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pass degree
DCHP-2 (Jul 2016)
Spelling variants:Pass Degree, (Pass) Degree
n. & adj. — Education
a university degree obtained without a major or area of specialization.
Type: 2. Preservation — The term appears to be a preservation from British English. Pass, denoting the status of a degree, is cited in OED-3 as early as 1838 (see OED-3, s.v. "pass" n4 [4]). Internet searches indicate that the term is prevalent in Ireland and Australia as well, but has little currency in the US (see Chart 1), which gives it a Canadian dimension in North America.
See also COD-2, s.v. "pass1" (n.2b), which is marked "Brit & Cdn".
See also COD-2, s.v. "pass1" (n.2b), which is marked "Brit & Cdn".
Quotations
1877
Thirdly, - That the statute relating to degrees in the faculty of medicine should be amended by requiring all candidates for a degree to pass a matriculation examination and annual examinations after matriculation, and by prescribing a uniform course for every candidate for the pass degree.
1896
I have known, again, young gentlemen who became Bachelors by the very skin of their teeth, by a bare and meagre pass degree.
1914
In the University of London a student commencing to prepare for his degrees can immediately on entering take Military Science as part of his work for a pass degree.
1931
Three classes of both bachelor degrees are given, according to the type of work done and the number of courses taken. The simplest and easiest obtained is the "Pass Degree" for which a minimum number of units are set.
1959
For consideration as Meteorologists, candidates must have an honours degree in Physics, Physics and Mathematics or Engineering Physics while a pass degree in Arts or Sciences is sufficient for those competing for Meteorological Officer provided they have several credits in physics and mathematics beyond their senior matriculation level.
1970
"But some colleges were getting away from it and were so close to a university three-year pass degree course that it was getting us into a duplication of investment of public funds," he said.
1999
Taxtration: The mere sound of the word recalls and rightly so, that act of intrusive surgery carried out on unsuspecting males by an MD with a pass degree from a bogus university, a blunt scalpel, a knowing smile and no sense of direction.
2003
The principal had assumed that in applying for the position that Merrill was an honours graduate in English and moderns but, in fact, closer examination revealed that he only possessed a pass degree in English which had included a supplemental, obtained only "after several failures." As a result, Oliver deemed him "altogether unfitted for the position of senior English master in a school like Brantford."
References
- OED-3
- COD-2
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