Analytic Quality Glossary

 

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Citation reference: Harvey, L., 2004–11, Analytic Quality Glossary, Quality Research International, http://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/glossary/

This is a dynamic glossary and the author would welcome any e-mail suggestions for amendments or additions. Page updated 17 January, 2012

 

 

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Degree

 

core definition

Degree is the core higher education award, which may be offered at various levels from foundation, through bachelors, masters to doctoral.

 

explanatory context

The term degree refers both to the award and the educational process leading to the award. In general, having a degree is shorthand for having completed a programme at study that leads to the first level of recognised higher education award in a country. In the UK, for example, that has traditionally been a bachelors?f degree while in much of Europe it would imply the equivalent of a masters degree. Growing internationalisation will lead to greater clarification of which level of degree has been attained.

 

analytical review

Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE, 2003) defined a degree course as:

A course of higher education leading to the award of a bachelor's or master's degree.

This was changed by HEFCE (2010) to:

Degree course: A course of higher education leading to the award of a foundation, bachelor's or master's degree.

However, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA, undated) in the UK still has the more restricted definition:

Degree course: A course of higher education leading to the award of a bachelor's or master's degree.

 

Northeast Texas Network Consortium defines degree and degree programme as follows:

Degree: Diploma or title awarded to a student who completed a prescribed course of study.

Degree program: An organized sequence of classes that leads to the awarding of a college degree at the undergraduate or graduate level. (NTNC, 2002)

 

ICN (2003) defines:

degree program: an organized sequence of classes that leads to the awarding of a college degree at the undergraduate or graduate level.

 

The site of the Common Data Set of U.S. Higher Education Terminology (2010) states:

Degree: An award conferred by a college, university, or other postsecondary education institution as official recognition for the successful completion of a program of studies. 


The Graduate Recruitment Bureau (2011) states:

Degree: Qualification awarded after the successful completion of undergraduate study. BA (Bachelor of Arts) for a first degree in Arts and BSc (Bachelor of Science) for a first degree in Science, are the two most common undergraduate degrees. Degrees can be studied as a single subject (single honours), two subjects (joint honours) or two or three subjects (combined honours). 

 

associated issues

 

related terms

See also

bachelor?fs degree

master?fs degree

doctoral degree

foundation programme

 

sources

Common Data Set of U.S. Higher Education Terminology, 2010, Glossary, available at http://www.uta.fi/FAST/US5/REF/dataset.html, updated 10 November 2010, accessed 31 January 2011.

Graduate Recruitment Bureau, 2011, Higher Education Glossary, available at http://www.grb.uk.com/he_glossary.0.html, acessed 15 February 2011.

Higher Education Authority (HEA) [of Ireland] 2004, Glossary http://www.hea.ie/index.cfm/page/sub/id/519, no longer available 29 January 2011.

Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE ), 2003, About us: Glossary  http://www.hefce.ac.uk/glossary/glossary.htm Updated 3 January 2003, no longer avialable, see HEFCE (2010)

Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), 2010, About us: Glossary, available at http://www.hefce.ac.uk/aboutus/glossary/glossary.htm, updated 8 November 2010, accessed 27 January 2011.

Indiana College Network (ICN), 2007, ?eGlossary?f http://www.icn.org/about/glossary.html, last modified 14 October, 2003. Address of 'Glossary' at 31 January 20111 is http://www.icn.org/getting_started/glossary_of_terms.html, updated 15 February 2007. Definition unchanged from 2003 version.

Northeast Texas Network Consortium (NTNC), 2002, Distance Learning College Glossary. http://www.netnet.org/students/student%20glossary.htm, not avilable at this address, 3 February 2011.

Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), undated, Acronyms and glossary of main terms, available at http://www.qaa.ac.uk/aboutus/acronyms.asp, accessed 29 January 2011. 

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