International Undergraduate Studies

The concept of undergraduate studies varies from country to country. The term "undergraduate studies" is used by developed economies like United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland that refers to the three or four-year course that is usually completed after passing out from schools. However, in the developing economies such as India and Brazil, undergraduate studies referred as "graduation courses" which are completed in colleges.

In developed economies like the United Kingdom, undergraduate refers to the courses pursued during a Bachelor's degree that is usually completed in a period of three to four years. Some of the courses that can be completed within a period of three years include arts, humanities as well as social science. However, engineering and science courses require a period of four years for completion. In Scotland and Ireland, all undergraduate courses require a period of four years.

US universities offer many opportunities to students in completing their undergraduate degrees in various flexible modes such as full-time and part-time study, joint degrees, etc.

In other European countries, an undergraduate degree does not exist. Unlike in the United States where students have to engage themselves in general studies for the first year of his under graduation course and then pursue the "major" studies, in most of the European countries, a student needs to focus on the specialized subject right from the beginning of the under graduation course as the students have already received a general level education in the secondary level.

The students of age 17 to 18 apply for undergraduate courses to specialize in any of the subjects that they have already studied about in the secondary level. The subjects included in the undergraduate degrees include those that are studied in post graduation courses in the US such as law and medicine.

In developing economies like India, three year time period is required to complete an under graduate course like arts, humanities and science whereas four year time period is required to complete an under graduate course in engineering, technology as well as medicine. Similarly, in Brazil, courses usually take four to five years to complete. In the universities in Brazil, the students need to decide on their specialized subject or "major" even before joining the university by the help of a test known as "vestibular".

Thus, we can say that the students should take advantage of international studies undergraduate programs as the colleges provide good infrastructure and research facilities.