NARIC guide on Higher Education Systems in the European Union

No distinction is made in the UK between State and institutional degrees as is the case elsewhere. Universities are empowered
by royal charter or act of Parliament to award degrees. Institutes and colleges of higher
education award their first degrees in conjunction with the OU or a local university.
The degrees of the sole British private university, the University of Buckingham, are sanctioned by the presence of external
examiners drawn from public universities, as is the case in the public universities.
A distinction is made between academic and professional qualifications. The 250 statutory councils, institutes and other
professional bodies
exercise varying degrees of influence over the content of degree courses leading to the professions and to the qualifying of
individuals to act in certain professional capacities, such as doctors, dentists, lawyers,
engineers, architects, pharmacists and so on. In this respect, they act as the State does in some other European countries.
In a number of fields, university studies give not only an academic degree but also a professional qualification, for example
medical, dental, and veterinary sciences. In others, the professional qualification or specialisation is added on afterwards (e.g.
law and (secondary) education).
Degree courses can be grouped in a number of ways. The Official <strong>guide</strong> 1994 places them in the following categories:
agriculture and biological sciences;
physical and mathematical sciences;
medical, dental and veterinary sciences and allied studies;
engineering and technology;
arts and education;
languages and literature;
business, management and social sciences;
professional and vocational subjects.
The student can work for either an honours degree or an ordinary degree. The honours degree is a more specialised degree
requiring a higher level of performance and more time from the student. Many degree courses are categorised as honours with
the student being awarded a pass or ordinary degree when he or she fails to make honours standard. In the case of illness or
absence, distinguished course work may, in exceptional cases, be rewarded with an aegrotat degree.
An increasing number of degrees now follow a modular structure. Most degrees are single, joint or combined honours, which
reflects their specialised or interdisciplinary focus, and graded first class, second class (division 1 or 2), third class or pass to
indicate the level of the student’s performance. (A good honours degree — i.e. first or second class — is often required for
entry to higher degree study or to the professions.)
University education, which can be divided into undergraduate and postgraduate studies, is concluded with the following
degrees:
Undergraduate programmes: the Bachelor’s degree
the Master’s degree (Scotland)