A Bachelor of Arts is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a courses taken that generally lasts three years in the United Kingdom or four years in North America, except for Quebec where the degree takes three years after graduation from a provincial CEGEP programme. This was also possible in Ontario until the elimination of OAC.
In North America, a Bachelor of Arts degree usually requires a student to take a majority of their courses (usually 1/2 or 3/4) in the arts, namely social sciences, humanities, music, or fine arts. Universities plan the Arts Bachelor degree as a liberal arts schedule.
In the UK, usage varies: most universities maintain an Arts/Science distinction but some, e.g. Oxford and Cambridge traditionally awarded B.A.s (which automatically leads to an M.A. after 4 years) to undergraduates regardless of subject. Most of the ancient Scottish universities award an M.A. to arts undergraduates but a B.Sc. to science undergraduates.
A Bachelor of Arts receives the designation A.B. or B.A. for a major/pass degree and A.B. (Hon.) or B.A. (Hons) for an honours degree.
European Union members states' ministers of education have agreed on a harmonisation of the education cycles within the EU. One part of this agreement is the division into an undergraduate and a graduate level of higher education.
Following this so-called "Bologna/Berlin declaration", universities in the EU are now in the process of reorganising their courses in order to offer Bachelor and Master degrees. Many universities have already changed to the bachelor/master model, and the others soon will. Subjects of the humanities and social studies can be completed with a B.A. at an increasing number of universities in Germany already, for example. This means EU countries are giving up their traditional magister or diploma courses to make switching and comparing universities easier.
The B.A. is supposed to last three/four years, the M.A. one/two years, but altogether no longer than five years.
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