Academic abbreviations and acronyms
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The academic world is riddled with acronyms (eg NATO = North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) and abbreviations. We list here, in alphabetical order, those of particular relevance to undergraduate and postgraduate students in HE (there's another example!) This list aims to help by briefly defining some of these words. Strictly speaking, all of these should have a full stop after each part of the abbreviation or each capital letter of the acronym, but this convention is in a process of transition and many do not now have these. (See also Punctuation of abbreviations.) All foreign expressions are, however, usually printed in italic, as in this table.
| Abbreviation/ Acronym | Definition |
| anon | anonymous |
| APA | American Psychological Association |
| APL or APEL | Accreditation for Prior (Experience and) Learning: a method of recognising a (prospective) student's previous qualifications, knowledge or experience and giving credit for them, thus avoiding any duplication of time and effort by the student concerned. |
| BA | Bachelor of Arts |
| BD | Bachelor of Divinity |
| BDS | Bachelor of Dental Surgery |
| BEd | Bachelor of Education |
| BLitt | Bachelor of Letters (or Literature) |
| BMus | Bachelor of Music |
| BSc | Bachelor of Science |
| BVetSc | Bachelor of Veterinary Science |
| c , c., ca or circa | About (from the Latin), often used with a date or year eg c1970. |
| CD (ROM) | Compact Disc (Read Only Memory) |
| CPU | Central Processing Unit (in a computer) |
| DD | Doctor of Divinity |
| DfES | Department for Education and Skills: the department of government responsible for educational policy and funding at all levels in England and Wales. |
| DLit or DLitt | Doctor of Letters (or Literature) |
| DPhil | Doctor of Philosophy |
| DVD | Digital Video Disc |
| ed. | Editor: the person responsible for editing a book or journal, ie selecting and compiling the various parts of the publication. |
| ed(n). | Edition (of a publication). |
| eg | For example: an abbreviation of the Latin exempli gratia. |
| et al | An abbreviation of the Latin et alia meaning 'and others' (people or things). This is usually found in references to publications having several authors, where the first one, two or three authors are named but the rest given as et al. |
| etc | An abbreviation of the Latin et cetera or et ceteri (pl) meaning 'and the rest' or 'and so on'. It is best to avoid using this in an academic essay; use the English 'and so on'. |
| FE | Further Education. Any formal education undertaken after the end of compulsory schooling, other than to degree level but not in a maintained state or independent school. |
| FRS | Fellow of the Royal Society |
| GTP | Graduate Teacher Programme |
| HE | Higher Education. Education which is undertaken at a university or other educational establishment which offers undergraduate or postgraduate degrees or their equivalents. |
| HEFCE | The Higher Education Funding Council for England, the body which allocates funds throughout the Higher Education sector on behalf of the DfES. |
| HETC | Higher Education Teaching Certificate |
| HMI | Her (or His) Majesty's Inspectorate (of education): a body of inspectors, officially appointed by the reigning sovereign, who report on the quality of teaching and learning in all educational establishments in the UK. They are now part of OfSTED. |
| HMSO | Her (or His) Majesty's Stationery Office, through which all governmental publications are produced. |
| ibid | An abbreviation of the Latin ibidem meaning literally 'in the same place', but now used to indicate that a work listed in the references is the same as the work listed immediately prior to that one. |
| ICT | Information and computer technology. |
| i.e. | An abbreviation of the Latin id est meaning 'that is' or 'that is to say'. |
| IF | Impact factor. A method often used in scientific work to indicate the popularity and hence theoretically the quality of authors or articles in journals, based on the number of times these are cited in other publications. It is basically a quantitative method but debate still rages about its validity in some cases. |
| IT | Information technology. |
| ITT | Initial Teacher Training. Any type of formal training for the teaching profession. |
| LHS | Left hand side |
| LitHum | Literae humaniores (Latin - 'humane letters') - the name of a degree course at Oxford University. Often referred to more familiarly as 'Greats', the course involves the study of Greek and Latin language and literature, Greek and Roman history, and philosophy. |
| LLB | Bachelor of Laws |
| LLD | Doctor of Laws |
| LLM | Master of Laws |
| MA | Master of Arts |
| MBA | Master in (or of) Business Administration |
| MD | Doctor of Medicine |
| MPhil | Master of Philosophy |
| MS (pl. MSS) | Manuscript (written by hand but nowadays typed or word-processed) |
| MSc | Master of Science |
| NB | nota bene = 'note well' or 'please note' (from the Latin) |
| no. | number |
| OED | Oxford English Dictionary |
| OfSTED | Office for Standards in Education, the inspectorate for schools and colleges in England |
| o.p. | out of print |
| op. cit. | An abbreviation of the Latin opere citato meaning literally 'in the work cited' but now used to indicate that the details of the work referenced have already been given earlier. This avoids having to repeat all the bibliographic information each time the work is referenced. |
| p. | page |
| pa | per annum, each year (from the Latin) |
| PC | Personal Computer (IBM as opposed to Apple); also politically correct |
| PDP | Personal Development Profile, Personal Development Planning |
| per se | by or in itself, without reference to anything else (from the Latin). |
| PGCE | Post Graduate Certificate in Education. The qualification awarded on successful completion of a one year ITT course in a university department of education allowing the holder to teach on a standard teacher's salary scale. |
| PhD | Doctor of Philosophy |
| pl. | plural |
| pp. | pages |
| PPE | Politics, Philosophy, and Economics, the name of a degree course at Oxford University, since imitated at other HE institutions in the UK and abroad. |
| PVC | Pro-vice-chancellor. (N.B. in other contexts PVC is polyvinyl chloride, a synthetic polymer of plastic used particularly in the manufacture of pipes.) |
| QAA | Quality Assurance Agency (for Higher Education) |
| QCA | Qualifications and Curriculum Authority |
| QED | Literally 'which was to be demonstrated'; hence. From the Latin quod erat demonstrandum. Also means quantum electrodynamics. |
| q.v. (pl: qq.v.) | An abbreviation of the Latin quod vide 'which see', meaning the reader may look up the word or phrase to which it relates. |
| RAE | Research Assessment Exercise |
| RAM | Random Access Memory; or Royal Academy of Music |
| re | concerning (from the Latin in re = in the matter) See also WRT. |
| rev. | revised edition |
| RHS | right hand side |
| ROM | Read Only Memory. A computer's memory which can only be read but not written to. |
| SCI | Science Citation Index |
| SI (units) | (from the French) Système International, the internationally recognised metric measurement system. |
| sic | When citing from a publication, the original wording, spelling etc must be respected, even when there is an error. Sic , usually put in square brackets, indicates that the error has been noted but left uncorrected. |
| sing. | singular |
| SPSS | Statistical Package for the Social Sciences; software enabling statistical analysis of data. |
| stet | 'Let it stand', where a correction has been made but it has been found that the original is in fact correct. It corrects the correction! |
| UCAS | Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, the body which operates the system of allocating students to HE establishments in the UK. |
| UFA | University Foundation Award |
| URL | Uniform Resource Locator, an address on the World Wide Web. |
| VC | Vice-Chancellor, the principal of a university or university college. |
| VDU | Visual Display Unit, i.e. a TV screen or computer screen |
| Viva | Viva voce - an oral examination |
| viz. | An abbreviation of the Latin videlicet meaning 'to wit' or 'namely'. |
| VLE | Virtual Learning Environment. A means of replacing the classroom learning and teaching situation with IT, thus allowing distance learning for students from anywhere on earth with access to a computer, the internet and appropriate software. |
| vol. | volume |
| WRT | With respect to, often used by mathematicians. |
