CIS - Undergraduate


			UNDERGRADUATE DEGREES
			While the names of the foreign degrees may sound familiar, the way in which they are taught, their length and their level can be very different from the traditional U.S. degree. CIS encourages students to fully understand the academic institution to which you are applying and also strongly recommends that you are knowledgeable about the type of degree that you are pursuing.

Degree Quality and Recognition | Degree Structure | Academic Calendar | Related Links

Degree Quality and Recognition

While you may or may not have heard of the institutions to which you are applying, you should know that the universities that CIS represents all are accredited within their country and the degrees that they offer are recognized worldwide, including the U.S. and Canada , as well as by employers worldwide. In fact, all of the universities that CIS represents have been given approval by the U.S. Department of Education to participate in the Federal Financial Aid program. This is an assurance that these universities meet similar requirements to U.S. universities.

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Degree Structure

The bachelor’s degree is structured very differently from a U.S. bachelor’s degree in so much as the international degree does not usually possess the “liberal arts” core of classes. The international bachelor’s degree program starts right away with your major classes. For instance, in the U.S. , if you are pursuing a business degree, your first year you will take classes in history, English literature, and social science in addition to a business class or two. This is very typical of the American bachelor’s degree. In a business program at an foreign university you will begin taking business classes in your first year and these will be the predominant type of classes you take for your entire degree save for a few electives. The international bachelor degree is much more “major” focused.

There are some exceptions to the previous rules. For instance, in professional programs, such as architecture, engineering, law or veterinary medicine, you might spend 4-6 years completing a bachelor degree. Or, if you are a student who excels academically, you may be invited into an “honors” degree program that involves an additional year of study. Students who achieve high results in their honors year may be offered direct entry into Master’s or PhD programs.

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Academic Calendar

The academic calendar for European universities is similar to that of the U.S. and Canada. Universities in the Southern Hemisphere, however, are reversed with their first semester beginning in late February and going through July, and their second semester beginning in mid July and running through November. A notable exception is Bond University in Australia , which has an academic schedule coinciding with that of North America .

For bachelor’s degrees, entry is usually limited to the fall semester in Europe and semester 1 in Australia and New Zealand. Look carefully at the admission information for the degree program to which you are applying to verify the semester(s) for which entry is available.

Northern Hemisphere	Fall Semester	Spring Semester
England , Scotland , Ireland	Mid-September or October to mid-December	February to May or June

Southern Hemisphere

Semester 1

Semester 2

Australia*, New Zealand

Late February or March to July

July to November

* Bond University follows a northern hemisphere schedule .

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