Editing Academic degree (section)

== History ==
[[File:Meeting of doctors at the university of Paris.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|Meeting of doctors at the [[University of Paris]] (16th-century miniature)]]

=== Emergence of the doctor's and master's degrees and the licentiate ===
{{Further|Licentiate (degree)}}

The doctorate ([[Latin]]: ''doceo'', "I teach") first appeared in [[Middle Ages|medieval Europe]] as a license to teach ([[Latin]]: ''licentia docendi'') at a medieval university.<ref name="Lexikon des Mittelalters: Doctor, doctoratus">{{cite book | last = Verger | first = J. | contribution = Doctor, doctoratus | title = Lexikon des Mittelalters |trans-title=Lexicon of the Middle Ages|language=de | volume = 3 | number=cols. 1155–1156 | publisher = J.B. Metzler | place = Stuttgart | year=1998| title-link = Lexikon des Mittelalters }}</ref> Its roots can be traced to the [[early church]] when the term "doctor" referred to the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Apostles]], [[Church Fathers]] and other [[Christianity|Christian]] authorities who taught and interpreted the [[Bible]].<ref name="Lexikon des Mittelalters: Doctor, doctoratus" /> The right to grant a ''licentia docendi'' was originally reserved by the [[Catholic church|church]] which required the applicant to pass a test, take an oath of allegiance, and pay a fee. The [[Third Council of the Lateran]] of 1179 guaranteed the access – now largely free of charge – of all able applicants, who were, however, still tested for aptitude by the ecclesiastic scholastic.<ref name="Lexikon des Mittelalters: Licentia">{{cite book | last = Verger | first = J. | contribution = Licentia | title = Lexikon des Mittelalters |trans-title=Lexicon of the Middle Ages|language=de | volume = 5 | number=cols. 1957–1958 | publisher = J.B. Metzler | place = Stuttgart | year=1999| title-link = Lexikon des Mittelalters }}</ref> This right remained a point of contention between the church authorities and the slowly emancipating universities, but was granted by the [[Pope]] to the [[University of Paris]] in 1231 where it became a universal license to teach (''licentia ubique docendi'').<ref name="Lexikon des Mittelalters: Licentia" /> While the ''licentia'' continued to hold a higher prestige than the bachelor's degree (''Baccalaureus''), it was ultimately reduced to an intermediate step to the [[Magister (degree)|Magister]] and [[doctorate]], both of which now became the exclusive qualification for teaching.<ref name="Lexikon des Mittelalters: Licentia" />

In universities, doctoral training was a form of [[apprenticeship]] to a [[guild]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.k12academics.com/higher-education/academic-degree#.U75_Eo1_v20|title=Academic Degree|website=K12academics.com|date=6 February 2014|access-date=18 August 2017}}</ref> The traditional term of study before new teachers were admitted to the guild of "Master of Arts" was seven years. This was the same as the term of apprenticeship for other occupations. Originally the terms "master" and "doctor" were synonymous,<ref>{{cite web|title=Origin of the Bachelor's, Master's and Doctorate|url=http://www.academicapparel.com/caps/History-Academic-Degrees.html|website=Academicapparel.com|access-date=18 August 2017}}</ref> but over time the doctorate came to be regarded as a higher qualification than the [[master's degree]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}

Today the terms "master" (from the [[Latin]] ''magister'', {{literally|teacher}}), "Doctor", and "Professor" signify different levels of academic achievement, but in the [[Medieval university]], they were equivalent terms. The use of them in the degree name was a matter of custom at a university. Most universities conferred the Master of Arts, although the highest degree was often termed Master of Theology/Divinity or Doctor of Theology/Divinity, depending on the place.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}

The earliest [[doctoral degrees]] ([[theology]] – ''Divinitatis'' Doctor (D.D.), [[law]] – ''Legum'' Doctor (LL.D., later D.C.L.) and [[medicine]] – ''Medicinæ'' Doctor (M.D., D.M.)) reflected the historical separation of all higher university study into these three fields. Over time, the D.D. has gradually become less common outside theology and is now mostly used for honorary degrees, with the title "Doctor of Theology" being used more often for earned degrees. Studies outside [[theology]], [[law]], and [[medicine]] were then called "[[philosophy]]", due to the Renaissance conviction that real knowledge could be derived from empirical observation. The degree title of [[Doctor of Philosophy]] is a much later creation and was not introduced in England before 1900. Studies in what once was called philosophy are now classified as [[science]]s and [[humanities]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}

[[George Makdisi]] theorizes that the ''[[ijazah]]'' issued in medieval Islamic [[madrasa]]s in the 9th century was the origin of the doctorate that later appeared in medieval European universities.<ref name=Makdisi>{{citation|doi=10.2307/604423|last=Makdisi|first=George|author-link=George Makdisi|title=Scholasticism and Humanism in Classical Islam and the Christian West|jstor=604423|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=109|issue=2|date=April–June 1989|pages=175–182 [175–77]}}</ref> [[Alfred Guillaume]],<ref name="Alatas">{{cite journal |last1=Al-Attas |first1=Syed Farid |author1-link=Syed Farid al-Attas |title=From Jāmi' ah to University: Multiculturalism and Christian–Muslim Dialogue |journal=[[Current Sociology]] |date=1 January 2006 |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=112–132 |doi=10.1177/0011392106058837 |s2cid=144509355 |issn=0011-3921 |quote=In the 1930s, the renowned Orientalist Alfred Guillaume noted strong resemblances between Muslim and Western Christian institutions of higher learning. An example he cited is the ijazah, which he recognized as being akin to the medieval licentia docendi, the precursor of the modern university degree.|url=https://zenodo.org/record/29439 }}</ref> [[Syed Farid al-Attas]]<ref name="Alatas"/> and [[Devin J. Stewart]] agree that there is a resemblance between the ''ijazah'' and the university degree.<ref name="stewart">{{cite encyclopedia|author=Devin J. Stewart|author-link=Devin J. Stewart|editor=Josef W. Meri|encyclopedia=[[Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia]]|title=Degrees, or Ijazah|date=2005|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=9781135455965|pages=201–203|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c1ZsBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA201|quote=The license to teach law and issue legal opinions [...] is the type of ijazah that resembles the medieval European university degree most closely [...] The main difference between the two is that the granting authority is an individual professor, in the Islamic case, rather than a corporate institution in the case of the university. Despite this point, Makdisi has likened the ijazat al-ifta' wa'l-tadris to the medieval Latin licentia docendi and suggests that it served as a model for that degree.}}</ref> However, [[Toby Huff]] and others reject Makdisi's theory.<ref>{{cite book|last=Huff|first=Toby E.|title=The rise of early modern science : Islam, China, and the West|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0521529945|edition=2. ed., repr.|location=Cambridge [u.a.]|page=155|quote=It remains the case that no equivalent of the bachelor's degree, the licentia docendi, or higher degrees ever emerged in the medieval or early modern Islamic ''madrasas''.|author-link=Toby Huff}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Verger|first=J.|title=Lexikon des Mittelalters|volume=3|year=1999|at=cols 1155–1156|contribution=Doctor, doctoratus|place=Stuttgart|publisher=J.B. Metzler|title-link=Lexikon des Mittelalters}}</ref><ref>Rüegg, Walter: "Foreword. The University as a European Institution", in: ''[[A History of the University in Europe|A History of the University in Europe. Vol. 1: Universities in the Middle Ages]]'', Cambridge University Press, 1992, {{ISBN|0-521-36105-2}}, pp. XIX: "No other European institution has spread over the entire world in the way in which the traditional form of the European university has done. The degrees awarded by European universities – the bachelor's degree, the licentiate, the master's degree, and the doctorate – have been adopted in the most diverse societies throughout the world."</ref><ref>Norman Daniel: Review of "The Rise of Colleges. Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West by George Makdisi", Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 104, No. 3 (Jul. – Sep. 1984), pp. 586–588 (587)</ref> [[Devin J. Stewart]] finds that the ''ijazat al-ifta'', license to teach [[Islamic law]] and issue legal opinions, is most similar to the medieval European university degree in that it permits entry into certain professions. A key difference was that the granting authority of the ''ijaza'' was an individual professor whereas the university degree was granted by a corporate entity.<ref name="stewart3">{{cite encyclopedia|author=Devin J. Stewart|editor=Josef W. Meri|encyclopedia=[[Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia]]|title=Degrees, or Ijazah|date=2005|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=9781135455965|pages=201–203|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c1ZsBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA201|quote=The license to teach law and issue legal opinions (ijazat al-ifta' wa 'l-tadris; also ijazat al-tadris wa'lifta' or simply ijazat al-ifta') is the type of ijazah that resembles the medieval European university degree most closely, for, rather than authorizing the recipient to transmit or teach a particular text, it attests to his or her mastery of an entire field (in this case, the law) and permits entry into professional categories: law professor (mudarris) and jurisconsult (mufti).] The main difference between the two is that the granting authority is an individual professor, in the Islamic case, rather than a corporate institution in the case of the university. Despite this point, Makdisi has likened the ijazat al-ifta' wa'l-tadris to the medieval Latin licentia docendi and suggests that it served as a model for that degree.|author-link=Devin J. Stewart}}</ref>

The [[University of Bologna]] in [[Italy]], regarded as the oldest university in [[Europe]], was the first institution to confer the degree of [[Doctorate|Doctor]] in [[Civil law (legal system)|Civil Law]] in the late 12th century; it also conferred similar degrees in other subjects, including [[medicine]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Degree explanations|url=http://www.hitechcj.com/criminal-justice-degree-online/degree_explanations.html|website=Hitechcj.com|access-date=18 August 2017}}</ref>

The [[University of Paris]] used the term "master" for its graduates, a practice adopted by the [[England|English]] universities of [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] and [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]], as well as the ancient [[Scotland|Scottish]] universities of [[University of St Andrews|St Andrews]], [[University of Glasgow|Glasgow]], [[University of Aberdeen|Aberdeen]] and [[University of Edinburgh|Edinburgh]].

=== Emergence of the bachelor's degree ===
In [[Medieval university|medieval European universities]], candidates who had completed three or four years of study in the prescribed texts of the ''[[trivium (education)|trivium]]'' ([[grammar]], [[rhetoric]] and [[logic]]) and the ''[[quadrivium]]'' ([[arithmetic]], [[geometry]], [[astronomy]] and [[music]]), together known as the [[Liberal Arts]], and who had successfully passed examinations held by their master, would be admitted to the degree of [[Bachelor of Arts]]. The term "bachelor" comes from the Latin {{lang|la|baccalaureus}}, a term previously used to describe a squire (i.e., apprentice) to a [[knight]]. Further study and, in particular, successful participation in, and moderation of, [[disputation]]s would earn one the [[Master of Arts]] degree, from the [[Latin]] [[magister (degree)|magister]], "master" (typically indicating a teacher), entitling one to teach these subjects. Masters of Arts were eligible to enter study under the "higher faculties" of [[Law]], [[Medicine]] or [[Theology]] and earn first a bachelor's and then master's or doctor's degree in these subjects. Thus, a degree was only a step on the way to becoming a fully qualified master – hence the [[English language|English]] word "graduate", which is based on the [[Latin]] {{lang|la|gradus}} ("step").

=== Evolution of the terminology of degrees ===

The naming of degrees eventually became linked to the subjects studied. Scholars in the faculties of [[The arts|arts]] or [[grammar]] became known as "masters", but those in [[theology]], [[medicine]] and [[law]] were known as "doctors". As a study in the arts or grammar was a necessary prerequisite to study in subjects such as theology, medicine and law, the degree of doctor assumed a higher status than the [[master's degree]]. This led to the modern hierarchy in which the [[Doctor of Philosophy]] (Ph.D.), which in its present form as a degree based on [[research]] and [[Thesis|dissertation]] is a development from 18th- and 19th-century German universities, is a more advanced degree than the [[Master of Arts]] (M.A.). The practice of using the term ''doctor'' for PhDs developed within German universities and spread across the academic world.

The [[French language|French]] terminology is tied closely to the original meanings of the terms. The ''[[baccalauréat]]'' (cf. "bachelor") is conferred upon French students who have completed their [[secondary education]] and allows the student to attend university. When students graduate from university, they are awarded a ''licence'', much as the [[Middle Ages|medieval]] teaching guilds would have done, and they are qualified to teach in secondary schools or proceed to higher-level studies. [[Spain]] had a similar structure: the term ''"Bachiller"'' was used for those who finished the secondary or high-school level education, known as ''"Bachillerato"''. The standard Spanish university 5-year degree was ''"Licenciado"'', (although there were a few 3-year associate degrees called ''"diplomaturas"'', from where the ''"diplomados"'' could move to study a related ''licenciatura''). The highest level was "Doctor".

=== Degrees awarded by institutions other than universities ===
In the past, degrees have been directly issued by the authority of the monarch or by a bishop, rather than any educational institution. This practice has mostly died out. In [[Great Britain]], [[Lambeth degree]]s are still awarded by the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Lambeth Degrees|url=http://www.facultyoffice.org.uk/lambeth-degrees/|website=Facultyoffice.org.uk|access-date=18 August 2017}}</ref> The Archbishop of Canterbury's right to grant degrees is derived from the [[Peter's Pence Act 1533]], which empowered the Archbishop to grant dispensations previously granted by the Pope.<ref>{{cite web|title=Archbishop of Canterbury awards Lambeth Degrees |url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2008/080604b.html |website=Ox.ac.uk |date=4 June 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714202354/http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2008/080604b.html |archive-date=14 July 2014 }}</ref>

Among educational institutions, [[St David's College, Lampeter]], was granted limited degree awarding powers by [[royal charter]] in the nineteenth century, despite not being a university. The [[University College of North Staffordshire]] was also granted degree awarding powers on its foundation in 1949, despite not becoming a university (as the [[University of Keele]]) until 1962. Following the [[Education Reform Act 1988]], many educational institutions other than universities have been granted degree-awarding powers, including higher education colleges and colleges of the [[University of London]], many of which are now effectively universities in their own right.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/guidance/recognised-uk-degrees|title=Recognised UK degrees|date=11 December 2012|publisher=[[Department for Business, Innovation & Skills]]|access-date=3 August 2016}}</ref>

=== Academic dress ===
{{Main|Academic dress}}

In many countries, gaining an academic degree entitles the holder to assume distinctive academic dress particular to the awarding institution, identifying the status of the individual wearing them.