Bachelors degree
 

Can any one tell me if British and American bachelors degrees are the same thing. I have equivalent to bachelors degree in UK but not sure if that qualifies me for the jobs I'm looking at in the US.

Re: Bachelors degree
 

i would imagine that your original qualification would have to be judged again against the american standards.

Re: Bachelors degree
 

What do you mean by "Equivalent to a Bachelors"?

Re: Bachelors degree
 

According to the UK government's 1997 National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education (Dearing Report):
"The American high school diploma compares in standard with GCSE and the
associate degree with GCE A-level and Advanced GNVQ, the bachelor’s degree with a UK pass degree or higher national diploma and the Master’s degree with a bachelor’s honours degree from a British university."

Your UK Bachelors degree will be viewed as the same as a US degree. You may need to have it "verified" by a company such as WES www.wes.org

WES will basically rubber stamp your degree and provide you with a document that shows that in their "estimation" (I quote) your degree is to be considered the same as a US one. They did this when I had them 'evaluate' my degree.

Hope that helps.

MH

Re: Bachelors degree
 

Since these "evaluation" companies are unregulated, many employers insist that you use the company they choose. This generally means that it's not worth having a company like WES evaluate your degree before you have job offer contingent on your degree being evaluated.

As others have said, your degree will be viewed by employers as being broadly equivalent to a US degree.

Re: Bachelors degree
 

Many thanks to you all, good to know it's not completely worthless.

Re: Bachelors degree
 

It's an accounting qualification, so no university involved and as such not actually called a degree.

Re: Bachelors degree
 

Ummm....accounting is a whole different ball of wax.

You might want to do a search on Accountant or CPA in this board to learn about the arcane and complicated world of accountanting qualifications in the US. It's not so much about having a bachelors, or 'almost a bachelors' or whatever but a different set of standards.

This was discussed about two months ago here and there are a few who can speak about the specifics a little better than I can, but a forum search might help.

Re: Bachelors degree
 

If you're planning to work in Finance then having an accounting qualification will be fine, you might also want to look at what's needed to turn it into a CPA or CMA as it may not take that much. You can even do that in the UK.

I'm not sure how much having an accounting qualification is seen as being an equivalent to a bachelors over here though. My husband has had his AAT taken to be equivalent to 'some college completed' as part of the visa process for his IT job, but they were trying to play up the finance related aspect of his job because he isn't technically qualified to do the IT bit.

And with many jobs the piece of paper might be important, but having the proven experience to back it up is what will get you in.

Re: Bachelors degree
 

So your opening post in this thread is in fact incorrect. You're not enquiring about a UK degree but a UK acquired accounting qualification. Is it from a British professionally accredited association? ACCA or something similar?

Re: Bachelors degree
 

It's AAT, which is equivalent to a bachelors degree here, that was the point of the question, would it be the equivalent in the USA, as a lot of the better jobs in accounts ask for bachelors degree.

Re: Bachelors degree
 

My missus has a full Bachelors degree and it means very little in the UK compared to here, she was told if we went there to live she would only be partially qualified and have to go back to school :frown:

Re: Bachelors degree
 

As far as I am aware, AAT is not equivalent to a bachelors degree. It's a diploma level qualification.

Unless you have something authoritative to tell us otherwise?

Re: Bachelors degree
 

I was told by an accountant it was equivalent to a bachelors degree, and I found this.

Approximate academic equivalents

NVQ 1 = foundation GNVQ, three to four GCSEs at grades D-E, Business & Technology Education Council (BTEC) first certificate.
NVQ 2 = four to five GCSEs at grades A*-C, BTEC first diploma.
NVQ 3 = two or more A levels, BTEC Ordinary National Diploma (OND), City & Guilds Advanced Craft.
NVQ 4 = BTEC Higher National Certificate (HNC) or Higher National Diploma (HND), or a First Academic Degree (B.Sc., B.A., B.Eng. or other academic degree).
NVQ 5 = postgraduate qualification or higher degree, such as M.Sc., M.A., M.Eng. or Ph.D.

Re: Bachelors degree
 

Just being an accountant does not make someone an expert on qualification equivalency levels.

The list you give is meaningless because "NVQ4" encompasses HNC, HND and first degrees. A HND is definitely a higher qualification than HNC, and a degree is higher than both.

I very much doubt that any qualification assessment service out there will accept AAT as being equivalent to a bachelors degree.