Student Advice 4 min read

Bachelor’s Degree

A Bachelor’s or undergraduate degree is an academic qualification designed to aid students to gain insight into a subject.

Uni Compare

Published Dec 5th 2023

Degrees are either classified as Ordinary or Honours, and this difference can vary between colleges and universities.

Typically an ‘ordinary’ degree (or ‘unclassified’) may be awarded if a student completed a full degree course, but didn’t obtain the total number of passes needed to obtain a third-class honours degree, or they failed and had to re-take a module/year.

What is a bachelor's degree?

A bachelor's degree, sometimes known as a baccalaureate, is awarded by universities or colleges once a course of anywhere between three and seven years has been completed. It is an undergraduate degree. A bachelor's degree is level 6.

There are different titles of degree that a student can obtain, such as Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Science (BSc), Bachelor of Education (BEd), and Bachelor of Engineering (BEng), this, in particular, is a common Bachelor's degree abbreviation.

An undergraduate degree is a great qualification allowing individuals to apply for graduate jobs and schemes.

How many credits for a bachelor's degree?

A Bachelor’s degree will usually yield around 120 credits for completion. The credits will usually differ depending on the course that you’re studying, for instance, a bachelor's degree in finance will have a different points requirement than a bachelor's degree in engineering.

How long does a bachelor's degree take?

In most cases, a degree will take three years to complete, or less commonly, four. Degrees that take four years to complete tend to include a placement or work experience year.

Degrees are able to be completed part-time, and this length varies depending on the university and contact hours etc.

What subjects can I study as a bachelor’s degree?

There are hundreds of different options for students at bachelor’s degree course level, and many subjects can be combined together, such as Film and Media, or English Language and an English Literature degree. Students can check what subjects they wish to study, from the list below:

What entry requirements do I need to study a bachelor’s degree?

Most institutions require students to hold A-Levels as a pre-requisite for a degree course, the number of A-Levels and what grades needed is dependent on the course and the college or university.

There will be many factors to a student being accepted onto a course, from admission tests and attending a university interview.

Can I study a bachelor’s degree online?

You can study an online Bachelor's Degree in the UK. Studying an online Bachelor’s degree is a very affordable way of studying and means that you can stagger your learning. You can see courses available at the Open University.

How are you assessed?

Depending on the practical elements included within the degree course, students will be assessed through written work, essays, coursework, projects, group work, presentations and examinations. Most degree courses require students to conduct a big project as part of their final year, either a dissertation, a research project or a final piece.

A bachelor's degree, sometimes known as a baccalaureate, is awarded by universities or colleges once a course of anywhere between three and seven years has been completed.

What can I do with a bachelor’s degree?

An undergraduate degree is a great qualification allowing individuals to apply for graduate jobs and schemes, continue onto a postgraduate qualification or to apply for higher-level jobs.

What is a bachelor’s degree equivalent to?

An undergraduate degree is a higher education qualification that doesn’t have any direct equivalent qualifications. It is higher than a Higher National Certificate and Diploma, a Certificate of Higher Education and a Foundation degree. If a student has any of the above qualifications, they can then gain admission onto an undergraduate degree course.