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Approved Honours Programme

Spanish translation: programa / plan de estudios (de grado) aprobado

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:Approved Honours Programme
Spanish translation:programa / plan de estudios (de grado) aprobado
Entered by: browneyedgirl

12:21 Dec 1, 2013
English to Spanish translations [PRO]
Certificates, Diplomas, Licenses, CVs / Diploma Universidad de Londres
English term or phrase: Approved Honours Programme
Hola a todos,

Esta frase pertenece a la obtención de un título expedido por la University of East London. Mis dudas se que han sido muchas veces reflejadas en preguntas por otros usuarios, pero al cambiar ahora mismo el sistema educativo español las licenciaturas por grados creo que debería de reformular la traducción (ya que se trata de que le compulsen los estudios para la obtención de trabajo aquí en España) y cambiar la palabra licenciatura por título de grado.

El texto dice así: It is hereby certify that XX having duly satisfied all prescribed conditions was on (date) duly admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Arts with Second Class (Lower Division) Honours having followed an approved Honours programme in Psychosocial Studies.

He optado por dejar "Bachelor of Arts" en inglés y entre paréntesis:título de grado obtenido en Reino Unido tras haber completado tres años de estudios universitarios.
Second Class Lower Division Honours, lo he dejado en inglés y entre paréntesis : equivalente a un bien.
Y respecto a "approved Honours programme" este es mi intento: tras haber superado satisfactoriamente el programa de Licenciatura/programa de Grado? en Estudios Psicosociales.
La duda la tengo aquí al no saber exactamente si esto se refiere a un programa de licenciatura.. y si la palabra Honours debe de reflejarse por algún lado en la traducción.

Agradecería alguna ayuda al respecto, ya que hay mucha información sobre el sistema británico educativo pero a veces lo que leo es contradictorio respecto a la palabra "honours".
browneyedgirl
programa / plan de estudios (de grado) aprobado
Explanation:
I hope you will excuse me for answering in English.

I was not planning to contribute to this question, having, as Pat says, written on the subject at inordinate length quite recently:
http://www.proz.com/kudoz/english_to_spanish/education_pedag...
However, perhaps it would be helpful if I try once again to clarify the meaning of this extremely troublesome word "honours".

Before that, let me say that "licenciatura" should not be used here. A UK bachelor's degree (normally three years) has never really been equivalent to a licenciatura (five years), though before Bologna there was no real equivalent in Spain. Now, however, the grado is more or less equivalent, and that's certainly the right word.

On honours. We are dealing here with a university in England, and it is absolutely essential to start by ignoring the meaning of an "honours degree" in countries outside the United Kingdom. It has a different meaning in the United States, Canada and Australia. Indeed, we even have to ignore Scotland, where "honours degree" has a different meaning from England and Wales. Therefore, for example, the source Rosa has quoted, which does not apply at all to England and Wales, is irrelevant here. In E & W, an honours programme is not for the most advanced students; it is for practically 100% of all students.

Does "honours (degree) programme" actually mean anything different from just "(degree) programme"? Hardly at all. There is another kind of degree, called an "ordinary degree" or a "pass degree" (these terms are not always synonymous, but the difference need not concern us). In the past, before credits were introduced in the UK, an ordinary or pass degree was awarded to candidates who had almost but not quite failed the degree. It was always extremely rare. And no one was ever admitted to an "ordinary degree programme" on entering university; you could only be admitted to an honours programme.

Now that degrees consist of a certain number of credits, an honours degree is awarded if you complete the whole programme and gain 360 credits, even if you only just reach the pass mark. If you fail to pass all the course units, but gain a lesser number of credits (usually 300, which is the figure at the University of East London), then you can be awarded an ordinary degree. In some universities, though I don't think this is true of UEL, you can be transferred to an "ordinary degree programme" after the first year if it is clear that you are not capable of completing the full honours programme. If you gain even fewer than 300 credits you may be eligible for a Certificate in Higher Education or a Diploma in Higher Education, which are not degrees at all.

Here is confirmation from the course description of this precise degree:

"Programme Specification for BA (Hons) Psychosocial Studies [...]
Finally, students who do not wish or are unable to complete the whole programme can be awarded qualifications for the standard they have achieved. After the first year, students with six module passes (120 credits) may be awarded the Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE) and those with twelve module passes (240 credits) the Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE). Students with a total of fifteen module passes (300 credits) may be awarded an ordinary (unclassified) degree."
http://www.uel.ac.uk/undergraduate/specs/psychosocialstudies...

It is important to be clear that:
1. Ordinary (non-honours) degrees are very rare. I don't think national figures are available, but it is typically around 1-2% of students, virtually never more than 5%, and often none at all. In other words, over 95% of English and Welsh degrees, and often 100%, are honours degrees.
2. An honours degree is not more specialised than an ordinary degree. An ordinary degree involves the same course units; it's simply that you don't have to pass so many of them.

So then in England and Wales an honours degree is simply a full degree, and the word "honours" is almost meaningless.

It is therefore highly misleading to translate it as "con honores", which is used in the Spanish-speaking world to denote a degree of some distinction. I think "honours programme" should simply be translated as "programa de grado" or "plan de estudios de grado", and indeed "de grado" could be omitted, since it is really redundant. If the word "honours" is translated at all, then "con honores" should be put in inverted commas, and an explanatory note should be added to indicate that it simply means a full degree programme.

"Programme" could be either "programa" or "plan de estudios", in my opinion.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 17 hrs (2013-12-02 05:24:26 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I repeat: no university in English and Wales actually admits students to any bachelor's degree programme other than an honours programme. A non-honours or ordinary programme simply consists of five-sixths (or thereabouts) of the modules in the standard honours programme. The same modules. There is no way any university is going to put on special modules for one or two students who cannot cope with the full programme. It would be completely unviable, and it is not done.
Selected response from:

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 18:15
Grading comment
Once again, thank you for your great help!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4programa de honores (académicos) aprobado
Pablo Julián Davis
4programa / plan de estudios (de grado) aprobado
Charles Davis
4 -1programa especializado aprobado
Carole Salas
Summary of reference entries provided
Honors
Rosa Paredes

Discussion entries: 4





  

Answers


2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
approved honours programme
programa especializado aprobado


Explanation:
Mi propuesta.
Saludos

Carole Salas
Spain
Local time: 18:15
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 4
Notes to answerer
Asker: ¡Gracias por tu aportación!


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Rosa Paredes: Not quite.
2 hrs
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
approved honours programme
programa de honores (académicos) aprobado


Explanation:
Lo de 'académicos' es una variante, no creo necesario incluirlo pero se puede.

Mi corazonada, es que se trata de una importación del mundo universitario anglo (EEUU y GB) pero que está empezando a echar raíces en el medio académico de los países hispanohablantes.

Universidad de Monterrey. México. "Responsable del Programa de Honores ... La Universidad de Monterrey, es heredera del prestigio de las instituciones educativas católicas..." jobsearch.occ.com.mx/.../getjob.asp?...occiduniversida...‎

Universidad Sergio Arboleda. Colombia. "Mi nombre es ... y soy estudiante de 8º semestre de Derecho de la Universidad Sergio Arboleda, pertenezco al Programa de Honores ..."

Catholic University of America. "El Programa de Honores de la Universidad (UHP) ofrece a los estudiantes más motivados y con mayor potencial académico, un programa de humanidades ..." admissions.cua.edu/espanol/honors.html‎

"...del “PROGRAMA DE HONORES ACADEMICOS RODRIGO NOGUERA LABORDE DE LA ESCUELA DE. ECONOMÍA”, quien se reunirá como mínimo una vez ..." www.usergioarboleda.edu.co/.../Resolucion-Programa...‎

Pablo Julián Davis
Local time: 11:15
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 16
Notes to answerer
Asker: Gracias también por la ayuda. Creo que el término "honours" ha quedado bastante bien explicado con la aportación de Charles Davis aquí en este contexto.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  patinba: This is not the UK usage, though.
2 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

15 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
approved honours programme
programa / plan de estudios (de grado) aprobado


Explanation:
I hope you will excuse me for answering in English.

I was not planning to contribute to this question, having, as Pat says, written on the subject at inordinate length quite recently:
http://www.proz.com/kudoz/english_to_spanish/education_pedag...
However, perhaps it would be helpful if I try once again to clarify the meaning of this extremely troublesome word "honours".

Before that, let me say that "licenciatura" should not be used here. A UK bachelor's degree (normally three years) has never really been equivalent to a licenciatura (five years), though before Bologna there was no real equivalent in Spain. Now, however, the grado is more or less equivalent, and that's certainly the right word.

On honours. We are dealing here with a university in England, and it is absolutely essential to start by ignoring the meaning of an "honours degree" in countries outside the United Kingdom. It has a different meaning in the United States, Canada and Australia. Indeed, we even have to ignore Scotland, where "honours degree" has a different meaning from England and Wales. Therefore, for example, the source Rosa has quoted, which does not apply at all to England and Wales, is irrelevant here. In E & W, an honours programme is not for the most advanced students; it is for practically 100% of all students.

Does "honours (degree) programme" actually mean anything different from just "(degree) programme"? Hardly at all. There is another kind of degree, called an "ordinary degree" or a "pass degree" (these terms are not always synonymous, but the difference need not concern us). In the past, before credits were introduced in the UK, an ordinary or pass degree was awarded to candidates who had almost but not quite failed the degree. It was always extremely rare. And no one was ever admitted to an "ordinary degree programme" on entering university; you could only be admitted to an honours programme.

Now that degrees consist of a certain number of credits, an honours degree is awarded if you complete the whole programme and gain 360 credits, even if you only just reach the pass mark. If you fail to pass all the course units, but gain a lesser number of credits (usually 300, which is the figure at the University of East London), then you can be awarded an ordinary degree. In some universities, though I don't think this is true of UEL, you can be transferred to an "ordinary degree programme" after the first year if it is clear that you are not capable of completing the full honours programme. If you gain even fewer than 300 credits you may be eligible for a Certificate in Higher Education or a Diploma in Higher Education, which are not degrees at all.

Here is confirmation from the course description of this precise degree:

"Programme Specification for BA (Hons) Psychosocial Studies [...]
Finally, students who do not wish or are unable to complete the whole programme can be awarded qualifications for the standard they have achieved. After the first year, students with six module passes (120 credits) may be awarded the Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE) and those with twelve module passes (240 credits) the Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE). Students with a total of fifteen module passes (300 credits) may be awarded an ordinary (unclassified) degree."
http://www.uel.ac.uk/undergraduate/specs/psychosocialstudies...

It is important to be clear that:
1. Ordinary (non-honours) degrees are very rare. I don't think national figures are available, but it is typically around 1-2% of students, virtually never more than 5%, and often none at all. In other words, over 95% of English and Welsh degrees, and often 100%, are honours degrees.
2. An honours degree is not more specialised than an ordinary degree. An ordinary degree involves the same course units; it's simply that you don't have to pass so many of them.

So then in England and Wales an honours degree is simply a full degree, and the word "honours" is almost meaningless.

It is therefore highly misleading to translate it as "con honores", which is used in the Spanish-speaking world to denote a degree of some distinction. I think "honours programme" should simply be translated as "programa de grado" or "plan de estudios de grado", and indeed "de grado" could be omitted, since it is really redundant. If the word "honours" is translated at all, then "con honores" should be put in inverted commas, and an explanatory note should be added to indicate that it simply means a full degree programme.

"Programme" could be either "programa" or "plan de estudios", in my opinion.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 17 hrs (2013-12-02 05:24:26 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I repeat: no university in English and Wales actually admits students to any bachelor's degree programme other than an honours programme. A non-honours or ordinary programme simply consists of five-sixths (or thereabouts) of the modules in the standard honours programme. The same modules. There is no way any university is going to put on special modules for one or two students who cannot cope with the full programme. It would be completely unviable, and it is not done.

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 18:15
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 196
Grading comment
Once again, thank you for your great help!
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you so much Charles! I'm so sorry that I didn't see the other link aforementioned before asking for the term, I didn't know that you had already answered very well this term. I really appreciate your time explaining it very well. I was completely lost because as you says the term "honours" in England has a different meaning from other countries, but I had never found this information as clear as now, that you have cleared up all my doubts.Thanks again for your time and for such a good explanation, I'm sure this explanation will not only help me but also other translators in the future.

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Reference comments


4 hrs
Reference: Honors

Reference information:
An honors course is a class in which the most advanced students are placed. Most students placed in honors courses are highly motivated and dedicated to their educational experience.[4]
Motivation is the main quality that characterizes an honors student. In addition to being com.......
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honors_student

Rosa Paredes
Canada
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 28

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
neutral  patinba: Unfortunately, Rosa, this is not the case in the UK, where it means that the study course is slightly more specifically focused..
2 hrs
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