Double degrees in the U.K.?

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No amount of googling has seemed to answer my question, which makes me think it is a no! I am Australian and when I went to uni you could do a double degree - combining two degrees and it would usually take a year longer (you’d get credits for subjects that would be considered part of both degrees). Is this something available in the U.K.? PPE seems to be automatically one of them, but I think DD would like to do a combined politics/psychology degree.

Is this a thing in the U.K.? It may not be in Australia anymore either!

I work in a uni. We don't do double degrees as you describe. Our combined degrees take roughly half the syllabus from one course, and half from another. So, still 180 credits for a 3 year bachelors, for example, but shared between two departments.

This. It’s usually called a joint honours degree and it’s very common. There’s plenty universities where your DD can study politics and psychology.

What they said!

I'd advise slight caution with Psychology though. If taken as a joint degree it won't meet BPS requirements which would limit her if she subsequently wanted to become a psychologist.

My middle one's girlfriend had a dual degree offer (UK/Australia) for marine biology 3 years ago. Portsmouth I think. Didnt go as got a degree apprenticeship.

Ah, so I would be searching for combined degrees as my term!

This is all super helpful and yes, @titchy that is very very helpful as it is being a psychotherapist that is one of her thoughts, so it seems like a no-go for her to do in combination with a PPE.

I am a bit clueless with UK degrees so want to advise her - school don’t seem to be doing such a good job despite careers guidance being in her EHCP 🙄

It is likely that she would like to study a semester in Australia, but I don’t think you study semesters in the U.K.?

I am so clueless!

It is hard with psychology to do a combined honours and still get the BPS psychology accreditation. You need to look carefully. You will find it easier to find them in Scotland as they have four years to play with there.

You can search from BPS accredited courses here, using politics as a key word:

In the UK a semester is just another word for a term eg between September and Xmas holiday would be the first semester, then January to Easter second semester and April to June the third. Then the following September/October they would start year 2.
Depending on the university they would choose different modules each semester. I don't think doing a semester in another country would work though unless it is part of the course for eg a language degree.

You can I’m nursing e.g. adult and mental health nursing which takes 4 years. Not sure for other subjects. As someone else said be mindful of the BPS requirements

Joint degrees at Edinburgh are accredited by the British Psychological Society provided the student chooses the required electives.

Edinburgh also has exchange agreements with the main Australian universities - ANU, Melbourne, Sydney, NSW, etc. It would be possible to study for a semester or year in Australia.

Many universities (certainly in Scotland) have two semesters per year spread over the three terms. Semester one starts teaching in September, breaks for Xmas then exams in Jan/feb. Second semester modules start February and have exams in may roughly. You absolutely can do a semester abroad (though I’ve never heard of a student going to Australia for one).

I'm from NZ and we do double degree as you described in Australia. I found the big difference here, in engineering at least, is the better students get a masters degree with one addition year on their BEng. So they graduate with MEng. I think I see that with BSc/MSc too.

That is very valuable compared to us needed two years to get a masters.

Oh you are all brilliant! There are two semesters in an academic year in Australia and the academic year is Jan - dec - so lots of things to consider, but it is so good to know it may be possible. Scotland is a bit far away from us on the other side of the country (and her MH is not always good so we want to be within two hours of reaching her), but it gives us a really good base to start researching.

Yes @NewYearResolutions , I have an honours degree which takes another year and is considered post grad and then you have another year to be a masters - much the same.

Most UK universities also have two semesters but the year runs Sept/Oct to May/June.

As others have said a joint honours degree would still be the same length and number of modules/credits but half and half (or major/minor).

It's very common to study for a semester or even a whole year abroad. Many universities have arrangements with unis overseas. The credit earned would count towards the degree.

@NewYearResolutions is correct - these are called integrated masters programmes (but are designated as undergrad programmes, just to confuse things!). A BEng is 3 years, 4 years for MEng (or 5 if there is a placement year). An integrated masters award can be an MEng or MSci depending on the discipline, or even MMath for maths courses. This can differ from uni to uni.

Be aware that it's not always possible to get to the 3rd year of the bachelors, do well, and tag on the extra year. At our place, the courses diversity from 2nd year onwards - the first 3 years aren't exactly the same.

My dd does Psychology at Nottingham but one of her offers was Southampton and I recall they offer more flexibility to take a minor subject and still get the BPS accreditation. I think they’re called Psychology with Politics for example. And even if you take single honours you can do modules from another subject yhere.

That's changed a lot now, Thedance. A lot of UK unis have gone on to a 2 semester system with Semester One going Sept - Christmas, and Semester Two going January to end of Summer Term. There may be holidays breaking those up in the school fashion of Christmas, Easter, Summer but the unis count it as 2 chunks for learning and exams.

Lots of courses have the chance to do 6 months or even a year abroad, it’s not just modern languages courses. But it tends to be specific linked overseas universities and it will usually be mentioned in the course details on the university website.

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/psychology/psychology-with-year-abroad.aspx

https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/52/psychology-with-a-year-abroad

https://courses.aber.ac.uk/undergraduate/psychology-year-abroad/

That's changed a lot now, Thedance

I was about to say the same thing. My undergrad course was two semesters.

My current institution has links with an Australian uni and we exchange students (and staff) on similar courses. I’m afraid that I don’t know the fine details on how it all works and nothing at all about psychology.