What is the Value of Post Graduate Diploma

Below is everything you need to know to rate the value of post graduate diploma to ascertain if it is something worth going for or not. In this article, we’ve explained everything you need to know about post graduate diploma and answered every possible questions you may have as regards.

When you graduate from university and obtain your first degree, you certainly breathe a sigh of relief; at last, you have the talked about first degree from a college that can set your feet on a high pedestal that’ll make life better.

But then, years down the line, you discover a first degree is not all you need to get to the peak of your career.  While some people may consider a post graduate diploma, others may consider a Master’s degree.
You may wonder what exactly the value of a post graduate diploma is since almost anyone who is not doing masters is doing it. We created this article to serve your curiosity.

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The Value of Post Graduate Diploma

Postgraduate diploma is generally good for those looking for ways to enhance their career. It gives you an edge over those with just a first degree and the good thing is that it takes a shorter time than a Masters’s degree. Whereas a Masters’s degree is made up of 180 credits, a post graduate diploma is made up of 120 credits or 60 credits for shorter versions.

There are so many courses that can be done in post graduate diploma, it could be a vocational course, an academic course, or even a legal course.

In most cases, especially for those doing an academic course, the major difference between a Masters degree and a post graduate diploma is that students doing post graduate diploma do not necessarily do a dissertation.

Students are always accessed with assignments, coursework, or a combination of the two. If you’re doing a post graduate diploma in a vocational course, you may just have to bear in mind that it gets really practical and the aim being that it prepares you intensively for better opportunities and ideas in your chosen profession.

This is to say that unlike you might have heard before about the value of post graduate diploma, it is actually very valuable and be used to achieve quite a large number of goals.

What Does a Post Graduate Diploma Mean?

A post graduate diploma is a shorter additional qualification usually gotten after the first degree in order to advance one’s career or profession. It supplements a first degree. A post graduate diploma is almost at the same academic level as a Masters degree in several fields.

The significant slight difference is that Masters’s degree has a higher number of credits than a postgraduate diploma and also while a master’s degree is time-intensive, a post graduate diploma is not.

Because of this disparity masters degree is most time considered ahead of a post graduate diploma in the job field and this is why many graduates go straight for masters degree rather that a postgraduate diploma but this doesn’t deny the fact that a post graduate diploma is still very valuable.

Is Post Graduate Diploma Equivalent to a Degree?

No, a post graduate diploma is not equivalent to a degree. This is a straight answer to avoid confussions.

A post graduate diploma is an academic award greater than an undergraduate degree (which is known as first degree). In academic relevance, a post graduate diploma can equate with a master’s degree or any other post-graduate award as the case may be but definitely not a first degree.

Before one can do a post graduate diploma, he/she must have completed his/her first degree. The value of post graduate diploma cannot be overemphasized, it is a qualification anyone who wants to go beyond the borderline of just having a graduate degree should embrace.

Can I do Masters after PG Diploma?

Well, yes! It is absolutely possible for you to go for a Masters degree program after a post graduate diploma.

A master’s degree as well as a postgraduate diploma are both post graduate programs but are not exactly the same as I have explained earlier. If upon completion of your post graduate diploma, you feel like a Masters degree is the next thing for you, you can go on with it.

Is Graduate Diploma Higher than Bachelor

A graduate diploma is a qualification taken after the completion of a first degree. A graduate diploma can be GradD, GDip, GrDip or any other related qualification.

The level of study varies from country to country. It could mean being at the same level as the final year of a bachelor’s degree to being at a level between a master’s degree a doctorate.

The graduate diploma and post graduate diploma could be synonymous in some countries while in other countries it could the post graduate diploma is a higher qualification (in countries where the graduate diploma is at an undergraduate degree).

In countries like Nigeria, there is an academic certificate known as the National Diploma which is obtained in a minimum of two years of study in a polytechnic in the country. There is also the Higher National Diploma which also takes a minimum of two years after one must have obtained the National Diploma.

While the National diploma is by no way equivalent to a bachelor degree, the Higher National Diploma is almost at the same level with a bachelors degree and they are considered in most cases as same in value in respect to job positions in public offices.

While a post graduate diploma is understood to be valued differently across countries, in Nigeria, a post graduate diploma is confidently valued above a bachelor degree.

However it is though, a post graduate diploma is higher than a bachelor’s degree and even a master’s degree. If there are countries that consider it otherwise, then it certainly won’t be valued below a bachelor’s degree.

You can read more about postgraduate diploma on wikipedia.

Can You Do A Post Graduate Diploma Without a Degree?

Well, appropriately, you are expected to have completed your first degree before considering a post-graduate diploma but if you are in dire need of earning a post graduate diploma without a degree, you can still try using the following tactics:

  • Take leverage of your work experience. You may not have earned your degree but you may have had enough work experience that is almost equivalent to getting a bachelor’s degree. In your application, talk with expertise in what you have gathered over the years working in that organization.
  • Your knowledge in another field may be helpful too. Let’s say you want to do a post graduate diploma in accounting and you have vast knowledge of business administration, your experience could act as transferable knowledge and can be equivalent to that gained in a similar bachelor degree.
  • Take online study. Online classes are very flexible and convenient. While getting a diploma offline could be rigid, online training offers better chances in several aspects.

What is the Difference Between Diploma and PG Diploma?

The major difference between diploma and post graduate diploma is that while a diploma can be either undergraduate or post graduate, a post graduate diploma is always done at the end of a bachelor’s degree.

A PG Diploma is higher than a mere Diploma which in most cases is lower than a bachelor degree.

Which is Better, MSc or PGDip

PGDip stands for Post graduate diploma while MSc stands for Masters degree.  Maybe there’s no straightforward answer to which is better between a Masters degree and a post graduate diploma.

You may need to choose which of the two is better for you depending on what you need the qualification for.

PGDip is a good option if you want better opportunities at work within a short time but then MSc might also be best for you if you’re looking for expertise in your career. MSc might be more intensive than PGDip but PGDip may be better in trying to achieve more in a short period of time.

Conclusion

We believe we’ve been able to put you through on value of post graduate diploma and how it is viewed academically and in the job field.

This will certainly help you in decision making. There is no point gathering academic certificates that are certainly not useful to you, it is best to know the value of whatever you want to go for and ascertain if it is truly worth your time or not.

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