Masters degrees are an award higher than a Bachelors degree. In many countries of the world Masters degrees are awarded after two years of study beyond a Bachelors degree, while in the UK, because of the ways in which the programmes are designed, they are normally achieved after a full year of full-time study.
The difference between a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree is easy to understand. While a Bachelors degree requires detailed and systematic knowledge and understanding of a general subject area, a Masters degree requires, in addition, critical skills and understanding, and a thorough knowledge of current trends and issues at the forefront of a specialist academic discipline.
The word ‘Masters’ really refers to an academic level of study rather than a particular course with a standard organisation and structure. Within the UK there are three main types of Masters degree, but there is also quite a large range of other programmes that are taught at Masters level but do not lead to a Masters degree.
Traditional Masters degree
The traditional Masters degree is a taught programme of one year’s full-time study (or two years part-time) which leads to the award of an MA or MSc degree. The MA is a Master of Arts degree and is normally awarded for a programme in an arts, social sciences or humanities subject – for example an MA in Victorian Literature or an MA in Criminology. The MSc is a Master of Science degree and is usually awarded for a programme in a science or technology discipline – for example an MSc in Software Engineering or an MSc in Environmental Management.
Some universities use other Masters degree titles to show the specialist area of study rather than just using MA or MSc. The best known is probably the MBA, or Master of Business Administration, which is for those specialising in a programme in business, management and administration. Other examples include MSc(SocSci) for programmes in the social sciences or MEd for programmes in education.
Within the UK these programmes have very similar ways of being organised. All will include a number of specialist taught courses (or units), each of which will be assessed in some way, perhaps by an examination or by the submission of a project or coursework. The taught course will make up two-thirds of the overall assessment of the programme. In addition, though, every student will undertake an individual dissertation or project requiring a final report of usually 15,000 to 25,000 words, which makes up the other one-third of the overall mark. It is usual for the taught courses to be undertaken during the earlier parts of the programme and for the dissertation or project to be the final task, but this pattern may vary between programmes.
Most Masters degrees are designed for students who have just completed a Bachelors degree, and the only academic entry requirement is that applicants must have a good overall grade in their first degree by the time they start the Masters.
Some Masters degrees, though, are intended as professional development programmes for those working in particular professional fields. The MBA degree in most universities is described as ‘a post-experience programme’, for example, in that those on the course will be expected to draw on experience of working in business or commerce. One of the entry requirements for such courses may be a minimum period of work experience, typically between two and five years. Similar entry requirements may apply to Masters programmes in the fields of education, health, law or social work, where the Masters programme is both an academic and a professional development course.
Integrated Masters degree
Integrated Masters degrees are not free-standing Masters programmes, but are undergraduate programmes extended by one year to enable students to reach Masters level. These programmes are usually four-year courses. By the end of three years of full-time study students will have reached the level of a Bachelors degree, and if they choose to do so can complete their programme at that time and leave with a Bachelors degree. Providing they have reached a suitable standard of achievement, though, students can study for a fourth year for a Masters degree, where the academic level of work in the fourth year is at Masters rather than at Bachelors degree (called Honours) level. These programmes are normally found in science and engineering academic disciplines, and the usual degree awarded is MEng (Master of Engineering), or a named integrated Masters degree such as MPhys (Master of Physics) or MChem (Master of Chemistry). It is not usually possible to enter the fourth year of these programmes with a Bachelors degree from another university, so those who are seeking an integrated Masters degree will need to apply for the full four-year programme.
Masters degree by research
Masters degrees are normally described as ‘taught’ programmes, even though they include a ‘research’ dissertation or project, because most of the course is through taught units of study. In some subjects, though, it is possible to study for a Masters degree which is largely a research programme, in that most of the assessment and credit is achieved through a research dissertation. This will be a single large independent research study, typically of 30,000 to 35,000 words, at Masters level, and will be for the award of an MRes (Master of Research) or MPhil (Master of Philosophy) degree. In many ways an MRes or MPhil programme is more like a PhD – the main work is an individual project, working with a research supervisor. The difference from a PhD is in the academic level of the study (i.e. it is a Masters level of study) and in the size of the dissertation, which is much shorter than for a Doctorate. Most Masters degrees by research will include some taught courses, normally on research methods, but the assessment for the degree will be only through the dissertation.
While some students choose to take an MPhil degree for its own sake, the main feature of an MPhil is that it is a stage on the pathway to a Doctorate. Many universities register PhD students first of all for an MPhil and then, if they are making suitable progress, change the registration to PhD. MPhil will often be awarded therefore to those students who either decide not to progress to PhD or, occasionally, where the standard of the PhD thesis was not high enough for the award of a Doctorate but was judged to be of Masters standard (see Exams and vivas [LINK TO Exams and vivas]).
There are a number of postgraduate awards at Masters level which are not actually called Masters in their title. These are programmes that are at Masters level (i.e. they make the same academic challenges as a Masters degree) but are shorter programmes. They are usually courses leading to a Postgraduate Certificate or a Postgraduate Diploma, and may be available in almost any academic field. To understand these awards you need to understand a little about the structure of a UK Masters degree.
The UK government’s Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) rules on a Masters degree are that a full Masters is valued at 180 Masters level (M-level) credit points. Normally 120 points can be awarded for the taught part of a programme and 60 points for the dissertation or project. A Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) is an M-level programme worth 60 credit points. It will therefore normally be awarded for a taught course which is equivalent to one-third of a full Masters degree, or one-half of the taught part of a Masters. A Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) is awarded for 120 M-level points, which is equivalent to a full Masters but without the dissertation.
Many universities offer free-standing PGCert and PGDip programmes, often with a particular title – for example a PGCert in Statistics. Alternatively they may use these as alternative awards for students who started a full Masters programme but chose to complete only a part of the full programme. A PGDip will usually be awarded to a student who has completed the taught part of their Masters degree successfully, but whose dissertation is not of a high enough standard (see Exams and vivas [LINK TO Exams and vivas]).
For many students the award of a degree that enables them to use the title of Doctor (Dr) in front of their name is the ultimate academic achievement. For some, being called Dr is the principal reason for following a Doctoral programme, for it brings prestige and social status. Doctoral programmes are what has been called by the Bologna Declaration ‘third cycle’ programmes, because they are a third phase of academic study following the first cycle (Bachelors degrees) and the second cycle (Masters degrees), although in some circumstances it is possible to progress straight from a first degree to a Doctoral programme.
The main feature of a Doctorate is the Doctoral thesis. This is a substantial research project on a specialist topic within the student’s chosen academic field, written as a thesis of between 40,000 and 120,000 words, depending on the exact Doctoral programme. This is the size of a medium to large academic book. A Doctoral student has to show that they can contribute new knowledge in a field where they already have substantial existing expertise through a well-designed research project so that the findings will be judged by their academic peers as worthy of publication.
The exact way in which a Doctoral programme is organised may vary, and within the UK there are a number of different types of Doctorates. All will expect you to take between two and four years’ full-time or between three and six years’ part-time study to complete your thesis. All will include some element of taught research training courses in the early stages of your research. Most will require you to have a Masters degree before you start your Doctoral programme. The main types of Doctorate are described below.
PhD or DPhil
The PhD degree is the traditional UK research degree. The degree title comes from the Latin for Doctor of Philosophy (Philosophiae Doctoris). In a small number of universities, the equivalent degree is called a DPhil (Doctoris Philosophiae). The British PhD is similar to those in other European countries, but is different in structure to PhD programmes in the USA. It requires you to do a single research project that leads to the writing of a thesis, under the supervision of an academic who is an expert in the field. In some areas of creative or performing arts the thesis may be replaced by the production of an artefact or performance with a written commentary. Traditionally a PhD had no formal taught courses or units as part of the programme. However, in recent years it has been recognised that all new researchers need training in the use and selection of research methods, so that all PhD programmes now include some taught units on research methods. While studying these units may be a requirement for completion of the programme, however, the judgement about whether the Doctorate is awarded or not is based only on the quality of the final written thesis. This is the distinctive character of the British PhD.
Integrated PhD
Recognition that for some students including such taught elements in the programme and that the opportunity to build relevant professional experience and skills (in addition to straight academic skills) would be helpful led to the development of a new and alternative form of PhD in the UK. This is known as the Integrated PhD, or is still sometimes called the ‘new route PhD’. An integrated PhD requires a longer period of study than a traditional PhD, with a usual minimum of four years’ full-time study or six years’ part-time study. The integrated PhD has three elements:
• A taught element of course units in both research methods and skills and in subject-specific or inter-disciplinary topics, which are all formally assessed
• A professional and transferable skills element, including training in a range of skills appropriate to the professional field of the Doctorate but also of a more general nature, which is also assessed
• A research element, which involves undertaking a research project and writing a thesis.
While the final award of the Doctorate depends on the research thesis and its quality, students on an integrated PhD need to complete the other two elements successfully before being permitted to start their thesis.
Professional Doctorate
Professional Doctorates are more similar to the integrated PhD than to the traditional PhD. They include a compulsory programme of taught units in the early stages of the programme. These units include both research methods units and units in the broad subject area of the field of study. Successful completion of the taught units is a requirement for progressing to the research project phase of the programme. Most professional Doctorates have developed in academic fields with a strong professional dimension, and the Doctorate normally includes an indication of the professional field in its title – for example in education a professional Doctorate is called an EdD, in business and management it is called a DBA (Doctor of Business Administration) and in engineering it is called an EngD or DEng. Professional Doctorates have emerged in the UK in the past two decades and are now a well-established form of Doctoral programme.
