Master's Degree

Purpose

A Master’s Degree qualifies individuals who apply an advanced body of knowledge in a range of contexts for research, a pathway for further learning, professional practice and/or scholarship.

Master’s Degrees usually build on a Bachelor's Degree, Graduate Diploma, Bachelor Honours Degree or a Postgraduate Diploma. They may also build on extensive professional experience of an appropriate kind. Their outcomes are demonstrably in advance of undergraduate study, and require individuals to engage in research and/or advanced scholarship.

Master’s Degrees are constituted in one discipline or coherent programme of study. They may be undertaken by taught courses or research, or by a combination of both.

Credit requirements

The Master’s Degree must include a minimum of 40 credits at level 9 with the remainder at level 8. It comprises at least 240 credits in total, except where it builds on four years of prior study at Bachelor's Degree level or above, in which case it can be fewer than 240, but no fewer than 120, credits.

Master’s Degrees are structured in three principal ways:

By thesis or primarily by thesis

Entry to a Master’s Degree by thesis is normally based on a Bachelor Honours Degree or a Postgraduate Diploma in the same field of study. The degree includes 120 credits of which at least 90 credits (at level 9) consists of a research project presented in the form of a thesis, dissertation, substantial research paper or scholarly creative work.

By coursework and thesis

Entry to a Master’s Degree by coursework and thesis is normally based on an undergraduate degree in the same field of study. The degree includes 240 credits of which at least 90 credits (at level 9) are in the form of a thesis, dissertation, substantial research paper or scholarly creative work and of which up to 150 credits are from coursework.

By coursework

Entry to a Master’s Degree by coursework worth 120 to 240 credits is normally based on an undergraduate degree. The degree is achieved through coursework consisting of courses, project work and research in varying combinations. It may build on undergraduate study in the same academic field, or it may build on the more generic graduate attributes of an undergraduate degree in other fields, or in some cases on relevant professional experience. Master’s Degrees that build on generic attributes and/or experience (often called “conversion Master’s”) are usually in professional fields and are recognised as appropriate professional preparation by the profession or industry concerned.

Entry

Providers of courses leading to Master’s qualifications are responsible for establishing entry requirements. The minimum entry qualification for a 240-credit Master’s Degree is a Bachelor's Degree or equivalent[1]. For a Master’s Degree of fewer than 240 credits, normally the minimum entry qualification is a Bachelor Honours Degree or a Postgraduate Diploma or an undergraduate degree followed by relevant professional experience.

An applicant who holds either a Bachelor Honours Degree or a Postgraduate Certificate or Postgraduate Diploma may be exempted from all or some of the taught courses, in a 240 credit degree.

Outcomes

A graduate of a Master’s Degree is able to:

show evidence of advanced knowledge about a specialist field of enquiry or professional practice
demonstrate mastery of sophisticated theoretical subject matter
evaluate critically the findings and discussions in the literature
research, analyse and argue from evidence
work independently and apply knowledge to new situations
engage in rigorous intellectual analysis, criticism and problem-solving.

If a Master’s Degree includes a component of supervised research of not fewer than 90 credits at level 9, the graduate is also able to:

demonstrate a high order of skill in the planning, execution and completion of a piece of original research or creative scholarly work, and
apply such skills learned during the study programme to new situations.
The research should be completed to internationally recognised standards and demonstrate that the graduate has a capacity for independent thinking.

Relationship with other qualifications

A person who holds a Master’s Degree achieved to an appropriate standard and including a research component of at least 90 credits may be considered for admission to a programme of advanced study and/or original research leading to a Doctoral Degree.

[1] Admission as an individual for a Master’s Degree is based on the evaluation of documentary evidence (including the academic record) of the applicant’s ability to undertake postgraduate study in a specialist field of enquiry or professional practice, The individual must have attained, through formal study, professional or other experience, a high order of knowledge about the principal subject(s), and have demonstrated interest in, and an aptitude for, scholarship.