Undergraduate education
Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, a student pursuing an associate or bachelor's degree is known as an undergraduate student while a student who is pursuing a higher degree is a graduate student. Upon completion of courses and other requirements of an undergraduate program, the student would earn the corresponding degree. In some other educational systems, undergraduate education is postsecondary education up to and including the level of a master's degree; this is the case for some science courses in Britain and some medicine courses in Europe.
By country
Brazil
follows the major traits of the continental European system; free public schools are available from kindergarten up to postgraduation, both as a right established in Article 6, caput of the Brazilian Constitution and as a duty of the State in Article 208, Items I, IV and V, of the Brazilian Constitution. Students choose their specific course of studies before joining the university. Admission to university is obtained by means of a competitive entrance exam known as Vestibular. A later system introduced in 2009, adopted by most federal universities, uses the high school national examination result as part or a replacement of the Vestibular grade. Depending on the chosen course, upon graduating the student is granted: a technologist diploma, three years to complete, a bachelor's degree's diploma, which usually takes four or, in the case of Law, Veterinary, Geology and Engineering, five years to complete; or a professional diploma, which normally require five or, in the case of medicine, six years to complete.United States
In the United States, undergraduate education refers to a student who is studying for a bachelor's degree. The most common bachelor's degrees are Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science, but other degrees such as Bachelor of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Social Work, Bachelor of Engineering/Bachelor of Science in Engineering, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Bachelor of Business Administration/Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Bachelor of Education, Bachelor of Liberal Arts, and Bachelor of Architecture are also possible. Most commonly, these degrees require four years of full-time study after high school. An additional accolade to the bachelor's degree is the Honours degree.Unlike in the British model, degrees in law and medicine are not offered at the undergraduate level and instead are completed at a graduate level, after earning a bachelor's degree. Neither field specifies or prefers any undergraduate major, though medical schools require a set of courses that must be taken before enrollment.
Students can also choose to attend a two-year community college before further study at a four-year college or university. In most states, community colleges are operated either by a division of the state university or by local special districts subject to guidance from a state agency. Community colleges award associate degrees of different types, some intended to prepare students to transfer to four-year institutions, Associate of Science ), and others intended to provide vocational skills and training for students wishing to enter into or advance in a profession. In some states, considerable attention has been given to ensure that community college courses prepare students for the continuation courses they will encounter at the local college; this process of bringing courses into sequence is called articulation. Some community colleges have automatic enrollment agreements with a local college or university, where the community college provides the first two years of study, and the university provides the remaining years of study, sometimes all on one campus. The community colleges award associate degrees, while universities and colleges award the bachelor's. However, some community colleges, such as Brazosport College in Lake Jackson, Texas, offer bachelor's degrees along with associate degrees. Conversely, some universities, such as the University of Delaware, also award associate degrees.
In the United States, "college" and "university" are terms used differently in different states; New York's terminology is especially confusing. A university is usually larger than a college, and has programs at the graduate level, but the distinction is not clear-cut. Some colleges award graduate degrees, for example, and some colleges are larger than some universities. Some states have requirements a college must meet before it is allowed to call itself a university. Institutions seeking to grow have pursued various steps to turn two-year junior colleges into community colleges, community colleges into four-year colleges, awarding baccalaureate degrees, sometimes while still a community college, and colleges into universities, with graduate programs.
Asia
Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, three-year undergraduate programs are known as Degree courses and four-year undergraduate programs are known as Honours courses.Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, the English system is followed. Students sit for the Certificate of Education examinations at around sixteen years of age, and the Advanced-level, or A-level examinations at around eighteen, then follow by three years of undergraduate education, except for a few specific fields, such as medicine, nursing and law. This is due to be changed, with five-year secondary education and two-year matriculation examination combined and shortened to six years matriculation, and undergraduate education lengthened to four years. Students may be able to receive general education in their first years in universities, more akin to the North American system. The first batch of students under the new system will enter universities in 2012.Alternatives are undergraduate certificates or diplomas, with some equivalent to associate degree in educational level.
India
's higher education system is the third largest in the world, next to the United States and China. The main governing body at the tertiary level is the University Grants Commission, which enforces its standards, advises the government, and helps coordinate between the centre and the state. Accreditation for higher learning is overseen by 15 autonomous institutions established by the UGC.In India, the graduation system is classified into two parts: Undergraduate and Postgraduate. It takes three or four years to complete an undergraduate degree. The three-year undergraduate programs are mostly in the fields of arts, commerce, science etc., and the four-year programs are mostly in the fields of technology, engineering, pharmaceutical sciences, agriculture etc. However, for medicine, law and architecture, the period has been five years. The possessor of the first UG is referred to as graduate and that of the PG degree as post-graduate. Other than UG and PG there are various 1 to 2 year diploma courses available.
Indian higher education system has expanded at a fast pace by adding nearly 20,000 colleges and more than 8 million students in a decade from 2000–01 to 2010–11. As of 2020, India has over 1000 universities, with a break up of 54 central universities, 416 state universities, 125 deemed universities, 361 private universities, 7 Institute under State Legislature Act, and 159 Institutes of National Importance which include IIMs, AIIMS, IITs, IIITs, IISERs and NITs among others. Other institutions include 52,627 colleges as government degree colleges, private colleges, standalone institutes and post-graduate research institutions, functioning under these universities as reported by the MHRD in 2020. Colleges may be Autonomous, i.e. empowered to examine their own degrees, up to PhD level in some cases, or non-autonomous, in which case their examinations are under the supervision of the university to which they are affiliated; in either case, however, degrees are awarded in the name of the university rather than the college.
Japan
Undergraduate education in Japan requires four years, which is divided into two stages: associate degree's for the first two years and bachelor's for the second half.Bachelor's degrees are awarded only by universities and NIAD-QE.
Pakistan
In Pakistan, it generally requires four years to complete a Bachelor's degree in Arts, Sciences, Dentistry, Engineering or Business Administration such as BA, BS, BDS, BE/BS/BSc Engineering or BBA and five years for bachelor's degrees in medicine, Physiotherapy, Pharmacy and Architecture after successfully completing 12 years of schooling. 4 years bachelor's degree is offered in various universities of Pakistan such as COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila, National University of Sciences and Technology, Lahore University of Management Sciences and National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences.The modern educational system comprises the following five stages: The Primary school lasting five years for children 5–10 years old in grades one to five; a Middle school of three years for children 10 to 13 years old, covering grades six through eight; a two-year secondary, or Matriculation consists of grades nine and ten, for children 13 to 15 years old; a two-year higher secondary, or Intermediate college, leading to an F.A. in arts or F.Sc. in science; and a fifth stage covering college and university programs leading to baccalaureate, professional, master's and doctorate degrees. The pre-primary or preparatory classes, called kachi or Nursery school, were formally integrated into the education system in 1988.