Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, a student pursuing an associate or bachelor's degree is known as an undergraduate student while a student pursuing a master's or doctoral degree is a graduate student. Upon completion of courses and other requirements of an undergraduate program, the student would earn the corresponding degree. In some other educational systems, undergraduate education is postsecondary education up to and including the level of a master's degree; this is the case for some science courses in Britain and some medicine courses in Europe.
Programs
Africa
Nigerian system
In Nigeria, undergraduate degrees (excluding Medicine, Medical Laboratory Science, Nursing, Engineering, Law and Architecture) are four-year-based courses. Medicine (MBBS) and Architecture normally take six years to complete studies while Medical Laboratory Science, Nursing, Law and Engineering courses take five years to complete studies, usually, all six years are taken to improve their chances. Undergraduate nursing degrees or diplomas usually take two to four years and sometimes 5 years to complete, whereas graduate degrees are an additional two years or more.
South African system
The South African system usually has a three-year undergraduate bachelor's degree, with two or three majors. (There are exceptions, such as the medical qualification (MBChB), which is six years, and Engineering which is four.) A fourth year, known as an Honours year, is considered a post-graduate degree. It is usually course-driven, although may include a project or thesis.
Americas
Brazilian system
Brazil follows the major traits of the continental European system; free public schools are available from kindergarten up to postgraduation, both as a right established in Article 6, caput of the Brazilian Constitution and as a duty of the State in Article 208, Items I, IV and V, of the Brazilian Constitution. Students choose their specific course of studies before joining the university. Admission to university is obtained by means of a competitive entrance exam known as Vestibular (a concept somewhat similar to the Baccalauréat in France). A later system introduced in 2009, adopted by most federal universities, uses the high school national examination (ENEM) result as part or a replacement of the Vestibular grade. Depending on the chosen course, upon graduating the student is granted: a technologist diploma, three years to complete, a bachelor's degree's diploma, which usually takes four or, in the case of Law, Veterinary, Geology and Engineering, five years to complete; or a professional diploma, which normally require five or, in the case of medicine, six years to complete.
United States system
In the United States, undergraduate refers to a student who is studying for a bachelor's degree. The most common bachelor's degrees are Bachelor of Arts (BA/AB) and Bachelor of Science (BS/SB), but other degrees such as Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Bachelor of Music (BM), Bachelor of Social Work (BSW), Bachelor of Engineering/Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BEng/BSE), Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), Bachelor of Business Administration/Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BBA/BSBA), Bachelor of Education (Ed.B), Bachelor of Liberal Arts (BLA/ALB), and Bachelor of Architecture (BArch) are also possible. Most commonly these degrees require four years of full-time study after high school. An additional accolade to the bachelor's degree is the Honours degree.
Unlike in the British model, degrees in law and medicine are not offered at the undergraduate level and instead are completed at a graduate level, after earning a bachelor's degree. Neither field specifies or prefers any undergraduate major, though medical schools require a set of courses that must be taken before enrollment.