Bachelor or Baccalaureate

[John Dunn]

Perhaps things are different in North America (and I realise that TOEFL is a US qualification), but to my untutored English ear the collocation 'baccalaureate degree' sounds very odd indeed.  I have come across 'baccalaureate' used on its own to refer to a Bachelor's degree or to the status of possessing such a degree, but this is very rare and extremely pedantic, and in current British usage the term is used only of school-leaving/University entrance qualifications of the type mentioned by Konstantin Dibrova.  Subject to correction by those better informed about US terminology, I would have thought it safe to say that 'bakalavriat/bakalavrskaja stepen'' correspond to English 'bachelor's degree'.

If I might presume on your patience a little longer, there is a wider aspect to this.  On this side of the Atlantic we are all the children of Bologna, and by 2010 we are supposed to have created a common European space of higher education that will stretch from Galway to Vladivostok.  Part of this process involves, so I understand, a standardisation of the terminology associated with the awarding of degrees (hence the new Russian terms), and in theory this should make finding equivalents, at least within Europe. that much easier.  But at point I had better stop and go to admire the flocks of pigs flying in elegant formation past my study window.

John Dunn.   



-----Original Message-----
From: Konstantin Dibrova <dibrova_k at MAIL.RU>
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2005 15:13:26 +0400
Subject: [SEELANGS] Bachelor or Baccalaureate

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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John Dunn
SMLC (Slavonic Studies)
University of Glasgow
Hetheringon Building
Bute Gardens
Glasgow G12 8RS
U.K.

Tel.: +44 (0)141 330 5591
Fax: +44 (0)141 330 2297
e-mail: J.Dunn at slavonic.arts.gla.ac.uk

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