is this thread still active? I wanna ask something too. I'm going to be enroll in kdu b.comm in accounting which in collaboration with murdoch university(aus) that without honours, also the subjects are strangely lesser than other college bachelor degree in accounting, as they explained is because most australian degree are count with credit points. is that true? am i making the wrong choice? could someone please enlighten me.

Hi there,

SO what u guys are saying is that lets say a 1st class degree with honours frm aus is something not bad? how about the uni of sydney?

Stumbled upon this thread and found this information very useful. Thank you. Deserves a bump up.

Then, Advanced Diploma = General Degree

Yeah, it depends on who is asking. If they recognise it for what it is, then the Honours degree from Australia can be the stepping stone to a doctorate. You may not need any MSc/MRes/MPhil. Of course this is not just for Australian Honours degrees, in England not every doctoral student has done prior graduate study either.

On the other hand, they seem to think that a non-Honours Australian degree (3 years) is inferior to their 3 year Honours degrees. They consider it a proper degree but not at the same level (but I think not as a Pass or Ordinary degree, which is a completed degree but with quite bad marks). But if you do a proper subject, it isn't - it can actually be more work. In Australia the semesters are quite long, I think holidays are fewer/shorter than the British schools' breaks. But there are easier and less demanding degrees that (even though require the same credits/units in total) may be less work than a British Bachelor's with Hons.

This disadvantages Australian students looking at grad school overseas... as sometimes non-Honours graduates may be asked of higher grades. Which is quite unfair when there is every possibility that 3 year Australian degree was harder (or took the same effort) to do than the 3 year British Hons degree in an equivalent subject.

This was precisely what happened to me today. I have a degree from the uni who is TOP for Computer Science in Australia. I was told that I needed to do an Honours year to be able to qualify for a taught Masters. Basically, they were saying that my degree is worthless. This was a top UK uni who can be considered equivalent to my uni.

Like you said, if I did Honours, I would be continuing on to a PhD, not going backward to get a taught Masters! Obviously, I don't want to do Honours because I prefer taught causes. Plus the project/dissertation for Honours is larger than the taught Masters' project/dissertation.

They were happily offering me an automatic scholarship for first class Honours degree holders. And it was the same person who had a 180 degree change of heart after I talked to them in person.

This university shall remain unnamed for the meantime.

This post has been edited by thistle: Apr 3 2013, 12:36 AM

Change of heart after you spoke to them in person... does that mean you were successful? What happened before was unfortunate!

I got into a doctorate programme (Australia) with an Honours degree in research so it is possible but a Masters degree will be more competitive. My supervisors also got their PhDs after their Honours degree. Honours is the new Masters it seems, with respect to getting into a doctorate programme.

Would you mind revealing the name of the university?

UNsuccessful. Rejected me to my face and I cried in front of them. To get me to stop, they found some colleague from a Pre-Masters uni/college who said I could take Pre-Masters. However, there's still no chance I'd be admitted even with a Pre-Masters because there's none for Computer Science. The Software Engineering Pre-Masters consists of English and subjects that I've done in my first and second year - I have a Band 8.5 in IELTS and distinctions for those two subjects!

Clue: It has a campus in Iskandar Edu City for Engineering.

Right! I am a product of UK universities but I always think an Australian Honours is equivalent to a Masters in the UK. Why don't you try applying to other universities? I think Imperial College would be delighted to accept someone like you .

Yeah! Just found that out. The requirements for Aussie qualifications on Edinburgh's site: they require Australian H2A (Weighted Average Mark > 70). Weighted Average Mark (WAM) means sum of weightage * marks / total weightages. First year subjects only have a weightage of 0.5, the rest have a weightage of 1.

My WAM is just over 65, which makes me H2B. The UK system is > 70% in their 2nd and 3rd year results for First Class Honours, and > 60% for Second Class Honours. If I calculate following the UK system by only considering my 2nd and 3rd year subjects, then I'd have > 70%, or even > 60% if considering all three years' results.


I am not that smart (in the top 50% of my class of 20, perhaps?) plus am unable to afford the fees of Imperial + living expenses in London. My senior who's a prodigy (the best student the faculty has ever seen in 5 years) was accepted by BOTH Oxbridge for a PhD but had to decline as he has no funding (it's impossible to get scholarships from his country).

This post has been edited by thistle: Apr 6 2013, 10:33 PM

Yes, Imperial charges exorbitant fees and it is so much more expensive to live in London than other parts of the UK.

Hmmph, typical of Oxbridge or any other UK universities. In spite of their fame, Oxbridge is not rich and more often than not, unable to fund international (Non EU) students.

Your username sounds familiar. Did you post at Recom Malaysian Students forum?

My reason for mentioning Oxbridge is that I'm saying even they accept Aussie degrees without the Honours year. That particular uni who rejected me to my face is ridiculous. I emailed their Aus/NZ advisor to complain and they said they'll look into it.

Why did I take an Aussie degree? Well, I had bad A Level results (took an 11 month course vs. an 18 month one because in my college, 18 months is just the 11 month course stretched out, there's no extra teaching). Obviously an Australian Go8 uni who is top in Computer Science is better than some UK ex-polytechnic and it's a waste of money going to the UK when these bad unis also offer 'Computer Science' here under 3+0.

Yes, I do post at Recom every once in a while.

Right, I was going to mention something about that particular university being misinformed about Aussie degrees but stopped short least I bring up something controversial.

It seems to me you have made a right decision. I hope things do work out for you. As you mentioned, it is ridiculous for that particular university to disregard your achievements as inadequate for their PhD programme.

It's terrible.

Would you still go to that school if you got accepted? After how you were treated? Maybe that's going a little far since you weren't a student there, but the whole situation definitely sucks.

The problem is that although the Australian universities want to brand themselves as world class, top universities (and indeed many feature or featured in the top 20-50 of the major rankings) they do not do enough to elevate or solidify their standings worldwide... hence the problems that people such as yourself now face (qualifications not being recognised for what they are).

Forget rankings, reputation... many schools are famous for specialty disciplines but are ranked poorly overall because the rankings address incredibly silly things rather than the standards of teaching or of graduates. Qualifications not being recognised properly are a fundamental flaw. It's like reducing one's education to junk and wasted time. If this is already a huge problem for the "best" and "top" Australian universities, you can imagine what a nightmare this presents to the international students or Australian students who have schooled in Australia but are looking for work overseas.

Australian degrees are good if you're staying in Australia, to study (mainly) or to work. Question is, when they don't seem to translate, would your school stand up for you?

Taught Masters, not PhD. Honours year is like an MPhil.

It's like they're saying with a straight face that their own country's degrees (including the those from ex-polys) are better than mine just because the former has the word Honours.


Yeah I'd still go - even without the first class Honours scholarship (1000 GBP fee discount). I only have a problem with that particular advisor who was so rude to me in person after being so welcoming when I chatted to her during IDP's virtual education far. It is one of the best, and offers a specialised area of Computer Science that other unis don't offer. For a general non-specialised Masters, my job prospects would be the same as my current degree - same job albeit in a different country, maybe even in the same company.

What do you mean by Australian universities not doing enough to solidify their standings worldwide? Lax entry requirements? Not to mention ridiculously high ATAR scores required for undergraduate (because Aussie HSCs are easy?) programmes in the UK.

I mean universities collaborate (with scholarship and research) but also on teaching and delivering qualifications (joint programmes, exchange programmes etc). If roughly the same amount of work is done in both 3 year degrees (doesn't apply to 4 year Australian LLB or BEng degrees), the main difference being the continent of the school, and the terminology with regards to Honours, why is one not recognised as such? Surely the universities should be able to do at least a little something about this. Manufacturers, farmers defend their products' integrity... I see no reason why schools should not do the same.

This post has been edited by stupidbo: Dec 6 2013, 12:51 PM

This post has been edited by stupidbo: Dec 6 2013, 12:51 PM