Degree Discrimination?
India’s three-year undergraduate degrees seem to provide a solid academic foundation, but there’s no consensus among U.S. graduate schools.
By Dr. Anita Nahal
Last fall, the Australian Embassy in Washington, D.C., hosted a workshop on the Bologna undergraduate degrees in Europe, which in most cases are completed in three-years.
Discussion ensued on whether these degrees will be more acceptable at U.S. graduate schools than India’s three-year degrees.
The 2006 Council of Graduate School’s survey, “International Graduate Admissions, Phase III: Admissions and Enrollment,” touched upon the topic of the Bologna degrees and to what extent institutions in the United States are more open to admitting students from Europe with such degrees than those from other countries. The survey revealed that the acceptance of the Bologna degrees was increasing and wasn’t an issue for 56 percent of institutions. On the other hand, 45 percent of all institutions reported that they would accept three-year degrees from universities outside of Europe; 55 percent reported that they would not.
