What a confused state of affairs. Some first degrees are labeled at the Master's level. Scottish universities are still awarding MAs as first degrees. Some first degrees in a discipline are at the Doctorate level: JD for law, MD for medicine and DDS/DDM for dentistry, etc. Some bachelors are at or close to the doctorate level: BPhil(Oxon) for instance. Some masters are at bachelor's level: BCL (Oxon) Some MAs are dished out for BA graduates after two or three years; and some MAs are dished out to teachers so that they can teach in those universities that they didnt graduate. Some MAs are dished out for those simply because they are employed by those universities that award these MA degrees. Not all doctorates are the same: Some are earned; and yet some are honorary. Some universities consider doctorates other than PhD to be higher doctorates: higher than PhD, while others may consider doctorates to be inferior to the PhD. Then there is this rule I heard: bachelor's degree cannot be awarded to married students in China. Can this be true???
"OLD people now can apply to college. In China, that means anyone over 25, married or with kids. [...] The only other time in Communist China's history when older and married students were allowed to attend college was right after the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution" -- apparently a Los Angeles Times story, Google's cache of http://www.athensnews.gr/education/2edu6.htm
