HLC Clears Way for Review of ‘Reduced Credit’ Bachelor’s Degrees

As I understand it the 3-year bachelor's degree in Commonwealth countries is more highly concentrated in your field studied and less or fewer general studies courses.

 

And as far as I know (may be exceptions) you need the Honours degree for entry to graduate programs.

 

Generally speaking, the 3-year bachelor's is a regular degree, while a 4-year bachelor's is a honours degree requiring a dissertation. (Not the same as a doctoral dissertation here. More like a thesis. But that term is used in graduate school in the UK.)

Students in the UK pass rigorous exams (A-Levels) before entry into university. At university, they primarily study their major field. That's different from the US, where students are fed a liberal arts education along with their major, hence the extra year.

The honours degree is the standard credential for entry into grad school in the UK, but not exclusively. Students can be admitted to some universities' master's degree programs without an honours degree. They can often be admitted without a bachelor's degree. These vary by institution and area of study.

Because of the specific design of our system in the U.S., I would be cautious about the development of a 3-year bachelor's degree here, for what should be obvious reasons.