United Kingdom and Ireland
At Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin, it is conferred after a certain number of years without further examination to those who are Bachelors of Arts, and in the ancient universities of Scotland it is a first degree. The Master of Arts (BrE: MA, UsE: M.A.) is awarded in Arts, Humanities, Theology and Social Sciences. However, some universities—particularly those in Scotland—award the Master of Letters (MLitt) to students in the Arts, Humanities, Divinity and Social Sciences. The MLitt is a research degree at the University of Cambridge, where the Master of Philosophy (MPhil) is the name given to the standard one-year taught degree with a unique research element, in contrast to the use of MPhil at other institutions for a research degree.
The M.A. is typically a "taught" postgraduate degree, involving lectures, examination, and a dissertation based on independent research. Taught master's programs involve 1 or 2 years of full-time study.
In law, the standard taught degree is the Master of Laws, but certain courses may lead to the award of an M.A., MLitt, Master of Studies (MSt), and at Oxford, the Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL). These degrees are all considered substitutes to one another and are thus generally equivalent.
Until recently, both the undergraduate and postgraduate master's degrees were awarded without grade or class (like the class of an honours degree). Nowadays however, master's degrees are normally classified into the categories of Fail, Pass, Pass with Merit or Pass with Distinction.
The degree of Master of Arts may also be awarded, in the case of the oldest British universities only, without further examination to those who have graduated as Bachelor of Arts and who have the requisite years' standing as members of the university or as graduates. This happens, in England, only at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. It is also the case at the University of Dublin in Ireland . In Scotland, the degree of Master of Arts is awarded in some universities as a first degree to undergraduates . The practice of awarding these degrees of Master of Arts without postgraduate examination or coursework is very ancient although, among modern universities, anomalous.
This education pattern in United Kingdom is followed in India and many Commonwealth Nations.
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