Editing Academic degree (section)

==== Belgium ====
While higher education is regulated by the three [[Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium|communities of Belgium]], all have common and comparable systems of degrees that were adapted to the [[Bologna Process|Bologna structure]] during the 2000s. The primary 3-cycle structure is called BMD (Bachelor-Master-Doctorate; {{langx|fr|Bachelier-Master-Doctorat}} or {{langx|nl|Bachelor-Master-Doctoraat}}).

In the first cycle, the [[Bachelor's degree]] is issued after 180 [[ECTS grading scale|ECTS]] (3 years, [[European Qualifications Framework|EQF]] level 6). Other first cycle degrees include the one-year {{Ill|Advanced Bachelor's degree (Belgium)|lt=Advanced Bachelor's degree|fr|Bachelier de spécialisation|nl|Bachelor na bachelor}} degree ({{langx|fr|Bachelier de spécialisation|lit=Specialized Bachelor}}; {{langx|nl|Bachelor-na-bachelor|lit=Bachelor-after-bachelor}}) and the Brevet (in the French-speaking Community only) for short-cycle higher education programmes.

Bachelor's degrees are followed in the second cycle ([[European Qualifications Framework|EQF]] level 7) by {{Ill|Master's degree (Belgium)|lt=Master's degrees|fr|Master (Belgique)}} that last two years, completing an extra 120 [[ECTS grading scale|ECTS]] credits. The master's degree can be followed by an {{Ill|Advanced Master's degree (Belgium)|lt=Advanced Master's degree|fr|Master de spécialisation (Belgique)|nl|Master na master}} ({{langx|fr|Master de spécialisation|lit=Specialized Master}}; {{langx|nl|Master-na-master|lit=Master-after-master}}) that lasts one year (60 ECTS).

The third cycle of Belgium's higher education is covered by the {{Ill|Doctorate (Belgium)|lt=Doctorate|fr|Doctorat (Belgique)}} degree ({{langx|fr|Doctorat}}; {{langx|nl|Doctoraat}}) that covers a 3-to-7-year-long [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]], depending on whether the doctoral student has teaching responsibilities in addition to conducting research or not (typically 6 years for teaching assistants and 4 years for research-only mandates).