The three words overlap, and their meaning depends on the country and the issuer. This directory records the exact official award and classifies it into a category, but it never treats the categories as equivalent.
Degrees
A degree is awarded by a degree-granting institution under a national framework. Bachelor’s and master’s degrees carry credits and are usually the route into further academic study. A degree is not automatically better for a design career: it is longer and broader, and it may include theory and research alongside making.
Diplomas
A diploma can be a three-year national higher-education award, a one-year vocational award, or a school-issued diploma with no academic status. In some systems a Higher National Diploma sits below a bachelor’s degree; in others a diploma is a full professional qualification. Always read the awarding body and level.
Certificates
Certificates range from accredited vocational qualifications to completion certificates issued by a school for attendance. A completion certificate shows that you took the course; it is not an academic qualification, and we label it as such.
Duration does not decide the category
A six-month program can be a diploma and a two-year program can be a certificate. This is why the directory stores qualification and duration separately, and why “long-term courses” is a browsing category based on published duration, not a qualification level.
How to compare
Compare the awarding body, the credits or learning hours, the published level in the national framework, the studio hours and what the award lets you do next (for example whether credits transfer into a degree). Where we cannot confirm a point it is shown as not published rather than guessed.
Official sources
- QAA: The Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications of UK Degree-Awarding Bodies · accessed 2 November 2026
- European Commission: European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) · accessed 2 November 2026