British degree abbreviations

Degree abbreviations are used as an alternative way to specify an academic degree instead of spelling out the title in full, such as in reference books like Who's Who and on business cards. Many degrees have more than one abbreviation.

Note that usage in some Scottish universities, particularly the ancient universities, differs from that in England and Wales in that MAs are given out in place of BAs as first degrees, where the course of study is four years rather than the three years typical in England.

The usage in the two ancient English universities of Oxford and Cambridge also differs slightly from that in other UK universities - the MA degree is not a substantive qualification, but reflects the ancient practice of these universities of raising BAs to MAs (and thus full membership of the University) a few years after graduating. Conversely, some bachelor's degrees in the higher faculties (i.e. those other than arts) at those universities are postgraduate qualifications (e.g. the BCL and BMus at Oxford). Many have been changed to the corresponding masters degree (e.g. BSc is now MSc), but only within the last generation. The BD remains a higher degree at a some older universities (e.g. Oxford, Cambridge, St Andrews and Durham) but is an undergraduate degree at most (e.g. London, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow). Oxford and Cambridge grant BAs after three years to students on undergraduate courses lasting longer than this (the undergraduate masters degrees and the MB, ChB in medicine).

Undergraduate degrees may be awarded "with Honours" or may be "Ordinary" or "Pass" degrees. The meaning of non-Honours degrees changed in the course of the twentieth century, and varies somewhat between England and Wales on the one hand and Scotland and Northern Ireland on the other, and also between institutions. In some places to be awarded an Ordinary or Pass degree is nowadays a euphemism for failure, however, in the Open University and some of the newer universities with a strong commitment to broadening access to higher education, the Pass degree remains a valuable qualification though of a lower standard (or indicating a shorter period of study) than an Honours degree. Honours degrees are usually awarded with first, upper-second, lower-second or third class honours.

Usage of titles of masters degrees (in particular the undergraduate masters degrees) is in continuing flux, not least because of discussions of harmonisation of qualifications within the European Union as part of the Bologna process.

Bachelor's degrees

In England 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 and Dundee), 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.

So, here goes the list:

• BA - Bachelor of Arts

• BAE - Bachelor of Arts and Economics

• BASc/BAS - Bachelor of Applied Science

• BCL - Bachelor of Civil Law

• 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

• BPhil - Bachelor of Philosophy

• BSc - Bachelor of Science

• BScEcon - Bachelor of Economic and Social Science

• BScEng - Bachelor of Science in Engineering

• BSocSc - Bachelor of Social Science

• 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

• GCGI The Graduateship (post-nominal GCGI) awarded by the City & Guilds of London Institute is mapped to a British Honours degree

• ACGI The Associateship is conferred by the Council of the City & Guilds of London Institute on the recommendation of the Dean of the City and Guilds College in recognition of the ability to demonstrate, to the level equivalent to that of a degree of Bachelor of Science (Engineering), or Bachelor of Engineering, or Master of Engineering, the understanding and application of the principles of a branch of Engineering or of Computing Science approved by the Institute

Master's degrees

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

• MNatSc - Master of Natural Science

• MNursSci - Master of Nursing Science

• MOcean - Master of Oceanography

• MPharm - Master of Pharmacy

• MPhys - Master of Physics

• MSci - Master in Science (Master of Natural Science at Cambridge University)

• MStat - Master of Statistics

• MTheol - Master of Theology

• MCGI - awarded by the City & Guilds of London Institute is mapped to a British Master's degree

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 generally a nine-month, mostly taught, degree. The MUniv is only ever an honorary degree. Postgraduate masters degrees are considered higher status than undergraduate masters. Postgraduate masters degrees are generally classfied as pass, pass with merit and pass with distinction. The percentage bandings for these award levels are 50%-59% (pass), 60%-69% (merit) and 70%+ (distinction). It is more difficult to obtain a postgraduate masters degree with distinction than a bachelors with first class honours.

• 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