Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts ( B . A . , BA , A . B . , or AB ) , from the Latin " artium baccalaureus " , is a bachelor ' s degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts , the sciences , or both . Bachelor of Arts degree programs generally take three to four years depending on the country , academic institution , and specific majors or minors . Diplomas generally give the name of the institution , signatures of officials of the institution ( generally the president or rector of the university as well as the secretary or dean of the component college ) , the type of degree conferred , the conferring authority and the location at which the degree is conferred . Degree diplomas generally are printed on high quality paper or parchment ; individual institutions set the preferred abbreviation for their degrees . Regional differences . The Bachelor of Arts degree is usually attained in four years in Lebanon , Armenia , Greece , Bangladesh , Azerbaijan , Brazil and the rest of Latin America , Canada , Egypt , Iran , Japan , Nigeria , Serbia , Pakistan , the Philippines , Thailand , the Russian Federation , Ireland , South Korea , Iraq , Tunisia , Kuwait , Turkey , and the United States . In contrast , the Bachelor of Arts degree course generally lasts three years in nearly all of the European Union including the United Kingdom . It also takes three years in Albania , Australia , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Croatia , Hungary , India , Israel , New Zealand , Iceland , Norway , Singapore , the Caribbean , South Africa , Switzerland , and the Canadian province of Quebec . Australia , Canada , New Zealand , South Africa . In colleges and universities in Australia , New Zealand and South Africa , the B . A . degree can be taken over three years of full - time study . Students must pursue at least one major area of study , and that subject is studied in all of the three years . At some universities students may choose to pursue a second major ; alternatively , the remainder of the degree is taken up with a minor area of study ( in the first two years ) and other individual or stream - based subjects make up the degree . Unlike in other countries , students do not receive an overall grade for their Bachelor of Arts degree with varying levels of honours . Instead , students have the option , after their third year of study and provided they have achieved a minimum average grade in their major area , of a further one year honours course . Thus , to achieve an Bachelor with Honours degree ( BA ( Hons . ) ) , an extra " postgraduate " year and a research honour´s thesis must be completed ; see Bachelor ' s degree : Honours Degrees and academic distinctions . Canadian colleges and universities typically offer a 3 and 4 year Bachelor of Arts ( B . A . ) . A Bachelor of Arts With Honours degree ( BA hons . ) can be completed only at ( very - ) high - research - activity universities ; it requires a minimum of four years but may also take longer . Going back in history a 4 year degree was called an " honours degree " . The honours BA degree should not be confused with the Bachelor of Arts " With Honours " degree , which is a separate degree ( Baccalaureatus in Artibus Cum Honore ) awarded to students who achieve an honours bachelor ' s degree with a sufficiently high overall average and who , typically , fulfill an supervised high - research - activity thesis requirement during a master ' s level year of studies . A student holding a BA hons . may choose to complete a Doctor of Philosophy ( Ph . D . ) program without the requirement to first complete a master ' s degree . In general , in all four countries the B . A . degree is the standard required for entry into a master ' s programme . In science , a BA hons . degree is generally prerequiste for entrance to a Ph . D programme or a very - high - research - activity master´s programme . As such , for example the UK awarded " honours " desigantion should not be confused with Canadian , Australian , New Zealands and South African awarded BA hons . / BA ( Hons . ) degree . For further clarification , in other countries the so - called " honours " bachelor may not be an actual degree , but the name of a ( vocational ) programme which can be completed through specified course work , a high grade average , and the completion of possibly a short paper or project ; students who completed such a " honours " B . A . programm sometimes style themselves by ' ( Hon ) ' after the degree abbreviation without a space and after the ' Hon ( s ) ' without a dot , for example ' B . A . ( Hon ) ' . The 3 and 4 year B . A . degree is also accepted for entry into graduate professional programmes such as law or an M . B . A . program . Netherlands / Europe . In the Netherlands , the Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees were introduced in 2002 . Until then there was a single program which led to the doctorandus degree . This comprised the same course load as the Bachelor and Master programs combined . ( The title " doctorandus " was used in almost all fields of study ; other titles were used for legal studies ( " meester " ) and engineering ( " ingenieur " ) . ) Those who had already started the doctorandus program could , on completing it , opt for the doctorandus degree ( entitling them to use " Drs . " in front of their name ) , or could use the Master ’ s degree ( post - nominal letters ) in accordance with the new standard . A similar practice has been introduced in other EU countries , according to the Bologna Process . Germany . In Germany , university - level education usually happens in either a " Universität " ( plural : " Universitäten " ) or a " Fachhochschule " ( plural : " Fachhochschulen " ) ; both can be referred to as a " Hochschule " , which is the generic term in Germany for all institutions awarding academic degrees . Fachhochschule is often translated as " University of Applied Sciences " . Universitäten place greater emphasis on fundamental science and theoretical background , while Fachhochschulen are generally designed with a focus on teaching professional skills . Degrees earned at Universitäten and Fachhochschulen are legally equivalent . In Germany , the B . A . normally lasts between 3 and 3 ½ years – 6 or 7 semesters - and is awarded after the student earns between 180 and 210 ECTS . United Kingdom and Ireland . In the United Kingdom ( excluding Scotland ) and Republic of Ireland , the first degree course normally lasts 3 years , but nomenclature varies : 19th - century and later universities usually distinguish between arts and sciences subjects by awarding either a B . A . or B . Sc . degree . However , some older or ancient universities , such as Oxford , Cambridge and Dublin traditionally award B . A . s to undergraduates having completed the final examinations , e . g . Part II Tripos ( Cambridge ) , Final Honour Schools ( Oxford ) , Moderatorship ( Dublin ) , in most subjects including the sciences . Some new plate glass universities established in the 1960s , such as York and Lancaster originally followed the practice of Oxford and Cambridge by awarding B . A . s in all subjects , but have since changed to awarding B . Sc . degrees in science subjects . At Oxford , Cambridge and Dublin the degree of M . A . can be claimed for a nominal administrative fee , usually 21 terms after matriculation . For many centuries , the bachelor ' s degree was an intermediate step and was awarded for much of the work carried out in later times at secondary schools . The names of the final secondary school exams in France and Spain ( and increasingly in Britain - the International Baccalaureate ) come from this : le Baccalauréat and el " Bachillerato " , respectively . Scottish Universities award a Master of Arts degree to humanities or arts graduates , but a B . Sc . to science graduates . This course takes 4 years for an honours degree and three for an ordinary ( in Scotland it is possible to opt to take an ordinary degree rather than this simply ranking below a third class honours ) . A Bachelor of Arts is entitled to the designation B . A . for an ordinary / pass degree and B . A . ( Hons . ) for an honours degree ( but the latter is often abbreviated to simply B . A . ) . An honours degree is always awarded in one of four classes depending upon the marks gained in the final assessments and examinations . The top students are awarded a first - class degree , followed by an upper second - class degree ( usually referred to as a 2 : 1 ) , a lower second - class degree ( usually referred to as a 2 : 2 ) , and those with the lowest marks gain a third - class degree . An ordinary or unclassified degree ( which does not give the graduate the right to add ( Hons ) ) may be awarded if a student has completed the full honours degree course but has not obtained the total required passes sufficient to merit a third - class honours degree . United States . In the United States , the Bachelor of Arts ( B . A . ) or Artium Baccalaureus ( A . B . ) is one of two basic undergraduate degrees . The other is the Bachelor of Science . At most institutions , the B . A . and B . S . have all but identical requirements of 120 semester hours or 180 quarter hours for a basic undergraduate degree . Curricula leading to the B . A . , however , often require a certain minimum number of the total degree credits be drawn from coursework in topical areas historically associated with the liberal arts - such as language , literature , humanities , mathematics , history , physical sciences , and social sciences . At Eastern Michigan University , for example , 75 of the minimum 124 credits must be earned in these subject areas - regardless of what the student may choose as a major or minor subject - including one year of study over two consecutive semesters of one foreign language . Until recently , many major universities in the United States required a student to complete a certain number of credit hours while attending campus - based courses . With the emergence of E - learning , residency requirements are losing popularity as educational institutions are expanding their ability to offer online degrees at all postsecondary education levels .