Associate's degree

An associate degree is an academic degree awarded by community college, junior college, business college and some bachelors degree-granting colleges/universities upon completion of a course of study usually lasting two years. Common abbreviations are: In the United States and, more rarely, Canada, an associate degree is equivalent to the first two years of a four-year college or university degree. It is the lowest in the hierarchy of postsecondary academic degrees offered in these countries. It is also equivalent to the UK's foundation degree and France's diplôme d'études universitaires générales or DEUG. In 2000, Hong Kong introduced associate degrees, as an equivalence to higher diploma. These programmes are mainly provided through affiliated colleges at universities. In 2004, Australia added "associate degree" to the Australian Qualifications Framework. This title was given to more academically focused advanced diploma courses. However, very few courses yet use the new title. It... full article at wikipedia