University Awards The BA (or Bachelor of Arts) and the

Good morning everyone. This is the last talk in this series of lectures. Feel free to ask any questions during the talk, and I’ll do my best to answer them.
   Today I’m going to talk about university awards. By that I mean the various degrees and diplomas, and so on, that universities give to their students. I must make it clear that my remarks will be limited to the British educational system. Different countries employ different systems.
   How are the university awards obtained? There are those awards which are given for the satisfactory completion of course work and examination. The two best known examples of these are the BA (or Bachelor of Arts) and the BSc (or Bachelor of Science) at undergraduate level. These are sometimes also called "first degrees", for the obvious reason that they are the first award that a student is likely to be given by the university. There are over 5000 degree subjects and combinations of subjects offered at universities throughout Britain. Bachelor-level degrees are normally given at the end of three or four years course work. Some universities offer 4-year courses especially for students from overseas. The four years are made up of one preparatory year plus three years of degree courses. Courses leading to degrees in medicine, dentistry and architecture can take from 3～7 years. Diplomas are included in this category because they too meet the criteria I have laid down here. That is to say, they are also awarded on the completion of satisfactory course work and examination. Diploma courses normally only last for one year. They are, too, usually more narrowly specialised and more professionally orientated. Thus they are most often given to people who are training to be teachers or social workers and who already have a Bachelor-level degree.
   Next, there are those degrees which a university gives for successful completion of a piece of research. The MA (Master of Arts), the MSc (Master of Science) and the MBA (Master of Business Administration) are the ones most frequently awarded here at postgraduate level. At one time these degrees were awarded only for the completion of research work; but over the past twenty years or so a large number of additional Master degrees have been introduced which combine a quite small piece of research with a substantial amount of course work on which the student is examined. The PhD (or Doctor of Philosophy), the most prestigious research degree, is on the other hand only awarded for a piece of research which shows great depth and considerable originality. It is expected to make a significant contribution to our knowledge of and understanding of a problem. It usually involves at least four years full-time research.
   Thirdly, and least commonly, there are the honorary degrees. These are, for example, the DLitt or Doctor of Letters (Doctor Litterarum—if you want it in the original Latin), the DSc or Doctor of Science, and the LLD or Doctor of Laws. These awards may be—in fact often are—awarded to people who have never been to University at all. They are very often in fact given to people who have distinguished themselves in some field of non-academic activity outside. Thus the University may wish to honour a famous writer by giving him a DLitt or a famous politician by giving him or her an LLD. That’s all I want to talk about today. Are there any questions?
Student: May I ask a question about the examinations?
Lecturer: Yes, go ahead.
Student: What kind of examinations are the students going to have at the end of their course work?
Lecturer: Examinations can be divided into two types—objective and subjective. The objective test is designed in such a way as to require one and only one correct answer. It’s considered to be a good test of factual knowledge. Examples of objective tests will consist of multiple-choice and true-false questions. On the other hand, the subjective test allows for many possible ways of expressing an answer. Sometimes it even accepts completely different answers from different people. Such as essays and interviews.
Student: Thank you very much.
Lecturer: Well, if you want any more information, please feel free to come and talk to me.