Editing Post-nominal letters (section)

=====Academic usage in the UK=====

The [[University of Oxford|Oxford University]] Style Guide and the [[University of Nottingham]] Style Guide give the alternative ordering:<ref name=OxStyle>{{cite book|url=https://www.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxford/University%20of%20Oxford%20Style%20Guide%20%28updated%20Hilary%20term%202016%29.pdf|date=2016|access-date=29 May 2016|publisher=University of Oxford|title=University of Oxford Style Guide|page=20}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/communicationsmarketing/services/service-details/style-guide/names-and-titles.aspx|access-date=30 May 2016|title=Names and titles|publisher=[[University of Nottingham]]}}</ref>

# Civil honours
# Military honours
# KC
# Degrees in the order:
## Bachelor's 
## Master's 
## Doctorates
## Postdoctoral
# Diplomas
# Certificates
# Membership of academic or professional bodies

This differs from the civil ordering in that it omits appointments except for KC, includes diplomas and certificates in addition to degrees, merges medical qualifications, fellowships of learned societies, royal academicians, and membership of professional bodies into a single item, and omits membership of the armed forces.

[[Loughborough University]] gives a very similar ordering, but with "Appointments (e.g MP, KC)" replacing item 3 (KC) and "Higher Education awards (in ascending order, commencing with undergraduate)" replacing items 4–6 (degrees, diplomas and certificates). This restores the Appointments section from the civil list omitted by Oxford and Nottingham, although the other differences remain.<ref name=Lboro>{{cite web|url=http://www.lboro.ac.uk/students/graduation/certificates/postnominalletters/|publisher=Loughborough University|access-date=28 May 2016|title=Post-Nominal Letters}}</ref>

[[Nottingham Trent University]] gives essentially the same ordering as Oxford and Nottingham, but without specifying the order in which degrees should be given.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.ntu.ac.uk/styleguide|title=Editorial Style Guide for Print Publications and Web|author=NTU Marketing|publisher=Nottingham Trent University|page=9|access-date=30 May 2016}}</ref> Nottingham Trent, Oxford and Loughborough recommend degree abbreviations be given in mixed case without stops between the letters (e.g. BA, not B.A.; PhD, not Ph.D.), as does [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cam.ac.uk/brand-resources/guidelines/editorial-style-guide|title=Editorial Style Guide|author=Communications Resources|date=24 January 2014|publisher=University of Cambridge|access-date=30 May 2016}}</ref> [[Imperial College London]], however, uses all small caps for post-nominals (e.g. {{small caps|phd}}, not PhD).<ref>{{cite web|title=Imperial College London House Style|url=http://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/administration-and-support-services/brand-and-style-guide/public/HouseStyleWeb.pdf|publisher=Imperial College London|access-date=30 May 2016}}</ref>

Where all degrees are shown, as in university calendars, most universities will give these in ascending order.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.debretts.com/forms-address/ask-debretts-expert/questions-professions|title=Questions on Professions|publisher=Debrett's|access-date=28 May 2016}}</ref> However, advice on the precise ordering varies:
* The [[Oxford University]] Calendar Style Guide places degrees in the order: bachelor's degrees (including postgraduate bachelor's degrees such as the Oxford [[Bachelor of Civil Law|BCL]]) and other first degrees; master's degrees (including those that are first degrees, such as [[MPhys]]); doctorates; higher doctorates in order of academic precedence. Degrees at the same level are ordered alphabetically by awarding institution and multiple degrees from the same institution are grouped, with position determined by the lowest degree in the grouping. Certificates and diplomas are listed after degrees (no mention is made of foundation degrees). Oxford recommends giving institution names separated by a space from the degree, not enclosed in parentheses, and that degrees from the same institution be separated by spaces only, with commas between degrees from different institutions.<ref name=OxCal>{{cite book|url=https://www.ox.ac.uk/media/global/wwwoxacuk/localsites/gazette/documents/universitycalendar/Calendar_Style_Guide_2015.pdf|title=Calendar Style Guide|publisher=[[University of Oxford]]|date=2015|access-date=2016-05-29|archive-date=2018-08-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820010016/https://www.ox.ac.uk/media/global/wwwoxacuk/localsites/gazette/documents/universitycalendar/Calendar_Style_Guide_2015.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Loughborough University]] advises listing all higher education awards in ascending order starting from undergraduate, so MPhys would come before BCL and postgraduate certificates and diplomas would come between undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. The examples given do not include institution names.<ref name=Lboro/>