Bachelors degree programs are destined to persons who attend undergraduate courses or majors.
These bachelors degree programs usually last for four years, depending on the discipline and on the institution. Some bachelors degree programs may need two years of study, while other may take up to six years to complete the course.
In Europe, bachelors degree programs exist in almost every country. In some continental European countries however, these programs have recently been re-introduced by the means of Bologna processes of education. In Denmark, for example, the bachelors degree programs were re-introduced at universities starting from 1993. The original degree “baccalaureus” programs had been abandoned in 1775.
There are two bachelors degree programs at the universities in Denmark these days: the first one is for the scientific, medical and technical areas (The Bachelor of Science Program) and the latter is destined to be qualify graduates in humanistic, theological and jurisprudence areas (The Bachelor of Arts Program).
Nursing and teaching also use bachelors degree programs as a four-year-study, but graduates don’t have automatic access to a master program in the universities, as opposed to traditional graduate of bachelors degree programs. France, another country in Europe, has a different system of bachelors degree programs. The tradition bachelor’s degree here is the equivalent of the French “Licence” three years degree. In 2004 the new European system of Bologna process was founded.
This is a system used in many European countries, including France, and is has become a standard to recognize a Bachelor’s over three years, a Master’s over five years and a doctorate over eight.
In the English-speaking world, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge are maybe the only institutions in the United Kingdom awarding Bachelor of Arts degrees for all undergraduate studies. Most of the American universities award both Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees, even though there are also many small liberal arts colleges that award only the BA degree. In countries such Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, India or South Africa there has been an expended range of bachelors degree programs over the last one hundred years. This is what one might call a huge step towards specialization in tertiary education.
The schools in these countries have specialized training courses for specific careers. It is a departure from the liberal arts approach common in the United States – where students are trained in a variety of specializations – adding to an academic major where students are prepared to pursue a specific career or a progression of careers.
