[Shinrei]

From the pictures thread, there was a discussion and someone was saying that Oxford and Cambridge graduates get an automatic masters 3 years later. What's that all about?

How many years is each level of schooling in the UK, and are Australia/New Zealand on a similar calendar?


To clarify, in the US:

High school is 4 years (graduate at about 18 years old).
Bachelors degree (4 years, lots of people take 5 to finish)
Masters degree (2 years)
PhD (however long it takes, usually 3-5 years.)

Graduating with 'honors' doesn't mean much except you had a good grade point average and can pad your resume accordingly.

[Impirion]

In England and Wales ( Scotland slightly different)

Graduate from high school: 18 (Scotland it's 17)
Undergraduate degree: Usually 3 years (Scotland it's 4 I believe)
Masters: Usually 1 year (dunno about Scotland)
Phd: Usually 3-4 years

The master's from Oxbridge is a remnant of a bygone era, which means if Sir Thursday doesn't manage to get himself arrested for indecent punnage in the next three years, he gets an MA, regardless of what subject was studied. The MA doesn't mean anything, bar that you managed to graduate from Oxbridge and then not be a criminal for a few years.

The honours is awarded to anyone who doesn't fail any exams all the way through the degree I believe, at least I think that's what it is for Oxbridge, not sure for other unis in britain

[Slum]

Meh, it's not a real Master's. It means nothing of importance. It just means STD gets to vote in campus elections.

No academic institution recognizes it as a Master's degree. It's just a bachelor's degree with an unimportant addendum.

This post has been edited by Slumgullion Spitteler: 05 July 2009 - 01:09 AM

[Impirion]

Slumgullion Spitteler, on Jul 5 2009, 01:08 AM, said:

Meh, it's not a real Master's. I means nothing of importance. It just means SYD gets to vote in campus elections.

No academic institution recognizes it as a Master's degree. It's just a bachelor's degree with an unimportant addendum.

Campus elections? What are they?

[Giles]

Im sure someone will come in more clearly but off the top of my head
SATS year 9 about 14
GCSE year 11 about 16
then 6th Form for A levels for 2 years 16-18
then Degree, usually 3 for a batchelors 4 for a masters may vary for certain courses.
i may be wrong on the ages
EDIT seems i got beaten to it

This post has been edited by baudin: 05 July 2009 - 01:12 AM

[Impirion]

Depends which SATS you mean... There are SATS age 9 11 and 13, and one at 15 which no-one does because everyone's busy doing GCSEs...

[Slum]

Impirion, on Jul 4 2009, 09:09 PM, said:

Slumgullion Spitteler, on Jul 5 2009, 01:08 AM, said:

Meh, it's not a real Master's. I means nothing of importance. It just means SYD gets to vote in campus elections.

No academic institution recognizes it as a Master's degree. It's just a bachelor's degree with an unimportant addendum.

Campus elections? What are they?

I don't know. I got my info off wikipedia. I assume it means there are elections held on campus, to determine leaders and stuff.

[Giles]

errr i cant remember i just remember doing one in year 6 and 9 i think and apparently one before that
EDIT @impirion

This post has been edited by baudin: 05 July 2009 - 01:14 AM

[Sixty]

SATS? Huh. SATS =/= SAT's, then, I assume.

[Shinrei]

Oh, so honors has to do with exams. Is there a GPA (grade point average) system like in the States?

[MTS]

In Australia we have a similar system to the Brits:
- Pre-school
- Primary school (years 1-6)
- High School (years 7-12)
Some states do different things - Queensland doesn't have pre-school I don't think, and year 11-12 is in a different institution in the ACT. Generally compulsory education is until Year 10.

Then uni:
- Bachelor's degree (3-5 years, Medicine are 6 I think)
- Can either be awarded a degree with honours or an honours degree. The latter is a year of research/coursework added onto your Bachelor's degree resulting in a thesis
- Masters (not sure how long these take - I'm guessing it varies)
- Doctorate

Honours for us can either be a grade thing or an addendum to your degree. I looked it up in Wiki, and apparently it's like the American's summa cum laude, magna cum laude, and cum laude (whatever they are )

This post has been edited by Mappo's Travelling Sack: 05 July 2009 - 02:22 AM

[Centzon Totochtin]

Some notes:

In Australia we have a similar system to the Brits:
- Pre-school
- Primary school (years 1-6)
- High School (years 7-12) - in some states this is years 8 - 12, finish at 17 or 18 depending on your state
Some states do different things - Queensland doesn't have pre-school I don't think, and year 11-12 is in a different institution in the ACT. Generally compulsory education is until Year 10. qld has prep - same thing

Then uni:
- Bachelor's degree (3-5 years, Medicine are 6 I think) 3 for bachelors - med is 6 cos you get a doctorate with it others are more than 3 years due to extra elements and having a masters or something like that as part of the requirements - at least at my uni
- Can either be awarded a degree with honours or an honours degree. The latter is a year of research/coursework added onto your Bachelor's degree resulting in a thesis
- Masters (not sure how long these take - I'm guessing it varies) 2 - 4 years normally, depends if you do it full or part time
- Doctorate

[Shinrei]

Do aussie doctors have all of the residency/internship requirements then too? In the US, med school is 2-3 years beyond the bachelors, but then another 4 years at least of learning on the job so to speak before becoming a true doctor.

[Centzon Totochtin]

They do, don't know what they are exactly but they definitely do

[Coco with marshmallows]

Scottish system:

basic degree = 3 years
honours = basic +1 year
masters 1/2 years depending on course

[Yellow]

In England (probably Wales too):

11 - 14 You do various SATs here (different to the US, they don't really mean much except maybe deciding what tier of study you do for English/Science/Maths during GCSE... they probably mean more to school league tables than they do to students)

14 - 16 GCSEs (General Certificates of Secondary Education). I think these are generally equivalent to US high school diploma.

16 - 18 A Levels (these are optional, and many just go straight into employment instead. A few years ago they brought in AS Levels for the first year... AS levels are a bit like mini-A Levels but I'm not the expert on that since they're after my time)

18 - 21 (typically) Undergraduate bachelor's degree. Length of courses vary. Honours (Hons) generally means you did better than just "pass" I think. I'm not sure. It doesn't mean much.

21 - 22 (typically) Masters degree, unless a masters was included in the undergraduate degree e.g. with an MChem. Some lazy sods at crappy universities get an automatic masters a few years after they complete their bachelor's

22 - 25 or 26 PhD or similar.

Then you're freeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!

This post has been edited by Yellow: 05 July 2009 - 10:18 AM

[Yellow]

Shinrei, on Jul 5 2009, 03:12 AM, said:

Oh, so honors has to do with exams. Is there a GPA (grade point average) system like in the States?

Generally not, no. You get a degree based on what percentage you get overall in your exams/coursework. Methods vary, but on my course the first year counted for nothing, except you had to pass it (>40%) to do the second year. Then after that, it was something like fourth year counted 50% towards your final mark, third year 30%, second year 20%. Or something. And each year was based on two rounds of exams, labs, research projects and coursework, etc.

At ours, 70% and higher was a first, 60-70 a 2:1, 50-60 a 2:2 and 40-50 a third. I think you can only get honours with a 2:2 or better.

We never got grades or grade point averages.

[Impirion]

Slumgullion Spitteler, on Jul 5 2009, 02:13 AM, said:

Impirion, on Jul 4 2009, 09:09 PM, said:

Slumgullion Spitteler, on Jul 5 2009, 01:08 AM, said:

Meh, it's not a real Master's. I means nothing of importance. It just means SYD gets to vote in campus elections.

No academic institution recognizes it as a Master's degree. It's just a bachelor's degree with an unimportant addendum.

Campus elections? What are they?

I don't know. I got my info off wikipedia. I assume it means there are elections held on campus, to determine leaders and stuff.

There aren't Campuses at Oxbridge so erm, not sure what's meant...

[Impirion]

I thought you automatically get honours if you don't get below a third in any of your exams... i.e it goes 1st, 2:1, 2:2, 3rd, ordinary, fail. and anything above ordinary is an honours

[Yellow]

I thought anything below a third was a fail.

That would be like 30% or something, that's pretty low for a pass Having said that, I think in GCSEs these days you only need a G to pass. That must be like 20% or something.