doctorates listed below as higher doctorates.

See also Doctorate.

[edit] Junior Doctorates

 PhD or DPhil (University of Oxford and a few others) - Doctor of Philosophy

 DBA - Doctor of Business Administration
 DClinPsych - Doctor of Clinical Psychology
 EdD - Doctor of Education
 EdPsychD - Doctor of Educational Psychology
 EngD - Doctor of Engineering
 HScD/DHSci - Doctor of Health Science
 MD or DM - Doctor of Medicine
 DMin - Doctor of Ministry
 DNursSci - Doctor of Nursing Science
 DProf - Doctor of Professional Studies
 SocSciD - Doctor of Social Science
 ThD - Doctor of Theology
 DPT - Doctor of Practical Theology

[edit] Higher Doctorates

The order of seniority for Higher doctorates varies from institution to institution and not all
institutions award the same degrees. The following order generally pertains, especially in older
universities.

 DD - Doctor of Divinity
 DCL - Doctor of Civil Law especially at Oxford
 LLD - Doctor of Laws
 DM or MD - Doctor of Medicine not to be confused with the American MD
 DLitt or LittD - Doctor of Letters
 DLit - Doctor of Literature
 DSc or ScD - Doctor of Science
 DMus or MusD - Doctor of Music
 DDS - Doctor of Dental Surgery
 DUniv - Doctor of the University