Letters After Name For University Qualifications

[koster]

Is there a comprehensive list of the different abbreviations that indicate which university it was in the letters after a person's name?

This list is quite long, but doesn't include, for example, Lancaster:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_post-nominal_letters_(United_Kingdom)#University_degrees

[Buenchico]

That list seems to cover all those that are abbreviated (including a good many that I've never seen used in practice!). Most awarding institutions are simply written in full (if used at all).

For example, if I had to specify which university awarded me my degree I would write "BEd (Sheffield)" but I've never done so. When I used the letters after my name (as I've done on letterheads occasionally) it was always "BEd(Hons) AFIMA MCollP"; I've never found any need to specify the awarding institution.

In practice the only indications of awarding institutions that are normally used are 'Cantab' and 'Oxon' and they're primarily used either for
(a) prestige ; or
(b) as an admission of the fact that the graduate has paid for their degree, rather than working for it. (Holders of Bachelors' degrees at Oxford and Cambridge can 'upgrade' them to Masters' degrees simply by paying a small fee; everyone else has to work ruddy hard to get MA or MSc after their names!)

The only exception I've seen is that a small number of Open University graduates might add 'OU' after their degrees. (Not 'Open', as shown in your link).

The list in your link is extremely misleading. Try googling "MA (Oxon)", for example, and you'll find countless people using that form of letters after their name. However googling "MA (Wigorn)" or "MA (Cest)" finds not a single person. Despite what your link suggests, such abbreviations simply aren't used!

[theprof]

Great answer Chris. If I could expand a little, there are some other indicators as well without necessarily needing to place the awarding institution as a suffix.

For example, a D.Phil in the UK is only awarded by Oxford University. I well remember interviewing a research student years ago and stupidly asked her what uni she attended! She gave me a withering look. My youngest daughter had been born hours before and my mind was elsewhere.

Similarly, the ScD is a Cambridge degree in the UK. Every other uni awards the DSc. For my troubles, I’ve got one from the uni I work at plus the other from “the other place”. In the USA, the DSc is often regarded as being equivalent to a Phd and offers no increased job or research prospects. This can be complicated even further by institutions such as Columbia which arbitrarily award both. A UK D.Phil is sometimes looked upon dubiously in the USA as the majority of their uni’s award the Phd.

The third UK collegiate university, Durham, also has some unique degrees. For example, their doctorate in education is an EdD and they have some similarly abbreviated arts degrees.

Then we have the infamous BS/B.Chir and Master’s equivalents in medicine along with MB/BM. In engineering, we’ve got a D.Eng as well as a EngD. There’s a knack to sorting out all these degrees believe me!

Surgeons invariably only declare their Surgery degrees and professional institution membership such as MS and FRCS. Nowadays, they tend not to disclose their MB/BChir or MD/DM on their letterheads.

The other thing I’ve learnt to be wary about is that there’s an increasing tendency not to disclose Batchelor’s degrees nowadays with academics only disclosing their higher degrees. This practice can cause considerable confusion. Years ago, it was rarely seen apart from academic textbooks where degrees were omitted purely for brevity on the title page.

[Peter Pedant]

these are called post-nominals koster

and they are protected - you cant use them if you dont have them
and if you do it is actionable

Claiming a degree you dont have is really bad news in Medicine
and your employer can/could claim your wages back for the time you were employed ( golly ! ) [ if your employment depended on the degree you didnt have )

MA Cantab and MA Camb are different - the second one you have to take an exam I think (!)

There is some slippage - when Brit junior doctors go/went abroad - they may be called MD and not MB BS purely because they dont know the significance.

foreigners use MD even tho they are in the same position as us - there just isnt so much hype about it

A spaniard said Oh we use MD because I should be LMS Santiago - whatever the spanish for ( society of Medical Licenciates of Santiago ) is
and we never use it

and MD Liege is the same - the alternative is a phrase a hundred letters long

it is only the Brits who get wound up by this

Medical degrees - you have choices as well as rules
usually you choose one medical and one surgical

My father's senior partner ( 1920-1950 ) MD MRCVS
yes he had an MD from Durham by examination ( 1922)
and had previously qualified as a vet 1913 ( yes he served as a horse doctor in the Great War )

[Peter Pedant]

Oh that reminds me:

when the MC came in ( military cross ) around 1915
Cambridge was there first with a masters in surgery ( MC ) and they were graciously petitioned to give up their MC in favour of the gallant soldiers which they graciously did - so it became M Chir ( just in case you wondered where it came from )

Ah but not quite

The current holders of MC cantab were polled and REFUSED to give up their degree letters so their successors were M Chir but they were not and continued as a medical MC

the last one died in 1960 - obit BMJ which is where I read it - and he wore his badge with pride apparently .....

makes you think about the times a hundred years ago innit ?

[theprof]

Peter, MA Camb does not exist. The correct title is MA Cant or MA Cantab and is achievable by payment as Chris stated in the first post. No examination is undertaken.

It is not illegal to claim you have a degree from any academic institution per se. You can bung every letter of the alphabet after your surname with impunity if you so wish. It only becomes illegal if you commit fraud in any capacity to which you are appointed on the basis of that falsified degree. Fraud is subject to considerable leeway in interpretation nowadays apart from the strict legal definition.

UK qualified physicians are not allowed to claim to have the MD degree in the majority of other countries if they only have a MB. Furthermore, it is illegal in many countries for the employer to sustain that falsehood. In the USA, UK registered doctors provide a short explanatory note regarding the matter to prospective patients and employers where necessary. Random higher degree assignment would make a farce of the entire situation apart from how a UK MD would react with lesser qualified colleagues in the USA.

Foreigners as you term them certainly do not claim they have higher medical degrees when they do not when employed in the UK. Apart from being forbidden by the Health Authorities, the Department of Health and GMC also prohibit it. Hype as you call it only requires disclosure/discovery to tumble.

A doctor declaring one medical and one surgical qualification? An interesting idea but it's not true. You're average GP nowadays has an MB/BM along with an LRCP and possibly a DRCOG and/or DCH. He may not have a surgical qualification at all. O&G has no formal degrees only professional institution degree equivalents. The same applies to the DCH. Furthermore, as I said surgeons tend not to declare their medical degrees. Don't forget those hospital consultants who may have achieved DRCOG years ago whilst registrars and end up working in a different discipline such as Cardiology.

[koster]

Thanks everyone!

This style guide for the University of Oxford calendar also provides some guidance:
http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/global/wwwoxacuk/localsites/gazette/documents/universitycalendar/Calendar_Style_Guide_2015.pdf