There are four basic types of undergraduate university degrees:
1. B.A. - Bachelor of Arts
Subjects of major interest would include (Humanities) English, Languages, Philosophy and (Social Sciences) geography, history, psychology and sociology.
2. B.Sc.- Bachelor of Science
Subjects of major interest would include Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science.
3. B.FA.- Bachelor of Fine Arts
Subjects of major interest would include Visual Arts, Music and Drama.
4. Professional Degrees
Professional degrees are usually a package of prescribed courses with some room for specialization within the subject area.
- Bachelor of Commerce (Business)
- Bachelor of Science in Engineering
- Bachelor of Science in Nursing
Some programs (e.g. Physical Education) may be offered as either a B.A. or a B.Sc.
University programs are either 3 years (pass or general) or 4 years (honours) in length.
A full-time student will take the equivalent of 5 university courses each year. Approximately half of your courses must be from the subject that you have declared as your major area of concentration. For example, if you were taking a 3 year B.A. majoring in English, you would take a total of 15 university courses, and 7 (approximately half) would need to be English courses. A minor area of concentration means that have taken at least 3 courses in a specific subject.
After your first year of university, it is fairly easy to switch your subject of major interest within a degree; for example, within a B.A. to change your major from psychology to sociology.
It is usually very difficult to switch degrees; for example, B.A. to B.Sc., because different degrees have different admissions requirements.
For administrative purposes, similar programs are grouped together into an administrative unit called a faculty; for example, the Faculty of Arts, the Faculty of Science or the Faculty of Mathematics. There is no uniform method of grouping programs into faculties; for example, depending on the university, English could be part of the Faculty of Arts, or the Faculty of Humanities or the Faculty of Arts and Science. You must study each university's calendar very carefully.