What is an undergraduate degree?
An undergraduate degree, typically known as a Bachelors degree, is often your next step after high school, A-level, or other level 3 qualification. It will likely be your first degree, typically two to four years in length, and will give you a thorough understanding of a subject area and help you develop key professional and academic skills. There are a variety of options available, including Foundation degrees, Degree Apprenticeships and Integrated Masters degrees.
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 qualifications and the opportunities each one offers.
Types of qualifications
University is a 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 which mode of undergraduate study is the right choice for you.
The number of options might seem confusing, but they don't need to be. We offer a wide variety of undergraduate courses and various routes into higher education.
Bachelors degree
Bachelors (or honours, ‘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’. They may also have a placement or sandwich year or cover two subject areas as a joint honours degree.
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.
Explore Foundation SubjectsTop-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.
Explore Top-Up DegreesIntegrated Masters
We offer Level 7 combined-honours degrees, securing you a Masters-level qualification. These courses require an extra year of study, four in total. Awards at advanced level include Master of Science (MSci); Master of Mathematics (MMath); Master of Engineering (MEng); and Master of Chemistry (MChem).
Explore Integrated MastersDegree 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.
Explore Degree ApprenticeshipsOther qualifications
Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs)
HTQs are vocational and focused training courses covering skills for specific industries. Qualifications like the Higher National Certificate (HNC) are Level 4 qualifications and are equivalent to a year of degree study. Higher National Diplomas (HNDs) are Level 5 courses equivalent to two years of a degree, often offering the opportunity to top up to a full degree.
Explore HTQsCertificate in Higher Education (CertHE)
CertHEs are Level 4 qualifications equivalent to one year of a degree, and typically related to a profession. Like Foundation degrees and Higher Technical Qualifications, 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. Explore our range of joint honours degrees.
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. Explore our range of courses with a placement year.
Find your course
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 degree, Postgraduate Certificate or Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip).
Find out more about postgraduate study at NTU.
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