Chapter 11: Nomenclature of Awards

There is a perplexing variety of nomenclatures of awards granted by different universities. Even for the same type of courses the nomenclatures vary. In this Chapter, a brief account of these is given.

Three types of awards granted to candidates who pass the prescribed examinations are in vogue, viz., Certificate, Diploma (including Postgraduate Diploma) and Degree. Degrees are awarded at three levels – First degree or Bachelor’s Degree, Postgraduate degree or Master’s degree (including a post-Master’s or pre-doctoral degree, called master of Philosophy).

Besides universities, the first two categories of awards can also be conferred by any other educational institution functioning outside the university system. As regards degrees, the Universities Grants Commission Act, 1956 specifies that the right of conferring or granting degrees can be exercised only by the universities established under a State or a Central Act, or by an institution deemed to be so by an Act or Parliament. Section22 (3) of the UGC Act defines the term “degree” to “mean any such degree s may, with the previous approval of the Central Government, be specified in this behalf by the Commission in the official Gazette”. The first such notification listing a series of degrees was published on December 1, 1958.

Till July 1975, a total number of 104 degrees were notified. In April 1998, another set of 34 degrees were specified, bringing the total number of approved degrees to 138 (See the Annexure). On the other hand, the number of degrees listed in the 28th edition of the Universities Handbook (2000) is more than 250 although many degrees found in admission advertisements do not even figure in any of these lists. Some examples are: BES (Bachelor or Electronic Science), BAS (Bachelor of Applied Science), BMIT (Bachelor of Management and Information Technology). In fact, in the field of computer and information Science), MIT (Master of Information Technology), MS (Information Technology & Management). A comparison of the UGC list, the AIU list and some of the degrees mentioned subsequently in this Chapter shows that many universities do not adhere to the UGC specifications.

Now the Directorate of Distance Education of the Annamalai University had introduced a “unique” nomenclature – B.Dit, which stands for Bachelor of Development and Information Technology! In June 1999, the UGC sent a list of these 138 degrees to all universities asking them “to award only those degrees which are specified by the University Grants Commission”. Referring to the Section 22 of the UGC Act, the letter pointed out that “specification of degrees is done by the UGC so as to ensure a uniform national norm in terms of the nomenclature of the degree, the duration of the course, the eligibility criteria for admission and the standard of the degrees awarded by the various universities”.

The letter also disapproved the practice of naming the subject or the word “special” within brackets, e.g., B.Sc. (Home Science), B.A. (Hons), M.A. (Music), B.SC. (Special), should be discontinued. Finally, the circular asked the universities either to change the nomenclature not included in the list and fall in line with those specified by the UGC or apply for its approval. It then warned that “till the degree is specified by the University grants commission, it should not be offered by any of the universities”. The UGC list, however, contains several nomenclatures which are no longer used by any university, e.g., BMBS, MB & BS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery).

Certificates are generally awarded for courses of short duration which may be as short as several weeks on the one hand, and on the other, there are also Certificate courses of one-year duration. The entry requirement for Certificate courses ranges form qualifications at pre-secondary level to postgraduate level. Some medical colleges also offer post-doctoral certificate courses of one-year duration in highly specialised subjects.

As regards diplomas, there are two categories. For the first category, entry requirement is nay qualification below the graduation level. The most well-known example is the diploma courses offered by polytechnics in differing branches of engineering, e.g., Diploma in Mechanical Engineering (DME), Diploma in Electrical and Electronic Engineering (DEEE). These courses of three-year duration are open to candidates who have passed the Class X examination. On the other hand, entry requirement for courses in Hotel Management leading to the award of Diploma in Hotel Management and Catering Technology (DHM & CT), which is also of three-year duration, is a pass in 10 + 2 examinations.

For the second category, the entry requirement is graduation and therefore, the diplomas awarded are known as postgraduate diploma. The widely known postgraduate diploma is in the area of management or business administration – Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration (PGDBA or Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management (PGDBM). The duration of postgraduate diplomas also varies widely – from six months to two years. The Postgraduate diploma in Business Administration/Management is of two-year duration.

This award conferred only by a small number of institutions is recognised by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) as equivalent to the corresponding Master’s Degree (e.g., MBA). In some cases, through the entry requirement is a first degree, the award is Diploma, instead of Postgraduate Diploma, e.g., Diploma in Management Study (DMS) of the Mumbai University. The largest category of specialisations. These awards, however, do not contain the term “postgraduate”, e.g., Diploma in Child Health (DCH), Diploma in Laryngology and Otology (DLO).

At the first degree level, the traditional awards have been the Bachelor of Arts and Humanities stream, Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) for the Science stream and Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com.) for the Commerce stream. Fro honours courses, the abbreviation “Hons” is often added in parenthesis. A small number of universities award B.S. (Bachelor of Science) instead of the conventional nomenclature B.Sc.

During the last one decade or so there has been a proliferation of the first degree awards in professional subjects other than engineering and technology and medicine with such nomenclatures as B.SC. (Microbiology), B.Sc. (Computer Science) Bachelor of Business administration/Management (BBA/BBM), Bachelor of Business Studies (BBS), Bachelor of Computer Application (BCA), Bachelor of Computer Science(BCS), Bachelor of Corporate Secretary-ship (BCS), Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS), Bachelor of Social Work (BSW), Bachelor of Electronic Science (BES), Bachelor of Environment Management (BEM). In some cases different nomenclatures are used for the same type of courses, e.g., 1. B.Sc. (Home Science), B.SC. (Home Economics) and Bachelor of Home (Science (B.H.Sc), 2. Bachelor or Physiotherapy (B.P.T. or B.P.Th.).

At the Master’s degree level the awards for non-professionals disciplines are by and large confined to the traditional forms – Master or Arts (M.A), master of Science (M.Sc.) and Master of Commerce (M.Com) and occasionally MS (Master of Science) award. Now there is an increasing practice to add the name of the discipline after the term “Master of, e.g. master of Regional Planning (MRP), Master of Business Economics (MBE), Master of Applied Psychology (MAP), Master of Social Work (MSW), Master of Computer Application (MCA). However, in some of the professional’s disciplines, particularly in Management, there is a bewildering variety of awards. This has been discussed later.

In engineering and technology, traditionally, the nomenclature used to Bachelor of Engineering (BE), the branch of specialisation often added as a suffix in parenthesis. The nomenclature, Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) was then introduced along with similar suffixes. However, both forms, BE and B.Tech are now used interchangeably. Often the name of the branch is used as a part of the nomenclature, e.g., Bachelor of Chemical Engineering (B.Ch.E), Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (BME), Bachelor of Textile Engineering/Technology (B Text/B Text (Engineering)/B Text (Technology)/B.Sc (Text). ME/M.Tech is more or less uniformly of the Master’s degree awards.

The traditional nomenclature of the Law degree has been Bachelor of Laws (BL), but a new nomenclature LLB was introduced later. Both forms are now in use. At the Master’s and Doctoral levels, the awards are accordingly ML and LLM and DL and LLD respectively. For the non-professional courses, the awards include Bachelor or Academic Law (BAL), Bachelor or General Law (BGL) and Bachelor of Labour Management (BLM). However, the newly established Law universities have introduced such nomenclatures, as B.Sc. LLB (Hons), B.A.LLB (Hons) and B.A.BL (Hons) perhaps to distinguish their awards from those of the traditional universities.

Traditionally in Mass Communication and Journalism, the awards were Bachelor of Journalism (BJ) and Master of Journalism (MJ). With the focus being shifted from conventional print journalism to mass communication involving electronic media, many universities started using such nomenclatures as Bachelor of Mass Communication and Journalism (BMJC). AT the Master’s degree level the award is mainly MCJ, while some universities have introduced awards like M.SC. (Mass Communication), M.SC. (Communication Studies), Maharashtra (Journalism) and MA (Communication and Journalism).

When the postgraduate diploma courses in librarianship (Dip Lib) was converted into degree course nearly four decades back, the nomenclature introduced was B.L.Sc. (Bachelor or Library Science). With the addition of Information Science component in the syllabus, the nomenclature became B.L.I.Sc., although several universities continue to award B.L.Sc. The correspondence awards at the Master’s degree level are MLSc and MLISc.

As stated earlier, the most bewildering variety of awards are conferred in the area of Management at the Master’s level. From the very beginning of management education, Indian universities adopted the US practice of awarding the Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree. While almost all the universities confer MBA, the university of Mumbai awards Master of Management Studies (MMS), with the proliferation of courses in specialised branches of management such as finance, marketing, industrial relations and personnel management, human resource development, marketing, international business management, each university has adopted its own nomenclature for its awards. As a result, even for the same branches there are wide variations. Given below are examples form three areas:

1.  Industrial Relations (IR) and Personnel Management (PM): MA (PM), MA (IR & PM), MA (PM & IR), MPA, MPM, MPMIR (or MPM & IR), MIRPM (or MIR & PM).

2.  Human Resource Management and Development (HRM and HRD) including Organisation Development (OD): MA (HRM), MBA (HRM), MHRM. MHRD, MHEDM, MHROD, M.Psy. (HRDM).

3.  Financial Management/Administration and Control: MFC, MFM, MFA, Master of Business & Financial Management (MB & FM), MBA (Finance), Master of Business Finance (MBF).

Perhaps the objective of coining new nomenclatures for similar courses is to show that it is somewhat different form those offered by others. IT is desirable that some uniform nomenclature for management degrees is introduced.

In medicine, however, there is a great deal of uniformity. The first degree is invariably Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of surgery (MBBS) and Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS). The postgraduate degrees in surgery, medicine and dentistry are Master or Surgery (MS), Doctor of Medicine (MD) and Master of Dental Surgery (MDS), respectively. At the next higher level (often called post-doctoral level), the awards are Doctor of Medicine (DM) and Master of Chirurgiae (M.Ch.) i.e., Master of Surgery derived form Latin Magister Chirugiae). Chirurgery is an archaic form of English work meaning surgery. For all these award been made about the postgraduate diplomas in a wide variety of disciplines in this area of specialisation.

The National Board of Examination (NBE), an autonomous body established by the Ministry or Health and Family Welfare, conducts examinations leading to the award of Diplomat of National Board (DNB), which is recognised as equivalent to MD/MS in broad specialities and DM/MCh in super-specialities.

In the Indian systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy, the form of awards is uniform: Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS), Bachelor or Unani Medicine and Surgery (BuMS), Bachelor of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery (BHMS). However, in Ayurvedic Medicine is also in vogue.

Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) is the pre-doctorial degree for all disciplines. Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) is the doctoral degree common to most of the subjects although in many disciplines their names are used such as Doctor of Music (D.Mus.), Doctor of Engineering (D. DEngg.), Doctor of Ayurvedic Medicine (DMA or DAyM). Doctor of Laws (DL or LLD), Doctor of Education (DE or DED), Doctor of Oriental Learning (DOL). Instead of Ph.D., several universities award D.Phil., Doctor of Science (D.SC.) and Doctor of Letters or Doctor or Literature (D.Litt.).

It has been a tradition in universities all over the world to confer honorary doctorate degrees (honours causa, i.e. for the sake of honour) to eminent people in recognition of their contributions to educational and social causes. In some universities, the statutes do not provide for such awards. However, over a period, this system has degenerated to the extent of bestowing the “honour” on powerful politicians of dubious credibility. The nomenclatures of the honorary degrees are usually LLD, D.Litt. and D.Sc. The award of the Visva-Bharati is “Deshikottam”.

Non-University Awards

Outside the university system there is a different type of awards memberships of professionals Bodies obtained by qualifying in a series of examinations. For example, qualifying in the examinations conducted by the Institute of Engineers (India), entitles the candidate to use the letters AMIE (Associate Member or the institution of Engineers) after his name. This qualification is recognised as equivalent to an engineering degree of a university for the purpose of employment in governments and admission to postgraduate courses in universities (See Chapter 31-Engineering & Technology – Alternative Routes).

The recognition is accorded by the Board of Assessment of Educational Qualifications of the Department of Secondary Education and Higher Education in the Ministry of Human Resource Development. Similarly, candidates who pass the prescribed examinations conducted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) and Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India (ICWAI), are admitted as Associate Members. The candidates are entitled to use the abbreviations ACA, ACS and AICWA, respectively after their names (See Chapter 21, 24, and 26).

As stated earlier, there is no legal bar for institutions outside the university system to award certificates and diplomas. Since they cannot award Bachelor or Master’s degrees, various types of nomenclatures are being coined by them. Some examples are, Masters Diploma, Advanced Diploma, Graduate Diploma, Honours Diploma, Executive Masters. Some institutions have even coined such nomenclature as PGMBA (Postgraduate MBA)! If any such institutions call themselves as universities and award degrees they can be prosecuted in the courts of law. This issue had been discussed in Chapter 13 (Dream Merchants of Education – “Fake” Universities).