A bachelor's degree, also called a baccalaureate, is a campus or online academic degree awarded by a college or university for the successful completion of an undergraduate course or major. A campus bachelor’s degree can take up to four years to complete, while an online degree can be completed within a much shorter period.

The importance of a bachelor’s degree lies in providing the foundation for a master’s or higher degrees such as a PhD. Master’s degrees and PhD’s are often required to secure certain job opportunities. Upon completing studies required for a bachelor’s degree, one should be able to display a competency and skill in communications, fine arts, analytical and inferential reasoning, computational skills and an aptitude for self-development.

Bachelors of Arts (B.A. or A.B.) and Bachelor’s of Science (B.Sc. in Commonwealth usage or B.S. in U.S. usage) are now the most common bachelor or undergraduate degrees. However, degrees other than B.A. or B.S. such as B.A.Sc. (Bachelors of Applied Science), B.A.Econ. (Bachelors of Economics), B.Arch. (Bachelors of Architecture), B.B.A. (Bachelor’s of Business Administration), B.Comm. (Bachelors of Commerce), B.Comp. (Bachelors of Computing), B.CompSc. (Bachelors of Computer Science), B.D. – (Bachelors of Divinity), and other numerous bachelor’s degrees related to both Arts and Science are part of most university and college curriculum.

Over the years, attaining a bachelor’s degree has been simplified with the rapid development in communications, technology, the Internet and mass media. There are now many types of bachelor’s degree programs that have are available such as online bachelor ‘s degree studies, accelerated bachelor’s degree and distance learning bachelor’s degree programs (earning credits from home).