Degrees in the UK and Ireland are slightly different from American degrees. Undergraduate degrees can be either 3 or 4 years. They are usually referred to as either ordinary or Honours degrees, though some university offer only Honours degrees. Most universities’ undergraduate degrees are called Bachelors, and will likely be abbreviated BA (Hons) or BSc(Hons). Bachelors degrees and Masters degrees are slightly more confusing in Scotland. The shortest postgraduate course is usually called an MA (usually MSc in Scotland), and is generally a 1-year (12 months) taught course, where you take classes and possibly write a short dissertation. These are often available in shorter form, so that you would spend less than 12 months to receive a postgraduate Diploma or a Certificate (often this would be accomplished simply by completing the taught course part of MA, and not writing the dissertation). I have not mentioned Diplomas or Certificates explicitly in the program descriptions; if you are interested in these, see the relevant program’s web site and contact the department. The other postgraduate courses (MLitt, MPhil, PhD) are usually longer; the MLitt and PhD are primarily research-based, where the dissertation is the primary source of evaluation. However, you would probably still take a few taught courses in these degrees, particularly if you wanted to.
IRELAND
For the purposes of this article, I have included universities in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in this section, simply because it is Irish that is generally the focus in both the north and the south. One thing to be aware of for universities in the Republic of Ireland is that all Irish schoolchildren are required to take a fair amount of Irish, so many of the degree programs assume an intermediate level of Irish even before the course begins. This does not mean beginners shouldn’t apply, but you need to check with the department to ensure that you will be eligible.
