Honours degrees

For many, while exploring the sea of study opportunities around the world, it has probably become a common sight to see the addition of (Honours), or the shorter version (Hons), standing at the end of an awarded degree. In most cases, this is related to Bachelor programmes offered by universities in Australia, New Zealand, the USA and the UK – standing as an indicator of a different type of undergraduate degrees.

What is an Honours degree?

Generally, it represents a more advanced level of academic work achieved during the period of given studies. To put it simply, upon receiving higher grades based on your university study, you can be awarded with one of four different classes Honours degrees as long as your chosen Bachelor offers such possibility. In order to determine this, you simply have to look for either:

• BA Honours, BSc Honours, BEng Honours, etc.

• MA Honours, MSc Honours, MEarthSci Honours, etc.

• Bachelor of Arts (Hons), Bachelor of Science (Hons), Master of Engineering (Hons), etc.

Or alternatively, check out the programme description for detailed information about degree opportunities. Most of the time, Honours degrees are easy to discover, as most university websites include them in a separate section or just add relevant information in the programme name. Newcastle University offers a good example in the latter.

Perhaps, it also caught your attention that we mentioned Master courses that can lead to Honours degrees. Well, you should note that for the majority of cases, especially regarding UK universities, these are part of integrated Masters programmes that combine four years of study leading to a Masters level directly.

Furthermore, it is also worth knowing more about those four specific Honours degree classes that we mentioned earlier. Should you decide to perform more from an academic point of view – while scoring excellent marks on your project works and tests you can, for example, be awarded with a First-class Honours. Alternatively, if you fail to manage your undergraduate studies by not giving your best, it simply is possible to receive an ordinary degree. All in all, the classification looks like this:

• First-class Honours degree

• Upper Second-class Honours degree

• Lower Second-class Honours degree

• Third-class Honours degre

• Ordinary Bachelor degree

You can find out more about the classes and respective overall success rate percentages, that are required, with the aid of the table provided by the University College London.

On the same webpage, you can actually find some other interesting data regarding the increasing number of students who have been awarded with a First-class Honours for the time period 2012-2017. Regardless, keep in mind that study courses leading to a (Hons) generally require a higher amount of credits to complete and in some countries, an additional year of studies.

Finally, after hopefully understanding the different breed of Honours degrees, you might be asking yourself – why do I need an Honours? Well, surprisingly or not, the most valuable benefit would be matching the admission requirements for more demanding Masters opportunities, especially in the United Kingdom. After all, this degree system is a major component of the UK university system, which is why it makes sense that you would be able to get the most out if your Honours within it.

No need to limit yourself there, however, as a (Hons) is likely to be recognised in many countries around the world, often indicating a student with more advanced academic achievements. Interested in discovering more about actual Honours degree opportunities? Check out our list with universities from the UK that can offer you hundreds of options:

Find your Honours degree now: