There are lots of confusions amongst SPM/STPM leavers on the difference between an honours degree and a non-honours degree. Well, it should be, because not many people actually explain about it, although you could always just wiki or google it . But here I am again, trying to shed some light in the matter to help you choose the best course for you.

The information below is a collection from several sources and individual opinions including mine, fyire and several others collected from old topics.

HONOURS DEGREE

An Honours degree is still a Bachelors degree. To be more accurate, the wordings would actually read: Bachelor of <field> in <course> (Honours). For example Bachelor of Science in Computer Management (Honours).

There are two very different system in determining an honours degree in the world today. The UK system and the Australian/NZ system. In Malaysia, we follow closely to the UK system, as most other Commonwealth countries. I can't say for sure about US universities, but it does seem that most of them use the same system as well. And as far as I know, only Australia and New Zealand uses the Australian/NZ system.

Before we go deeper, do understand that all degrees has classifications, and not to be confused with honours. First class, Second class upper, Second class lower and Third class are classifications on your achievements. Not normally associated with your honours title, with exception as will be described later.

Now lets talk about these two systems.

UK Honours System

In the UK system, honours degree differentiates between a professional/specialized degree and normal standard/general degree. The honours status is declared upfront before the student takes the course, meaning they would know full well if they will graduate with honours or not. Then all they had to do is pass with at least 2.00CGPA (2nd class lower) at the end of their studies.

Honours degree will have a research component at the end of the studies, normally in the form of a research thesis. This is the extra academic component that is not available in a non-honours degree. And normally professional courses take this as an essential component to determine its professional recognition.

So if you're concerned with professional recognition (for courses such as architecture, engineering, medicine, law or accountancy), be sure to pay attention to the honours title in the degree. If there's an honours, go for it. Non-honours degree are usually shorter, but honours carry more recognition.

Australian/NZ Honours System

By Australian standards the awarding of honours is only upon completion of a 4th optional year which consists of research based work where at the end, the student is expected to publish a thesis. This optional 4th year usually cannot be applied into, and is only offered to students on an invitation basis, depending on how well they have performed during the 2nd and 3rd year level. This is how it's like for those 3 year courses.

Basically the Australian/NZ system only awards honours degree to top students. It can be said that this gives the honours title more meaning and prestige compared to the UK system. However, the two can't be compared directly simply because difference of meaning. So before you confuse yourself, just understand what each honours means and how you could obtain it.

The Honours system that described only applies to the 3 year courses in Australia. For 4 year and above courses such as engineering, it follows the UK system still.



NON-HONOURS DEGREE

Non-honours degree, also known as general degree, is a slightly lower standard of degree as compared to honours degree. Although you might say that the general degree is the standard, while honours degree is higher. Po-tay-to, po-tah-to. Anyway, the main difference between a general degree and an honours degree is honours degree requires a thesis at the end of the degree. General degree student ends their study with a graduating project.

Hope this helps. Questions are welcomed.

technically, i suppose it wont matter. but i wouldnt know exactly. u gotta ask the school or those graduated/graduating from that school.

UK honours - professional recognition. courses like architecture, civil engineering, accountancy etc has a body that regulates them. without professional recognition, u just are not qualified to work as one.

aussie honours - bragging rights. which also looks damn good on ur ceevee .

no. when did i say that?

yes. without the honours, even if u score a 1st class.

for malaysian degrees, just pop up to their website (in this case, UM's) and give it a check. the proper convention is to display/advertise/inform the course by its full name. if it's honours, it will indicate so.

thanks dreamer.

in relation to the numerical items in ur post:

1. i'm not sure by what u mean when u say "there is no such concept as the bachelor degree in the US", coz reading wikipedia again, it seems they too follow the bachelor degree convention. refer here. do u mean to say "honors degree"?

3. how do u write the full title of the degree, say a bachelor of science in civil engineering with magna cum laude achievement?

in malaysia, even certain honorary doctorates also pakai DR. WTF.... LOL.

no. i'm not aware if there's ever a guideline over the usage of DR with regards of any doctorates at all .

in the UK, people just use the highest title they have. meaning, if they have both a PhD and a Professor, they would only use Professor and keep the PhD in the cabinet, so to speak.

but in malaysia, some people are so obsessed with titles, they'd even "add" a DR for honorary doctorates. a friend of my father did this, and i kept telling him to tell him off, but he didnt, out of friendship hahaha.

and dont even get me started on PhDs from fake universities

read the thread first. it's not the university, it's the courses they offer. some courses do offer honours, some dont.

wow... that could take a while...

it's easier if u just browse the courses that u want at their respective websites. all IPTAs will list the courses with honours or not.

nope. it depends on what masters u talking about. MPhil takes normally 2 years, regardless what ur previous qualifications are. MSc by taught course is usually 1 year.

a degree is only worth the job it could get u. some degrees are too general that it doesnt give u any advantage, but general enough for u to apply into a wide variety of jobs. other degrees are too specific that although it gives u advantage when applying for specific jobs, it's virtually worthless when applying into other fields.

the information were correct at the time of writing. thanks for bringing that up. there are still arguments whether 3rd class is considered an honours or not. quite a large number of universities dont anymore simply because the number of graduates with 3rd class is minuscule. people just opt to repeat to get better grades or fail the course entirely.

and yes, some hons degrees in the UK have shifted to make research components more of an option rather than compulsory. they started this mainly for BSc courses a couple of years back, but it wasnt publicly known.

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Added on December 19, 2009, 9:49 ami dont know about UPM, but UTM's degree is with honours.

be extra careful when checking for architectural courses. most part 1 degrees (normally known as BSc in architecture) does not come with honours. this is normal. but part 2 degrees (known as BArch) does.

This post has been edited by azarimy: Dec 19 2009, 09:49 AM

one thing u should be clear is that different fields/profession have different view on what honours means. on one end, honours is just an extended academic excellence. so holding an honours gives u the prestige of being an excellent student. on the other end, honours hold a higher professional accreditation, meaning holding an honours or not can mean the difference between a manager and assistant manager (for example).

some professions, like art and design for example, does not distinguish between honours and non-honours. they would hire either one of them based on whatever criteria they want. depending on the schools itself, the honours and non-honours only determines their academic excellence or the slightly more extensive training. one example is honours degree will usually end up with a thesis or dissertation, while non-honours only get a graduating project or paper. whatever it is, your employer does not have any obligations to hire (or not hire) either one of the degrees.

in other professions like architecture and civil engineering, honours and non-honours can differentiate between a professional qualification or just an academic degree. the difference is, if a degree carries a professional qualification (also known as accreditation), the graduate can immediately go into the field and practice (ie, become an architect or engineer). in such fields, the non-honours degree holder would have to obtain their own professional qualification by other means.

each profession that is regulated by an authoritative body will have a special clause in their licensing to accommodate those who have obtained enough experience or training to qualify them to sit for their professional exam. this clause is quite unused in malaysia because everyone's so obsessed with obtaining a degree. but the same system is in use in the UK where people could just train via apprenticeship (by working under a certified engineer, architect, lawyer etc), and after certain years, able to sit for the exam.

this is one way to obtain their own professional qualifications without actually acquiring an accredited degree. of course, this can take well over 10 years.

honours/non-honours status are not determined by the university, but by the course offered. meaning, in a university such as UM, there can be both types of degrees offered. taking an example of BSc actuarial and financial mathematics doesnt make ALL of UM's degrees non-honours.

which IPTA is that? some IPTAs run things differently. but at the moment, i havent heard of IPTAs doing that.

the honours title in the degree is embedded in the bachelor title. it's not an award. meaning as long as u fulfill the basic requirement of graduation higher than 3rd grade, u WILL graduated with an honours degree.

majoring is something defined by the course taken and how the university declares it. taking a bunch of subjects on structure doesnt automatically make u a structural engineer per se. seek out the university and the faculty and ask them about it.

yes. there are lots of jobs for various qualifications. the problem is when people are seeking for that very one job that supplies everything - money, security, long-term benefits, health coverage, prestige, glamour etc.