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What is an undergraduate degree?

It's called undergraduate study because it involves studying for your first degree. This is typically known as a Bachelors degree. However, there are various types of undergraduate courses available, including Foundation degrees and Integrated Masters.

We have over 200 higher education courses to choose from, across subjects from Accounting to Zoology, and offer a range of qualifications. Below, you can explore the different types of undergraduate degrees and the opportunities each one offers.

Types of qualifications

University is the place where you’ll learn about so much more than just your subject.  It’s a big decision that you’ll need to research, and we’re here to help you decide whether undergraduate study is the right choice for you.

The number of options might look confusing, but they needn't be.  We offer a wide variety of undergraduate courses and various routes into higher education.

Bachelors degree

Bachelors (or honours, styled as ‘Hons’) degrees are Level 6 courses. They include titles like Bachelor of Arts, or BA (Hons); Bachelor of Science, or BSc (Hons); Bachelor of Engineering, or BEng (Hons); and Bachelor of Law, or LLB.

Sometimes, these degrees include an initial year of foundation-level study to help you develop the tools you need to progress into your degree, which are normally titled as degrees ‘with foundation year’.

Foundation degrees

These standalone Level 5 courses are equivalent to completing two years of a three-year degree. We offer a range of subjects as Foundation Degree in Arts (Fda) and Foundation Degree in Science (FdSc). You can choose to extend your studies to achieve a full degree with a top-up degree.

Top-up degrees

Top-ups are Level 6 Bachelors degrees that turn qualifications like foundation degrees or Higher National Certificates into full degrees, through an additional year of study.

Integrated Masters

We offer Level 7 combined-honours degrees, securing you a Masters-level qualification. These courses require an extra year of study. Awards at advanced level include Master of Science (MSci); Master of Mathematics (MMath); Master of Engineering (MEng); and Master of Chemistry (MChem).

Degree Apprenticeship

On this route, you’ll work for an organisation and study for a degree at the same time. You’ll get paid a salary, and your tuition fees will be covered by your employer and the government.

Other qualifications

Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQ's)

HTQs provide vocationally-focused training and skills for specific industries. The Level 4 qualifications are equivalent to a year of a degree. Higher National Diplomas are Level 5 courses equivalent to two years of a degree, offering the opportunity to top up to a full degree.

Discover our HTQ's

Cetificate in Higher Education (CertHE)

CertHEs are Level 4 qualifications equivalent to one year of a degree, and typically related to a profession. Again, there’s usually an opportunity to top up to a full degree

Other types of undergraduate degrees

Joint honours degree

This type of course allows you to study more than one subject, combining them into a single qualification.

If the course title contains ‘and’ (History and Politics, for example), you’ll be dedicating the same amount of time to each subject as you would on a standard Honours degree. But if the course title contains ‘with’ — e.g. International Business (with Spanish) — that means the first subject is going to be your main focus.

Sandwich degree

A sandwich degree includes a period of professional work experience — typically, a year-long placement in industry (also known as a placement year) during the third year of your course. This is often abbreviated to ‘SW’ in course titles.

For the duration of the placement, you will usually become a paid employee of the organisation. Once that’s completed, you’ll return to the university for a fourth and final year of study.

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What's the difference between undergraduate and postgraduate?

As an undergraduate student you’ll be studying for your first degree. At postgraduate level, you’ll have graduated with an undergraduate degree and be  studying for a second qualification, such as a Masters, Postgraduate Certificate or Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip).

Find out more about postgraduate study at NTU.