Joint Honours
Encyclopedia
Joint Honours is a specific type of degree
offered generally at the Honours Bachelor's degree
level by certain universities in Ireland
, the UK
, Canada
, Malta
, and Australia
. In a joint honours degree, two subjects are studied concurrently within the timeframe of one honours.
required for each of its respective majors
. The two subject areas do not have to be highly related; indeed, a true joint honours degree overlaps faculties, not just subjects. However, students often pick two subjects that are interrelated in some fundamental way (such as both subjects are in the arts).
Usually, joint honours degrees have higher requirements for entry than a single honours degree, requiring the approval of both departments concerned. The two subjects are then taken at the same levels and at the academic standards as those taking either subject as a single honours major. It is usual for these degrees to entail more study than a single honours degree (for example, both majors must be passed to earn the "joint degree" and honours must be obtained in the case of each major to earn the honours degree title); whereas this would normally apply to the only one subject major for a single honours student. In some cases, students would have significantly more final year project work and could be examined on this by both departments in question. Many British universities
now have a dedicated Centre for Joint Honours Degrees which assists students with timetable structuring, etc.
scheme: a double degree entails two separate degrees (e.g., a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Arts) each of which with their own electives, etc.
A first class honours in both majors of a joint honours degree can be known as "double firsting".
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
offered generally at the Honours Bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
level by certain universities in Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
, the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. In a joint honours degree, two subjects are studied concurrently within the timeframe of one honours.
Requirements
A joint honours degree typically requires at least half, often almost all, of the creditsCredit (education)
A course credit is a unit that gives weighting to the value, level or time requirements of an academic course taken at a school or other educational institution.- United States :...
required for each of its respective majors
Academic major
In the United States and Canada, an academic major or major concentration is the academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits....
. The two subject areas do not have to be highly related; indeed, a true joint honours degree overlaps faculties, not just subjects. However, students often pick two subjects that are interrelated in some fundamental way (such as both subjects are in the arts).
Usually, joint honours degrees have higher requirements for entry than a single honours degree, requiring the approval of both departments concerned. The two subjects are then taken at the same levels and at the academic standards as those taking either subject as a single honours major. It is usual for these degrees to entail more study than a single honours degree (for example, both majors must be passed to earn the "joint degree" and honours must be obtained in the case of each major to earn the honours degree title); whereas this would normally apply to the only one subject major for a single honours student. In some cases, students would have significantly more final year project work and could be examined on this by both departments in question. Many British universities
British universities
Universities in the United Kingdom have generally been instituted by Royal Charter, Papal Bull, Act of Parliament or an instrument of government under the Education Reform Act 1988; in any case generally with the approval of the Privy Council, and only such recognised bodies can award degrees of...
now have a dedicated Centre for Joint Honours Degrees which assists students with timetable structuring, etc.
Differences
A joint honours degree is different from BA (Hons.) degree where two subjects are listed in the degree title. In a single honours degree, one of these is a major and the other a minor; In a BA/BSc/BEng (Joint Hons.) both subjects are majors. A joint honours degree is also different from a double degreeDouble degree
A double-degree program, sometimes called a combined degree, conjoint degree, dual degree, or simultaneous degree program, involves a student's working for two different university degrees in parallel, either at the same institution or at different institutions , completing them in less time than...
scheme: a double degree entails two separate degrees (e.g., a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Arts) each of which with their own electives, etc.
A first class honours in both majors of a joint honours degree can be known as "double firsting".
Examples
Examples of joint honours degrees:- Politics and International Relations
- Physiology and Pharmacology
- Physics and Mathematics
- Biology and Chemistry
- Drama and History of Arts
- History and French
- Mathematics and Computer Science
- Spanish and Linguistics