Higher education qualifications can broadly be divided into three main stages – the first stage is the undergraduate degree, followed by the masters and then the doctoral level.

These three levels all build on each other with the doctoral level representing the highest available qualification.

The following information provides an overview of the various postgraduate qualifications at Warwick and also a brief summary about what each qualification involves:

What is a masters?

A masters is a first level postgraduate qualification that can be achieved by students in one of two ways - either through a teaching course plus a piece of student research or dissertation; or be research-based with some teaching modules.

Masters courses generally involve one year’s full-time study, but can be longer if they are part-time or research-based courses.

Depending on the subject area, a Masters degree will be awarded as a Master of Arts (MA); Master of Science (MSc), Master of Research (MRes) or Master of Philosophy (MPhil).

What is a PhD?

A Doctoral qualification, or PhD, is achieved after three to four years of full-time academic research (or longer if part-time) into a particular subject area and is the highest level of degree that a student can achieve.

A student achieving a doctoral qualification is awarded a PhD, which stands for ‘Doctor of Philosophy’, sometimes referred to as a ‘doctorate’.

Other postgraduate qualifications

The Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a masters degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA degree can be studied in a variety of ways, including full-time, part-time and distance learning, and is organised by Warwick Business School.

Our postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) is a one year, full-time, higher education postgraduate programme which focuses on developing a student’s teaching skills.