Bachelor or Baccalaureate

[Konstantin Dibrova]

Dear SEELANGers,

Working on a text-book for The Next Generation TOEFL I found myself puzzled by the term  Baccalaureate degree" compared to and with  Bachelor's degree". My sources give vague and contradictory definitions:
Baccalaureate degree: The degree of "bachelor" conferred upon graduates of most U.S. colleges and universities.
Bachelor's degree: Degree conferred by an institution of higher learning after the student has accumulated a certain number of undergraduate credits. (The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State)
Baccalaureate: (formal) a Bachelor's degree (Longman Advanced American Dictionary)  
Baccalaureate:  an examination that you take when you are 18 years old in France and some other countries that allows you to study at a university  (Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners
International Baccalaureate is a set of examinations that is used in many countries as a qualification for going to university (Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners
The Baccalaureate is an examination taken by students at the age of eighteen in France and some other countries (Collins Cobuild English Dictionary for Advanced Learners) etc.

The problem, as I presume, is both in English and Russian. In the 90th a two undergraduate degree system was introduced in the Russian higher school. A four-year course of study (so-called "bakalavriat") gives  stepen' bakalavr'a" which is commonly translated into English as  Bachelor's degree" rather than "Baccalaureate degree". (I suspect the preference given to the former is of spelling nature). After additional two years of study ( v magistrature")  stepen' magistra" (in standard translation  Master's Degree") is conferred. 
The question is: is there any difference in the meanings and usage of the terms  Bachelor's degree" and  Baccalaureate degree", and, if so, what might be a better Russian counterpart for each. 

Thanks in advance

Konstantin Dibrova,
Assoc. Professor,
St.Petersburg State Univerisity

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