{"links":{"self":"https://preview.epetitions.website/archived/petitions/24411.json"},"data":{"type":"archived-petition","id":24411,"parliament":{"period":"2010-2015","government":"Conservative – Liberal Democrat coalition","dissolution_at":"2015-03-30T23:59:59.000+01:00","response_threshold":10000,"debate_threshold":100000},"attributes":{"action":"Withdrawal of unmerited advantage given to 3,000 Oxbridge graduates a year who choose to receive the award of MA by just paying a £10 fee.","background":null,"additional_details":"The perception that the MA degree at Oxbridge is an earned postgraduate award is commonplace unless you are familiar with the peculiar traditions of Oxford or Cambridge.\r\n\r\nCurrently students with a Bachelor’s degree from Oxford or Cambridge are able to gain an MA simply by waiting three or four years and paying a £10 administrative fee. At other universities in the country the only way to gain an MA is by studying as a postgraduate.\r\n\r\nResearch by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), the higher education watchdog, has suggested that up to 60 per cent of employers did not know that the Oxbridge MA does not require further study.\r\n\r\n200,000 students study hard for their postgraduate qualifications each year and it is unfair that they could be improperly compared  to others listing an unearned MA in their CV.","committee_note":null,"state":"rejected","signature_count":1,"created_at":"2011-11-28T21:28:53.000Z","updated_at":"2020-02-16T19:27:39.540Z","rejected_at":"2017-06-21T12:36:52.068Z","opened_at":null,"closed_at":null,"moderation_threshold_reached_at":"2011-11-28T21:28:53.000Z","response_threshold_reached_at":null,"government_response_at":null,"debate_threshold_reached_at":null,"debate_scheduled_at":null,"scheduled_debate_date":null,"debate_outcome_at":null,"rejection":{"code":"duplicate","details":null},"government_response":null,"debate":null,"departments":[],"topics":[]}}}