Editing Postgraduate education (section)

===Degrees===
The term ''degree'' in this context means the moving from one stage or level to another (from [[French language|French]] ''degré'', from [[Latin]] ''dē-'' + ''gradus''), and first appeared in the 13th century.

====History====
[[File:Universität Bologna Deutsche Nation.jpg|thumb|The entry of students in the ''Natio Germanica Bononiae'', the [[Nation (university)|nation]] of [[Germans|German]] students at the [[University of Bologna]], depicted in a 1497 image]]
Although systems of higher education date back to [[ancient India]], [[ancient Greece]], [[ancient Rome]] and [[ancient China]], the concept of ''postgraduate'' education depends upon the system of awarding degrees at different levels of study, and can be traced to the workings of European [[Medieval university|medieval universities]], mostly Italian.<ref name="Lexikon des Mittelalters: Doctor, doctoratus">{{Citation|last=Verger|first=J.|contribution=Doctor, doctoratus|title=Lexikon des Mittelalters|volume=3|publisher=J.B. Metzler|place=Stuttgart|year=1999|title-link=Lexikon des Mittelalters}}</ref><ref name="Lexikon des Mittelalters: Licentia">{{Citation|last=Verger|first=J.|contribution=Licentia|title=Lexikon des Mittelalters|volume=5|publisher=J.B. Metzler|place=Stuttgart|year=1999|title-link=Lexikon des Mittelalters}}</ref> University studies took six years for a bachelor's degree and up to twelve additional years for a master's degree or doctorate. The first six years taught the faculty of the arts, which was the study of the seven [[liberal arts]]: [[arithmetic]], [[geometry]], astronomy, music theory, [[grammar]], logic, and rhetoric. The main emphasis was on logic. Once a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree had been obtained, the student could choose one of three faculties—[[law]], [[medicine]], or [[theology]]—in which to pursue master's or doctor's degrees.

The degrees of master (from Latin ''magister'') and doctor (from Latin ''doctor'') were for some time equivalent, "the former being more in favour at Paris and the universities modeled after it, and the latter at Bologna<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.unibo.it/en/international|title=International |website=University of Bologna |language=en|access-date=2018-07-05|archive-date=2021-03-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321121042/https://www.unibo.it/en/international|url-status=live}}</ref> and its derivative universities. At Oxford and Cambridge a distinction came to be drawn between the Faculties of Law, Medicine, and Theology and the Faculty of Arts in this respect, the title of Doctor being used for the former, and that of Master for the latter."<ref>Burns</ref> Because theology was thought to be the highest of the subjects, the doctorate came to be thought of as higher than the master's.{{NoteTag| Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin continue to award [[Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)|Master of Arts]] (M.A.) degrees to undergraduates without any further study seven years after matriculation. These universities also award Bachelor's degrees for some forms of postgraduate study (e.g., see [[Bachelor of Civil Law|BCL]])}}

The main significance of the higher, postgraduate degrees was that they licensed the holder to teach<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2002/mar/09/mbas.business7|title=The value of a postgraduate degree|date=2002-03-09|website=the Guardian|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-07-05|archive-date=2021-03-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321121007/https://www.theguardian.com/education/2002/mar/09/mbas.business7|url-status=live}}</ref> ("doctor" comes from Latin ''docere'', "to teach").