Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)

In the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin, Bachelors of Arts with Honours of these universities are promoted to the degree of Master of Arts or Master in Arts (MA) on application after six or seven years' seniority as members of the university (including years as an undergraduate). As such, it is an academic rank, and not a postgraduate qualification and no further examination or study is required for this promotion.

This practice differs from most other universities worldwide, at which the degree reflects further postgraduate study or achievement. These degrees are therefore sometimes referred to as the Oxford and Cambridge MA and the Dublin or Trinity MA, to draw attention to the difference. However, like a postgraduate degree from another university, once incepted and promoted to a Master, the graduate no longer wears the academic dress or uses the post-nominal letters pertaining to a Bachelor of Arts, being no longer of that rank: i.e. the Master of Arts degree is not awarded separately (for instance, in addition to that of Bachelor of Arts), but rather the new rank is rather treated as a conversion of one degree to another.