Licentiate
Encyclopedia
Licentiate is the title of a person who holds an academic degree
called a licence. The term may derive from the Latin
licentia docendi, meaning permission to teach. The term may also derive from the Latin licentia ad practicandum, which signified someone who held a certificate of competence to practise a profession. Many countries have degrees with this title, but they may represent different educational levels. In some universities it is a degree between that of bachelor and master or doctor; in some countries it is comparable to a PhD
degree.
Over time however, this distinction in nature between the licentia on the one hand and the bachelor, master and doctor degrees on the other began to fade. In the continental European universities the licentia became an academic degree between the bachelor degree on the one hand and the master or doctor degree on other, in particular in the higher faculties. Moreover, the costs for obtaining the doctorate could be significant - including a grand feast for the entire faculty, which in the Spanish universities would include a corrida. As a result most students not intending on an academic career would forego the doctorate, and as a result the licentiate became the common final degree.
An notable exception to this development were the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and the universities modelled after them. As their locations were not the seats of bishops, the granting of the licentia docendi happened by proxy, and its significance faded away.
, the Licentiate degree (Spanish: Licenciatura) is a four to six year degree. This may become six years in some cases, under the accomplishment of the "licentia doctorandi" thesis dissertation, generally equivalent to an M.Sc. or M.A.
in North America
n universities, or Master
in any country of Europe given by the Bologna Process
. Occasionally, the achievement of the "Licentiate" degree does not require the formal writing of a thesis
, although almost always, some amount of research is required. The successful defense of the "Tesis de Licenciatura" automatically habilitates the candidate to apply to a Master or Doctorate degree in a related field of science.
to grant licentiates, apart from theological colleges, are the Australian Music Examinations Board
and the Australian College of Music, which confer licentiate diplomas, including the Licentiate in Music, Australia
(LMusA).
universities
, a person titled Licentiate (or Licentiaat in Dutch
or Licencié in French
) holds the equivalent education of a Master's degree
. In the past, student
s received a license after 4 to five years of successful study. The first two years were known as candidature (French
) or kandidatuur (Dutch
) (candidacy), meaning students were qualifying themselves for study at the licential level. This candidate-licentiate system is now being replaced by an American-style bachelor-master system. The Belgian licentiate was also equivalent to the doctorandus in the Netherlands.
, a Licenciatura is a professional degree distinct from the Anglo-Saxon Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor in Science, as it requires that the student take more credits for the completion of a professional curricula than those needed in the Anglo-Saxon system. The Licenciatura allows the holder to practice his or her profession in all of Bolivia, with the exception of those holding a Law degree. The durational requirements to obtain a Licenciatura vary depending on the profession studied, however, most universities require the completion of the curricula within five to six years. Aside from the durational requirements, Bolivian universities also require that all candidates, at the completion of the curricula, complement their studies by writing a thesis or by sitting for an oral examination in which State and University representatives take part by testing the student’s professional knowledge and skills.
, the licenciate is a degree between three and four years of study. The licenciate is different from a Bachelor's degree, in that the licenciate includes subjects related to education and therefore also qualifies the degree holder to teach in primary and secondary education. However, in most cases, the core of the courses are very similar, and the option for the Licentiateship or the Bachelor's Degree is made at the end of the course.
academic institutions, a Licentiate in Laws (LL.L.) is offered by some Canadian universities for the completion of studies equivalent to a Bachelor of Civil Law
.
A Licentiate is also offered by the Medical Council of Canada (MCC) upon completion of a series of Medical Council of Canada Qualifying examinations for Canadian and International medical graduates. This licentiate is required to obtain an independent medical practice license in Canada.
, the title is awarded to students after four to five years of study (usually between two and four more semesters with courses after the completion of the bachelor's degree
). Student
s are also required to write a thesis in some universities, attend a graduation seminar, or develop a project in order to graduate, while some degrees involve almost the same credits are a master's degree, the level of difficulty is not the same as graduate level work. The Consejo Nacional de Rectores (Council of Rectors) defines a licentiate as lower than a master's degree
but in some instances slightly higher than a bachelor's degree.
Further evidence of the difference between a master's degree and a licentiate is that the two major public universities, the National University of Costa Rica
and the University of Costa Rica
are phasing out faculty members with licentiate in favor of those who hold graduate degrees. Thus, in summary, a Costa Rican licentiate is higher than the Costa Rican version of a bachelor's degree but lower than a master's degree.
and Norway
, and was roughly equal to the American PhD
degree. In Denmark it has formally been replaced by the PhD degree. The proper doctorates in Denmark are considered higher degrees than the PhD
(i.e. higher doctorates).
, a Licenciatura is awarded to students after four years of study. Student
s are required to write a thesis in order to graduate. The Licenciatura is one of the major University degree previous to doctoral studies.
, a licenciate (licencié(e)) is the holder of a licence, which is a three-year degree, roughly equivalent to a Bachelor's degree
. There are two kinds of licence: general and professional.
and Finnish universities
, a Licentiate's degree, recognised as a pre-doctoral degree, is equal to completion of the coursework required for a doctorate and a dissertation which is formally equivalent to half of a doctoral dissertation. In Finland, the extent of Licentiate Degree is 120 ECTS equivalent and it requires two to three years of full time research. Its prerequisite is a completed academic Master's degree. Licentiate degree holders are officially eligible for independent scientific research in Universities, and entitled to the right to supervise Master's and Licentiate degree theses.
Until the early 1970s, the degree in Sweden was equivalent to the U.S. Ph.D. requiring four to seven years of study after the Bachelor´s (or Master´s) degree, and a publicly defended thesis. It was gradually substituted with the "Doctor's exam" in 1969 and was re-instituted as an intermediate level in research training in the 1980s, now requiring only two years of study. The licentiate is particularly popular with students already involved in the working life, for the reason that completing a full doctor's dissertation while working would be too difficult. The Licentiate's degree is called a filosofie licentiat in Swedish
and filosofian lisensiaatti in Finnish
(Licentiate of Philosophy), teologie licentiat and teologian lisensiaatti (Licentiate of Theology) etc., depending on the faculty. Furthermore, the requisite degree for a physician's license is licentiat/lisensiaatti; there is no Master's degree. (The degree lääketieteen tohtori, medicine doktor, "Doctor of Medicine" is a traditional professor's degree, or a research doctorate
, with Licentiate as a prerequisite.)
The Licentiate of Engineering is an intermediate postgraduate degree used only in a few countries, among them Sweden and Finland, and can be seen as an academic step halfway between a Master's and a PhD. In Swedish, it is called Teknologie Licentiat, usually abbreviated as Tekn. Lic., and in Finnish, tekniikan lisensiaatti, abbreviated as TkL. The Licentiate of Engineering corresponds to 120 ECTS credits (80 workweeks (old credits)), or nominally two years of full-time work, whereas a PhD amounts to 240 ECTS credits (160 workweeks (old credits)), or a nominal period of four years of full-time work (one old credit equals one week of full-time studies). However, as a result of the differences in requirements and individual performance, the time to complete a Licentiate of Engineering degree varies.
The program for a Licentiate degree is equivalent to a total of two years of full-time study for those who are awarded a doctoral position. A person who has a doctoral position normally teaches on the undergraduate programs, equivalent to a maximum of 20% of the working time. It is then usually possible for a Licentiate degree to be taken within two and a half years.
, a person titled Lizentiat holds the equivalent education of a Master's degree
or Diplom
. Until the 1990s, the degree was offered as a law degree at the Saarland University
as a single university degree (Lic.iur.) with a duration varying between five to eight years. For political reasons, this degree was discontinued, mainly because the Staatsexamen (Law degree
) became the predominant representation of the mainstream education of a lawyer. The Lizentiat is largely equivalent to the 1. Staatsexamen but, unlike the latter, is assessed by the university, not the state administration. It also allowed specialisation in areas of the law which were either not covered by other legal qualifications, e.g. ecclesiastical law etc., or not covered to the same extent. Other disciplines, such as theology or journalism (FU Berlin), used to offer a Lizentiat qualification instead of a PhD.
, the Association of Mutual Funds of India, and the Diploma Examination Board of the government of Andhra Pradesh.
Licentiate Certified Physician and Surgeon (LCPS) was a recognized medical qualification in India before 1946, when the Bhore Committee
effectively made the MBBS the sole entry point into the medical profession in India.
In Mexico, a distinction is made between simply passing all the required courses, just being a graduate (graduado or pasante), and actually obtaining the degree diploma
(título profesional). Obtaining the diploma means the student completely concluded his or her studies, and has the right of using the title of Licenciado (Licenciate). Statistics show that historically only about 60% of those graduating actually obtain the diploma. At the same time the diploma is awarded, a professional credential
(cédula profesional) may be obtained from the National Directorate of Professions (Dirección General de Profesiones, DGP), which serves as a licence to practice and as a national ID card. Some professions do not require the professional credential, but for others, like Biology
, Accounting, Engineering
, or Social work
, it is mandatory by law. The law also establishes penalties
for crimes committed regarding the professional practice, including those in which an individual offers professional services without having the proper diploma or licence.
For a number of years, presenting a thesis
was the only method to obtain the diploma (título). Nowadays, some universities, like the National Autonomous University of Mexico
(UNAM
), may still require the thesis, while others, like the federal Institutes of Technology, may forgo the thesis in exchange for demonstrating professional experience, research work, or excellent academic grades.
By their nature, some disciplines such as Nursing
, Medicine
and Law
require an intense theoretical background as well as practical training, and so a first university degree in those areas may take longer to complete (up to 6 years). Even after obtaining the diploma, graduates require passing a national exam to finally be awarded the professional licence.
In Mexico, every graduate who obtained a Licenciatura diploma is technically and legally a Licenciado (abbreviated Lic. before the name). However, it is mostly common to use Lic. for graduates of the social sciences
, while more specific titles and prefixes are used for other professionals such as engineer (Ingeniero, Ing.), architect (Arquitecto, Arq.), or biologist (Biólogo, Biol.).
In Mexico, the Licenciatura qualifies the recipient to pursue a Master's degree
(Maestría). In exceptional cases, the recipient may apply directly to a Doctoral degree (Doctorado), in which case the study plan integrates coursework from the master's program, and may take up to five years to complete.
According to the Bologna process
in Europe
, virtually any Licenciado has the equivalent qualifications of a 3-year bachelor's degree
. The Mexican Licenciatura, however, should never be confused with a more advanced postgraduate degree, such as the Swedish
"Licenciate of Technology" (Teknologie Licentiat).
, the Licenciatura is not an academic degree, but rather a "Professional Title" within a specific profession. The difference between the two is that academic degrees allow you to further your career studies at universities, while Professional Titles allow you to work in positions outside academia
or perform as an independent professional in the Republic of Peru. Certain professions require the Licenciatura or "Professional Title" and the mandatory professional association (Colegio Profesional) registration.
The Bachelor's degree is the first academic degree and allows one to take part in a Master's degree program. The Master's degree is the next degree and it allows you to get a Doctor's degree (equivalent to a PhD
). The Licenciatura is awarded to university graduates after they have completed a Bachelor's degree in their specific field (i.e. Bachiller en: Economía, Ingeniería, etc.) This usually requires five years of professional studies at a university in the Professional Department or Faculty to obtain the Professional Title.
To obtain a Licenciatura or "Título Profesional" the student is required to write a thesis, which in most cases includes developing a research project. Alternatively, it is possible a written exam and then an oral examination in front of a group of professors (who are registered in the Professional College of that specific profession). With this last option, it is usually required to have at least one year of professional experience in the relevant field of studies.
The Bachelor of Arts and the Bachelor of Science in the Anglo-Saxon universities are not equivalent degrees to a Licentiate because they are completed within the first four semesters of the five years of studies. For some professions which used to be called carreras largas or long careers (dentistry, law, psychology and medicine), the university student requires more than five years of studies or ten semesters to complete their professional education.
Nowadays, some universities do not use the word Licenciado or Licenciada as a prefix before the professional title, e.g. Licenciado/a en Farmacia y Bioquímica (Licentiate in Pharmacy and Biochemistry) in their certificates. Instead they use Químico Farmacéutico, the same happens in with the other professions (i.e. Enfermero, Ingeniero, Psicólogo.) In such cases, both written titles are equivalent. The Professional Titles in Peru are equivalent to the first professional degrees in the Anglo-Saxon countries, therefore if a person obtained a Master in Counselling degree in the US will need to complete the university studies in Peru in order to obtain the Licenciate or Title of Psychologist and then the Licensure at the Colegio de Psicólogos del Perú. In Perú the Professional Title of Psicólogo is similar to the Psy.D. in the Anglo-Saxon degree.
by the tertiary education reforms. The purpose of these reforms was to bring the Polish university system into line with Bologna system
. It is typically a three or four year degree, equivalent to the bachelor's degree
in Anglo-Saxon countries. Students completing a licencjat often go on to complete a magister
s degree.
in the mid-2000s, in Portugal the licenciate's degree (Licenciatura) may refer to both old and new Licenciaturas, which were awarded before and after the Bologna's reforms, respectively. Old Licenciaturas would range from four to six year degrees and are equivalent to the new master's degree
, after the implementation of the Bologna Process
. In the past, a Master' degree would add another 2 years to the 4 to 6 years of the old undergraduate Licenciaturas, thus taking 6 to 8 years in total to graduate with a Master's title. The new Licenciaturas, which have been awarded since then in Portugal and in almost all Europe with varying local designations, usually take three years to complete the degree.
After 2006, in the Portuguese higher education
system, Licenciatura is the first degree
awarded by institutions of higher education
. It is the first degree used in the European Higher Education Area
, and is equivalent to the Bachelor's degree
used in other countries. The Master's degree
entails a two year program of study, in which students would normally enroll after completing a licentiate's degree, and provides higher qualification for employment (e.g., for Engineering, Architecture and Medicine a Master is required, entailing 5 to 6 years of studies) or to prepare a student for his or her PhD
research.
, before the Bologna process, a license (Rom. licenţă) was an academic degree awarded after four to six years of study, finalised by a thesis. It was a degree higher that the graduate diploma obtained after three years of study, which was mostly used in pedagogical institutes that trained secondary education teachers, and was considered inferiour to the doctorate. A Romanian license was the equivalent of a French maîtrise or a German Diplom
. There are some Romanian licenses (obtained before the Bologna process
was of application) which have been recognized as mr. and drs. in the Netherlands, i.e. at the LLM
and MA
level. Now, after the Bologna process, is the Romanian license similar to a Bachelor's degree
.
the Licenciatura degree is one of the major higher-education degrees previous to doctoral studies. A Licenciatura typically requires from four to six years of University courses, and has a typical credit workload of 300 to 400 credits. The Licenciatura academic degree is academically equivalent to the Ingeniero or Arquitecto degrees. A Licenciatura degree also provides direct access to professional practice or membership in professional associations such as Bar Associations for Lawyers (Colegio de Abogados), medicine, economics, and other regulated professions. This system is in the process of being progressively changed to the 'Grado' (Bachelor) and 'Master' system due to the Bologna Declaration on the European higher education area
.
Nowadays Licenciatura consists of four or five years of study, or 6 years in Medicine, and allows direct transition into Doctoral studies. Currently, both "second-cycle" or "superior" degrees (like Licenciatura, Ingeniería and Arquitecto, which are four to five years), and "first-cycle" or "intermediate" degrees (Diplomatura, Ingeniería Técnica (technical engineering) and Arquitecto técnico degrees which are three years) are the undergraduate diplomas in Spain.
Note, however, that the label "undergraduate" may be misleading to an anglophone audience, since while a Spanish Diplomatura may be likened to an American undergraduate Bachelor's degree
, a Spanish Licenciatura is comparable in scope to an American postgraduate Master's degree
, as the anglophone distinction between "undergraduate" and "postgraduate" degrees does not properly apply to the traditional higher-education system of Spain. Many Spanish licenciados, when translating their CVs into English, use the formula BA+MA (or BSc+MSc) to indicate that a Licenciatura is equivalent to a Master's degree. Depending on the degree and study plan, some Spanish universities require a small thesis or research project to be submitted in the last year before the student can finally claim his or her degree.
After the Bologna process, all official university degrees will fall into one of these three categories: Grado (Bachelor), Master or Doctor. Most Grados will consist of four years (240 ECTS credits), unless it is otherwise ruled by a EU Directive (like Pharmacy, five years, or Medicine, six years). All university students completing these four years will get a Grado and may then go on with Master's studies (one to two years, 60-120 ECTS credits). Doctorate studies will in most cases require a research-oriented Master's degree and may or may not include specific courses.
Grados will take one year more than the old Diplomatura or Ingeniería Técnica degrees, and graduates from the old system may have to study additional courses to transform their degree into a Grado. Nevertheless, in most aspects, Grados will be the equivalent of the old intermediate degrees: Grado engineers will have the responsibilities of former Ingenieros técnicos. Lawyers will need a Master's degree, not a Grado. And in public service, Grado holders will by default be in the A2 level (the second highest), while A1 (the highest) will be for Grado holders with additional requirements (such as a Master's or a Doctorate, or a special Grado such as Medicine that is in many aspects equivalent to a Master).
It should be noted that, prior to the Bologna process, the Master's degree was not considered an official academic degree in Spain, as the transition from undergraduate to postgraduate studies could only be done directly from a Licenciatura to doctoral studies.
universities, until the adoption of the Bologna Convention, the Lizentiat/licence was the equivalent of a Master's degree (there being no prior degrees) and qualified the holder for doctoral studies. The degree names are followed by the field of study (e.g. lic. phil., lic. ès lettres, lic. oec., etc.). In line with the Bologna Process
, the degree has now been replaced by Master degrees (with Bachelor degrees being newly introduced).
According to the Swiss University Conference, the joint organization of the cantons and the Confederation for university politics, and the Rectors' Conference of the Swiss Universities, the old Lizentiat/licence is considered equivalent to the current Master degree.
offers Licences in Latin and Greek. They are postgraduate diplomas – meaning that the student would normally have completed a (typically three-year) Bachelor's degree first – and can be completed in either two years or three. The City and Guilds of London Institute
Licentiateship award is at a supervisory/junior management level and mapped to NVQ/IVQ level 4 and National Qualifications Framework
(NQF) revised levels 4 & 5. Trinity College London
awards Licentiate in Performing Speech and Drama, which is tagged at Level 6 of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF).
The Landscape Institute offers Licentiate membership to those who have completed a bachelor’s degree and a postgraduate Diploma in the field of
Landscape Architecture.
, or Licentiate of Sacred Theology
, granted by pontifical universities such as The Catholic University of America.
.
from the Medical Council of Canada
before they are eligible to apply for licensure in the province or territory concerned.
These Conjoint
diplomas were latterly awarded by the United Examining Board
. The first two, and latterly the first three, were granted together in England, and the last three in Scotland, until 1999, after which approval to hold the examinations was withdrawn. The qualifications are still registrable with the General Medical Council
, and allow the bearer to practice medicine in the United Kingdom
, and used to be recognised by some state medical boards in the USA.
The Licentiate of Apothecaries' Hall (LAH) was a similar qualifying medical diploma awarded externally in Dublin until recognition was lost in 1968.
In Dublin, students at the School of Medicine of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
still qualify with licentiate diplomas from the two Irish Royal Colleges, coupled with a Licence in Midwifery from each, although in the past few years they have also been awarded the three medical bachelor's degrees of the National University of Ireland
:
Certain maternity hospitals in Dublin used to award a Licentiate in Midwifery or LM diploma, not to midwives but to qualified medical practitioners who had been examined there after a three-month residential appointment. The Rotunda Hospital
was the most recent to do so.
A qualification similar to the LTh is the two-year postgraduate Licentiate of Sacred Theology (STL), available from many Roman Catholic schools of theology that possess the authority to grant Pontifical degree. This compares with, for example in North American institutions, the four year program for a B.A. at many universities, a two year program for an M.A., and the writing and successful defense of the doctoral dissertation for the Ph.D. or Th.D. (an additional two to three years).
The degree Licentiate of Canon Law is similarly awarded like the license in Sacred Theology at pontifical universities. Other qualifications for canon law include an inter-denominational LL.M. program at least one university (Cardiff
), though this degree would not have canonical effects in the Roman Catholic Church.
organized the Bologna
convention
on higher education
, more commonly known as the Bologna process
, in order to create uniform standards across the European Union
in that field. The resulting conclusions called for all Europe
an universities to change their degree programs to an undergraduate degree
and a master's degree.
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
called a licence. The term may derive from the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
licentia docendi, meaning permission to teach. The term may also derive from the Latin licentia ad practicandum, which signified someone who held a certificate of competence to practise a profession. Many countries have degrees with this title, but they may represent different educational levels. In some universities it is a degree between that of bachelor and master or doctor; in some countries it is comparable to a PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
degree.
History
Originally, for the student in the medieval university the "licentia docendi" was of a somewhat different nature than the academic degrees of bachelor, master or doctor. The latter essentially indicated the rank of seniority in the various faculties (arts, theology, law, medicine), whereas the licentia was literally the license to teach. It was awarded not by the university but by the church, embodied in the chancellor of the diocese in which the university was located. The licentia would only be awarded however upon recommendation by the university, initially shortly before the candidate would be awarded the final degree of master or doctor, the requirements for which beyond having been awarded the licentia were only of a ceremonial nature.Over time however, this distinction in nature between the licentia on the one hand and the bachelor, master and doctor degrees on the other began to fade. In the continental European universities the licentia became an academic degree between the bachelor degree on the one hand and the master or doctor degree on other, in particular in the higher faculties. Moreover, the costs for obtaining the doctorate could be significant - including a grand feast for the entire faculty, which in the Spanish universities would include a corrida. As a result most students not intending on an academic career would forego the doctorate, and as a result the licentiate became the common final degree.
An notable exception to this development were the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and the universities modelled after them. As their locations were not the seats of bishops, the granting of the licentia docendi happened by proxy, and its significance faded away.
Argentina
In ArgentinaArgentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, the Licentiate degree (Spanish: Licenciatura) is a four to six year degree. This may become six years in some cases, under the accomplishment of the "licentia doctorandi" thesis dissertation, generally equivalent to an M.Sc. or M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n universities, or Master
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in any country of Europe given by the Bologna Process
Bologna process
The purpose of the Bologna Process is the creation of the European Higher Education Area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe, in particular under the Lisbon Recognition Convention...
. Occasionally, the achievement of the "Licentiate" degree does not require the formal writing of a thesis
Thesis
A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...
, although almost always, some amount of research is required. The successful defense of the "Tesis de Licenciatura" automatically habilitates the candidate to apply to a Master or Doctorate degree in a related field of science.
Australia
Currently the only institutions in AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
to grant licentiates, apart from theological colleges, are the Australian Music Examinations Board
Australian Music Examinations Board
The Australian Music Examinations Board is a privately funded corporation which assesses music, speech, and drama in Australia. The organisation had its beginnings at the Universities of Melbourne and Adelaide in 1887; the organisation now has a Federal Office in Melbourne, and offices in each...
and the Australian College of Music, which confer licentiate diplomas, including the Licentiate in Music, Australia
LMusA
The Licentiate of Music, Australia is a diploma offered by the Australian Music Examinations Board. The Licentiate diploma is seen as the highest award given by the AMEB, outranking the Associate diploma and the graded certificate exams...
(LMusA).
Belgium
In BelgianBelgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
universities
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
, a person titled Licentiate (or Licentiaat in Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
or Licencié in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
) holds the equivalent education of a Master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
. In the past, student
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
s received a license after 4 to five years of successful study. The first two years were known as candidature (French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
) or kandidatuur (Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
) (candidacy), meaning students were qualifying themselves for study at the licential level. This candidate-licentiate system is now being replaced by an American-style bachelor-master system. The Belgian licentiate was also equivalent to the doctorandus in the Netherlands.
Bolivia
In BoliviaBolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
, a Licenciatura is a professional degree distinct from the Anglo-Saxon Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor in Science, as it requires that the student take more credits for the completion of a professional curricula than those needed in the Anglo-Saxon system. The Licenciatura allows the holder to practice his or her profession in all of Bolivia, with the exception of those holding a Law degree. The durational requirements to obtain a Licenciatura vary depending on the profession studied, however, most universities require the completion of the curricula within five to six years. Aside from the durational requirements, Bolivian universities also require that all candidates, at the completion of the curricula, complement their studies by writing a thesis or by sitting for an oral examination in which State and University representatives take part by testing the student’s professional knowledge and skills.
Brazil
In BrazilBrazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, the licenciate is a degree between three and four years of study. The licenciate is different from a Bachelor's degree, in that the licenciate includes subjects related to education and therefore also qualifies the degree holder to teach in primary and secondary education. However, in most cases, the core of the courses are very similar, and the option for the Licentiateship or the Bachelor's Degree is made at the end of the course.
Canada
While the term licentiate is not generally used by CanadianCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
academic institutions, a Licentiate in Laws (LL.L.) is offered by some Canadian universities for the completion of studies equivalent to a Bachelor of Civil Law
Bachelor of Civil Law
Bachelor of Civil Law is the name of various degrees in law conferred by English-language universities. Historically, it originated as a postgraduate degree in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, but many universities now offer the BCL as an undergraduate degree...
.
A Licentiate is also offered by the Medical Council of Canada (MCC) upon completion of a series of Medical Council of Canada Qualifying examinations for Canadian and International medical graduates. This licentiate is required to obtain an independent medical practice license in Canada.
Costa Rica
In Costa RicaCosta Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
, the title is awarded to students after four to five years of study (usually between two and four more semesters with courses after the completion of the bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
). Student
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
s are also required to write a thesis in some universities, attend a graduation seminar, or develop a project in order to graduate, while some degrees involve almost the same credits are a master's degree, the level of difficulty is not the same as graduate level work. The Consejo Nacional de Rectores (Council of Rectors) defines a licentiate as lower than a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
but in some instances slightly higher than a bachelor's degree.
Further evidence of the difference between a master's degree and a licentiate is that the two major public universities, the National University of Costa Rica
National University of Costa Rica
National University of Costa Rica in Heredia is one of five public universities in the country. Over 12,000 students study at its main campus. In addition to undergraduate programs, it offers 16 Masters of Art degrees and is strong in ecology and education related coursework.- External links :*...
and the University of Costa Rica
University of Costa Rica
The University of Costa Rica is a public university in the Republic of Costa Rica, in Central America. Its main campus, Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, is located in San Pedro, in the province of San José. It is the oldest, largest, and most prestigious institution of higher learning in...
are phasing out faculty members with licentiate in favor of those who hold graduate degrees. Thus, in summary, a Costa Rican licentiate is higher than the Costa Rican version of a bachelor's degree but lower than a master's degree.
Denmark and Norway
The Licentiate was formerly awarded in DenmarkDenmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, and was roughly equal to the American PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
degree. In Denmark it has formally been replaced by the PhD degree. The proper doctorates in Denmark are considered higher degrees than the PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
(i.e. higher doctorates).
Dominican Republic
In the Dominican RepublicDominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
, a Licenciatura is awarded to students after four years of study. Student
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
s are required to write a thesis in order to graduate. The Licenciatura is one of the major University degree previous to doctoral studies.
France
In French universitiesEducation in France
The French educational system is highly centralized, organized, and ramified. It is divided into three different stages:* the primary education ;* secondary education ;...
, a licenciate (licencié(e)) is the holder of a licence, which is a three-year degree, roughly equivalent to a Bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
. There are two kinds of licence: general and professional.
Finland and Sweden
In SwedishEducation in Sweden
Education in Sweden is mandatory for all children from year 1 to year 9 - generally from the year of the child’s seventh birthday to the year of the child’s 16th...
and Finnish universities
Education in Finland
The Finnish education system is an egalitarian Nordic system, with no tuition fees and with free meals served to full-time students. The present Finnish education system consists of well-funded and carefully thought out daycare programs and a one-year "pre-school" ; a nine-year compulsory basic...
, a Licentiate's degree, recognised as a pre-doctoral degree, is equal to completion of the coursework required for a doctorate and a dissertation which is formally equivalent to half of a doctoral dissertation. In Finland, the extent of Licentiate Degree is 120 ECTS equivalent and it requires two to three years of full time research. Its prerequisite is a completed academic Master's degree. Licentiate degree holders are officially eligible for independent scientific research in Universities, and entitled to the right to supervise Master's and Licentiate degree theses.
Until the early 1970s, the degree in Sweden was equivalent to the U.S. Ph.D. requiring four to seven years of study after the Bachelor´s (or Master´s) degree, and a publicly defended thesis. It was gradually substituted with the "Doctor's exam" in 1969 and was re-instituted as an intermediate level in research training in the 1980s, now requiring only two years of study. The licentiate is particularly popular with students already involved in the working life, for the reason that completing a full doctor's dissertation while working would be too difficult. The Licentiate's degree is called a filosofie licentiat in Swedish
Finland-Swedish
Finland Swedish is a general term for the closely related cluster of dialects of Swedish spoken in Finland by Swedish-speaking Finns as their mother tongue...
and filosofian lisensiaatti in Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
(Licentiate of Philosophy), teologie licentiat and teologian lisensiaatti (Licentiate of Theology) etc., depending on the faculty. Furthermore, the requisite degree for a physician's license is licentiat/lisensiaatti; there is no Master's degree. (The degree lääketieteen tohtori, medicine doktor, "Doctor of Medicine" is a traditional professor's degree, or a research doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
, with Licentiate as a prerequisite.)
The Licentiate of Engineering is an intermediate postgraduate degree used only in a few countries, among them Sweden and Finland, and can be seen as an academic step halfway between a Master's and a PhD. In Swedish, it is called Teknologie Licentiat, usually abbreviated as Tekn. Lic., and in Finnish, tekniikan lisensiaatti, abbreviated as TkL. The Licentiate of Engineering corresponds to 120 ECTS credits (80 workweeks (old credits)), or nominally two years of full-time work, whereas a PhD amounts to 240 ECTS credits (160 workweeks (old credits)), or a nominal period of four years of full-time work (one old credit equals one week of full-time studies). However, as a result of the differences in requirements and individual performance, the time to complete a Licentiate of Engineering degree varies.
The program for a Licentiate degree is equivalent to a total of two years of full-time study for those who are awarded a doctoral position. A person who has a doctoral position normally teaches on the undergraduate programs, equivalent to a maximum of 20% of the working time. It is then usually possible for a Licentiate degree to be taken within two and a half years.
Germany
In GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, a person titled Lizentiat holds the equivalent education of a Master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
or Diplom
Diplom
A Diplom is an academic degree in the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and a similarly named degree in some other European countries including Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Estonia, Finland , Greece, Hungary, Russia, Serbia, Macedonia, Slovenia, and Ukraine...
. Until the 1990s, the degree was offered as a law degree at the Saarland University
Saarland University
Saarland University is a university located in Saarbrücken, the capital of the German state of Saarland, and Homburg. It was founded in 1948 in Homburg in co-operation with France and is organized in 8 faculties that cover all major fields of science...
as a single university degree (Lic.iur.) with a duration varying between five to eight years. For political reasons, this degree was discontinued, mainly because the Staatsexamen (Law degree
Law degree
A Law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Such degrees are generally preparation for legal careers; but while their curricula may be reviewed by legal authority, they do not themselves confer a license...
) became the predominant representation of the mainstream education of a lawyer. The Lizentiat is largely equivalent to the 1. Staatsexamen but, unlike the latter, is assessed by the university, not the state administration. It also allowed specialisation in areas of the law which were either not covered by other legal qualifications, e.g. ecclesiastical law etc., or not covered to the same extent. Other disciplines, such as theology or journalism (FU Berlin), used to offer a Lizentiat qualification instead of a PhD.
India
In India, the Licentiate is a vocational qualification offered by the special vocational boards or professional bodies. These are offered after completion of school education and are somewhat less extensive than a full-fledged university degree. Issuers of the Licentiate degree include but are not limited to the Insurance Institute of IndiaInsurance Institute of India
The Insurance Institute of India is an insurance education society of professionals established in 1955 in Mumbai for the purpose of imparting insurance education to persons engaged or interested in insurance. The institute conducts examinations at various levels...
, the Association of Mutual Funds of India, and the Diploma Examination Board of the government of Andhra Pradesh.
Licentiate Certified Physician and Surgeon (LCPS) was a recognized medical qualification in India before 1946, when the Bhore Committee
Bhore committee
Bhore committee set up by the government of India in 1943 to investigate and recommend improvements to the Indian Public Health system. Under the chairmanship of Sir Joseph Bhore the committee made many landmark recommendations in its final report in 1946.also known in India as Health Survey and...
effectively made the MBBS the sole entry point into the medical profession in India.
Mexico
As in many Latin American countries, the Licenciatura is a general term denoting the first higher-education degree awarded at universities, varying from 3 to 5 years of study, depending on the field. It is thus an undergraduate degree, and require a licence to practice in the learned profession.In Mexico, a distinction is made between simply passing all the required courses, just being a graduate (graduado or pasante), and actually obtaining the degree diploma
Diploma
A diploma is a certificate or deed issued by an educational institution, such as a university, that testifies that the recipient has successfully completed a particular course of study or confers an academic degree. In countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia, the word diploma refers to...
(título profesional). Obtaining the diploma means the student completely concluded his or her studies, and has the right of using the title of Licenciado (Licenciate). Statistics show that historically only about 60% of those graduating actually obtain the diploma. At the same time the diploma is awarded, a professional credential
Credential
A credential is an attestation of qualification, competence, or authority issued to an individual by a third party with a relevant or de facto authority or assumed competence to do so....
(cédula profesional) may be obtained from the National Directorate of Professions (Dirección General de Profesiones, DGP), which serves as a licence to practice and as a national ID card. Some professions do not require the professional credential, but for others, like Biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
, Accounting, Engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
, or Social work
Social work
Social Work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or...
, it is mandatory by law. The law also establishes penalties
Sanctions (law)
Sanctions are penalties or other means of enforcement used to provide incentives for obedience with the law, or with rules and regulations. Criminal sanctions can take the form of serious punishment, such as corporal or capital punishment, incarceration, or severe fines...
for crimes committed regarding the professional practice, including those in which an individual offers professional services without having the proper diploma or licence.
For a number of years, presenting a thesis
Thesis
A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...
was the only method to obtain the diploma (título). Nowadays, some universities, like the National Autonomous University of Mexico
National Autonomous University of Mexico
The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México is a university in Mexico. UNAM was founded on 22 September 1910 by Justo Sierra as a liberal alternative to the Roman Catholic-sponsored Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) (National Autonomous...
(UNAM
Unam
UNAM or UNaM may refer to:* National University of Misiones, a National University in Posadas, Argentina*National Autonomous University of Mexico , the large public autonomous university based in Mexico City...
), may still require the thesis, while others, like the federal Institutes of Technology, may forgo the thesis in exchange for demonstrating professional experience, research work, or excellent academic grades.
By their nature, some disciplines such as Nursing
Nursing
Nursing is a healthcare profession focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life from conception to death....
, Medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
and Law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
require an intense theoretical background as well as practical training, and so a first university degree in those areas may take longer to complete (up to 6 years). Even after obtaining the diploma, graduates require passing a national exam to finally be awarded the professional licence.
In Mexico, every graduate who obtained a Licenciatura diploma is technically and legally a Licenciado (abbreviated Lic. before the name). However, it is mostly common to use Lic. for graduates of the social sciences
Social sciences
Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...
, while more specific titles and prefixes are used for other professionals such as engineer (Ingeniero, Ing.), architect (Arquitecto, Arq.), or biologist (Biólogo, Biol.).
In Mexico, the Licenciatura qualifies the recipient to pursue a Master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
(Maestría). In exceptional cases, the recipient may apply directly to a Doctoral degree (Doctorado), in which case the study plan integrates coursework from the master's program, and may take up to five years to complete.
According to the Bologna process
Bologna process
The purpose of the Bologna Process is the creation of the European Higher Education Area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe, in particular under the Lisbon Recognition Convention...
in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, virtually any Licenciado has the equivalent qualifications of a 3-year bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
. The Mexican Licenciatura, however, should never be confused with a more advanced postgraduate degree, such as the Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
"Licenciate of Technology" (Teknologie Licentiat).
Peru
In PeruPeru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, the Licenciatura is not an academic degree, but rather a "Professional Title" within a specific profession. The difference between the two is that academic degrees allow you to further your career studies at universities, while Professional Titles allow you to work in positions outside academia
Academia
Academia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...
or perform as an independent professional in the Republic of Peru. Certain professions require the Licenciatura or "Professional Title" and the mandatory professional association (Colegio Profesional) registration.
The Bachelor's degree is the first academic degree and allows one to take part in a Master's degree program. The Master's degree is the next degree and it allows you to get a Doctor's degree (equivalent to a PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
). The Licenciatura is awarded to university graduates after they have completed a Bachelor's degree in their specific field (i.e. Bachiller en: Economía, Ingeniería, etc.) This usually requires five years of professional studies at a university in the Professional Department or Faculty to obtain the Professional Title.
To obtain a Licenciatura or "Título Profesional" the student is required to write a thesis, which in most cases includes developing a research project. Alternatively, it is possible a written exam and then an oral examination in front of a group of professors (who are registered in the Professional College of that specific profession). With this last option, it is usually required to have at least one year of professional experience in the relevant field of studies.
The Bachelor of Arts and the Bachelor of Science in the Anglo-Saxon universities are not equivalent degrees to a Licentiate because they are completed within the first four semesters of the five years of studies. For some professions which used to be called carreras largas or long careers (dentistry, law, psychology and medicine), the university student requires more than five years of studies or ten semesters to complete their professional education.
Nowadays, some universities do not use the word Licenciado or Licenciada as a prefix before the professional title, e.g. Licenciado/a en Farmacia y Bioquímica (Licentiate in Pharmacy and Biochemistry) in their certificates. Instead they use Químico Farmacéutico, the same happens in with the other professions (i.e. Enfermero, Ingeniero, Psicólogo.) In such cases, both written titles are equivalent. The Professional Titles in Peru are equivalent to the first professional degrees in the Anglo-Saxon countries, therefore if a person obtained a Master in Counselling degree in the US will need to complete the university studies in Peru in order to obtain the Licenciate or Title of Psychologist and then the Licensure at the Colegio de Psicólogos del Perú. In Perú the Professional Title of Psicólogo is similar to the Psy.D. in the Anglo-Saxon degree.
Poland
A licencjat is a degree that introduced in PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
by the tertiary education reforms. The purpose of these reforms was to bring the Polish university system into line with Bologna system
Bologna process
The purpose of the Bologna Process is the creation of the European Higher Education Area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe, in particular under the Lisbon Recognition Convention...
. It is typically a three or four year degree, equivalent to the bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in Anglo-Saxon countries. Students completing a licencjat often go on to complete a magister
Magister (degree)
Magister is an academic degree used in various systems of higher education.-Argentina:...
s degree.
Portugal
Due to the developments introduced by the Bologna ProcessBologna process
The purpose of the Bologna Process is the creation of the European Higher Education Area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe, in particular under the Lisbon Recognition Convention...
in the mid-2000s, in Portugal the licenciate's degree (Licenciatura) may refer to both old and new Licenciaturas, which were awarded before and after the Bologna's reforms, respectively. Old Licenciaturas would range from four to six year degrees and are equivalent to the new master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
, after the implementation of the Bologna Process
Bologna process
The purpose of the Bologna Process is the creation of the European Higher Education Area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe, in particular under the Lisbon Recognition Convention...
. In the past, a Master' degree would add another 2 years to the 4 to 6 years of the old undergraduate Licenciaturas, thus taking 6 to 8 years in total to graduate with a Master's title. The new Licenciaturas, which have been awarded since then in Portugal and in almost all Europe with varying local designations, usually take three years to complete the degree.
After 2006, in the Portuguese higher education
Higher education in Portugal
Higher education in Portugal is divided into two main subsystems: university and polytechnic education. It is provided in autonomous public universities, private universities, public or private university institutes, polytechnic institutions and higher education institutions of other types...
system, Licenciatura is the first degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
awarded by institutions of higher education
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
. It is the first degree used in the European Higher Education Area
European Higher Education Area
The European Higher Education Area was launched along with the Bologna Process' decade anniversary, in March 2010, during the Budapest-Vienna Ministerial Conference....
, and is equivalent to the Bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
used in other countries. The Master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
entails a two year program of study, in which students would normally enroll after completing a licentiate's degree, and provides higher qualification for employment (e.g., for Engineering, Architecture and Medicine a Master is required, entailing 5 to 6 years of studies) or to prepare a student for his or her PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
research.
Romania
In RomaniaRomania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, before the Bologna process, a license (Rom. licenţă) was an academic degree awarded after four to six years of study, finalised by a thesis. It was a degree higher that the graduate diploma obtained after three years of study, which was mostly used in pedagogical institutes that trained secondary education teachers, and was considered inferiour to the doctorate. A Romanian license was the equivalent of a French maîtrise or a German Diplom
Diplom
A Diplom is an academic degree in the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and a similarly named degree in some other European countries including Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Estonia, Finland , Greece, Hungary, Russia, Serbia, Macedonia, Slovenia, and Ukraine...
. There are some Romanian licenses (obtained before the Bologna process
Bologna process
The purpose of the Bologna Process is the creation of the European Higher Education Area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe, in particular under the Lisbon Recognition Convention...
was of application) which have been recognized as mr. and drs. in the Netherlands, i.e. at the LLM
Master of Laws
The Master of Laws is an advanced academic degree, pursued by those holding a professional law degree, and is commonly abbreviated LL.M. from its Latin name, Legum Magister. The University of Oxford names its taught masters of laws B.C.L...
and MA
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
level. Now, after the Bologna process, is the Romanian license similar to a Bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
.
Spain
In SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
the Licenciatura degree is one of the major higher-education degrees previous to doctoral studies. A Licenciatura typically requires from four to six years of University courses, and has a typical credit workload of 300 to 400 credits. The Licenciatura academic degree is academically equivalent to the Ingeniero or Arquitecto degrees. A Licenciatura degree also provides direct access to professional practice or membership in professional associations such as Bar Associations for Lawyers (Colegio de Abogados), medicine, economics, and other regulated professions. This system is in the process of being progressively changed to the 'Grado' (Bachelor) and 'Master' system due to the Bologna Declaration on the European higher education area
Bologna declaration
The Bologna declaration is the main guiding document of the Bologna process...
.
Nowadays Licenciatura consists of four or five years of study, or 6 years in Medicine, and allows direct transition into Doctoral studies. Currently, both "second-cycle" or "superior" degrees (like Licenciatura, Ingeniería and Arquitecto, which are four to five years), and "first-cycle" or "intermediate" degrees (Diplomatura, Ingeniería Técnica (technical engineering) and Arquitecto técnico degrees which are three years) are the undergraduate diplomas in Spain.
Note, however, that the label "undergraduate" may be misleading to an anglophone audience, since while a Spanish Diplomatura may be likened to an American undergraduate Bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
, a Spanish Licenciatura is comparable in scope to an American postgraduate Master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
, as the anglophone distinction between "undergraduate" and "postgraduate" degrees does not properly apply to the traditional higher-education system of Spain. Many Spanish licenciados, when translating their CVs into English, use the formula BA+MA (or BSc+MSc) to indicate that a Licenciatura is equivalent to a Master's degree. Depending on the degree and study plan, some Spanish universities require a small thesis or research project to be submitted in the last year before the student can finally claim his or her degree.
After the Bologna process, all official university degrees will fall into one of these three categories: Grado (Bachelor), Master or Doctor. Most Grados will consist of four years (240 ECTS credits), unless it is otherwise ruled by a EU Directive (like Pharmacy, five years, or Medicine, six years). All university students completing these four years will get a Grado and may then go on with Master's studies (one to two years, 60-120 ECTS credits). Doctorate studies will in most cases require a research-oriented Master's degree and may or may not include specific courses.
Grados will take one year more than the old Diplomatura or Ingeniería Técnica degrees, and graduates from the old system may have to study additional courses to transform their degree into a Grado. Nevertheless, in most aspects, Grados will be the equivalent of the old intermediate degrees: Grado engineers will have the responsibilities of former Ingenieros técnicos. Lawyers will need a Master's degree, not a Grado. And in public service, Grado holders will by default be in the A2 level (the second highest), while A1 (the highest) will be for Grado holders with additional requirements (such as a Master's or a Doctorate, or a special Grado such as Medicine that is in many aspects equivalent to a Master).
It should be noted that, prior to the Bologna process, the Master's degree was not considered an official academic degree in Spain, as the transition from undergraduate to postgraduate studies could only be done directly from a Licenciatura to doctoral studies.
Switzerland
At SwissSwitzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
universities, until the adoption of the Bologna Convention, the Lizentiat/licence was the equivalent of a Master's degree (there being no prior degrees) and qualified the holder for doctoral studies. The degree names are followed by the field of study (e.g. lic. phil., lic. ès lettres, lic. oec., etc.). In line with the Bologna Process
Bologna process
The purpose of the Bologna Process is the creation of the European Higher Education Area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe, in particular under the Lisbon Recognition Convention...
, the degree has now been replaced by Master degrees (with Bachelor degrees being newly introduced).
According to the Swiss University Conference, the joint organization of the cantons and the Confederation for university politics, and the Rectors' Conference of the Swiss Universities, the old Lizentiat/licence is considered equivalent to the current Master degree.
United Kingdom
The University of Wales, LampeterUniversity of Wales, Lampeter
University of Wales, Lampeter is a university in Lampeter, Wales. Founded in 1822 by royal charter, it is the oldest degree awarding institution in Wales and may be the third oldest in England and Wales after Oxford and Cambridge...
offers Licences in Latin and Greek. They are postgraduate diplomas – meaning that the student would normally have completed a (typically three-year) Bachelor's degree first – and can be completed in either two years or three. The City and Guilds of London Institute
City and Guilds of London Institute
The City and Guilds of London Institute is a leading United Kingdom vocational education organisation. City & Guilds offers more than 500 qualifications over the whole range of industry sectors through 8500 colleges and training providers in 81 countries worldwide...
Licentiateship award is at a supervisory/junior management level and mapped to NVQ/IVQ level 4 and National Qualifications Framework
National Qualifications Framework
The National Qualifications Framework is a credit transfer system developed for qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland....
(NQF) revised levels 4 & 5. Trinity College London
Trinity College London
Trinity College London is an international examinations board based in London, England. TCL offers qualifications across a range of disciplines in the performing arts and arts education and English language learning and teaching...
awards Licentiate in Performing Speech and Drama, which is tagged at Level 6 of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF).
The Landscape Institute offers Licentiate membership to those who have completed a bachelor’s degree and a postgraduate Diploma in the field of
Landscape Architecture.
United States
The word "licentiate" is used only in the names of specialized degrees, like Licentiate of Canon LawLicentiate of Canon Law
Licentiate of Canon Law is the title of an advanced graduate degree with canonical effects in the Roman Catholic Church offered by pontifical universities and ecclesiastical faculties of canon law...
, or Licentiate of Sacred Theology
Licentiate of Sacred Theology
Licentiate of Sacred Theology is the title of the second cycle of studies of a Faculty of Theology offered by a pontifical universities or ecclesiastical faculties of sacred theology. An Ecclesiastical Faculty offers three cycles of study: Baccalaureate or fundamentals, Licentiate or specialized,...
, granted by pontifical universities such as The Catholic University of America.
Venezuela
A Licenciatura is awarded to students after five years of study. They are required to write a thesis or develop a research project in order to graduate.Heraldry
In Canada, anyone who completes the Level III Heraldic Proficiency Courses is granted the right to use the post-nominal of LRHSC (Licentiate of the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada). This is awarded by the Royal Heraldry Society of CanadaRoyal Heraldry Society of Canada
The Royal Heraldry Society of Canada is a Canadian organization that promotes the art of Canadian Heraldry. Founded as the Heraldry Society of Canada, the mission of the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada and its branches is to promote the art of heraldry, particularly Canadian heraldry, and to...
.
Canada
A medical graduate must obtain the qualification of Licentiate of the Medical Council of CanadaLicentiate of the Medical Council of Canada
Licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada, commonly abbreviated as LMCC, is a physician that has either:* Before 1 January 1992: Passed Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination Part 1 and has completed successfully one year of postgraduate training or the MCCQE Part 2* After 1 January...
from the Medical Council of Canada
Medical Council of Canada
Medical Council of Canada ' is an organization that is charged with assessing medical candidates, evaluation of physicians through exams and granting a qualification called Licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada to those who wish to practice medicine in Canada.MCC is governed by a 51-member...
before they are eligible to apply for licensure in the province or territory concerned.
Britain and Ireland
- Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians (LRCP) is awarded by the Royal College of Physicians of LondonRoyal College of PhysiciansThe Royal College of Physicians of London was founded in 1518 as the College of Physicians by royal charter of King Henry VIII in 1518 - the first medical institution in England to receive a royal charter...
. - Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons (LRCS), previously Member of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS) is awarded by the Royal College of Surgeons of EnglandRoyal College of Surgeons of EnglandThe Royal College of Surgeons of England is an independent professional body and registered charity committed to promoting and advancing the highest standards of surgical care for patients, regulating surgery, including dentistry, in England and Wales...
. - Licentiate in Medicine and Surgery of the Society of Apothecaries (LMSSA) is awarded by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London.
- Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (LRCPE) is awarded by the Royal College of Physicians of EdinburghRoyal College of Physicians of EdinburghThe Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh was established in the 17th century. While the RCPE is based in Edinburgh, it is by no means just a Scottish professional body - more than half of its 7,700 Fellows, Members, Associates and Affiliates live and practice medicine outside Scotland, in 86...
. - Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (LRCSE) is awarded by the Royal College of Surgeons of EdinburghRoyal College of Surgeons of EdinburghThe Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh is an organisation dedicated to the pursuit of excellence and advancement in surgical practice, through its interest in education, training and examinations, its liaison with external medical bodies and representation of the modern surgical workforce...
. - Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (LRCPSG) is awarded by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of GlasgowRoyal College of Physicians and Surgeons of GlasgowThe Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, is an institute of physicians and surgeons in Glasgow, Scotland.Founded by Peter Lowe after receiving a royal charter by James VI in 1599, as the Glasgow Faculty, this institution originally existed as a regulatory authority to ensure that...
.
These Conjoint
Conjoint
The conjoint was a basic medical qualification in the United Kingdom administered by the United Examining Board. It is now no longer awarded. The Conjoint Board was superseded in 1994 by the United Examining Board, which lost its permission to hold qualifying medical examinations after 1999.Medical...
diplomas were latterly awarded by the United Examining Board
United Examining Board
The United Examining Board was formed in 1993 to administer non-university qualifying examinations in medicine and surgery. The diplomas offered by the United Examining Board were registerable with the General Medical Council in order to register as a medical practitioner in the United Kingdom,...
. The first two, and latterly the first three, were granted together in England, and the last three in Scotland, until 1999, after which approval to hold the examinations was withdrawn. The qualifications are still registrable with the General Medical Council
General Medical Council
The General Medical Council registers and regulates doctors practising in the United Kingdom. It has the power to revoke or restrict a doctor's registration if it deems them unfit to practise...
, and allow the bearer to practice medicine in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and used to be recognised by some state medical boards in the USA.
The Licentiate of Apothecaries' Hall (LAH) was a similar qualifying medical diploma awarded externally in Dublin until recognition was lost in 1968.
In Dublin, students at the School of Medicine of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland , is a Dublin-based medical institution, situated on St. Stephen's Green. The college is one of the five Recognised Colleges of the National University of Ireland...
still qualify with licentiate diplomas from the two Irish Royal Colleges, coupled with a Licence in Midwifery from each, although in the past few years they have also been awarded the three medical bachelor's degrees of the National University of Ireland
National University of Ireland
The National University of Ireland , , is a federal university system of constituent universities, previously called constituent colleges, and recognised colleges set up under the Irish Universities Act, 1908, and significantly amended by the Universities Act, 1997.The constituent universities are...
:
- Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (LRCPI) or (L & LM, RCPI) and
- Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (LRCSI) or (L & LM, RCSI).
Certain maternity hospitals in Dublin used to award a Licentiate in Midwifery or LM diploma, not to midwives but to qualified medical practitioners who had been examined there after a three-month residential appointment. The Rotunda Hospital
Rotunda Hospital
The Rotunda Hospital is one of the three main maternity hospitals in the city of Dublin, the others being the The Coombe and The National Maternity Hospital...
was the most recent to do so.
- Licenciate of the Royal Academy of MusicLRAMLRAM is an abbreviation for Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music. This professional diploma was formerly open to both internal students of the Royal Academy of Music and external candidates in voice, keyboard and orchestral instruments and guitar, as well as conducting and other musical...
is awarded by the Royal Academy of MusicRoyal Academy of MusicThe Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
. - Licentiate Member of the Institute of Clerks of Works and Construction Inspectorate (post nominal LICWCI) is a professional grade of the Institute of Clerks of Works and Construction Inspectorate, the professional body that supports quality construction and compliance of building standards through inspection.
- Licentiate of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and DevelopmentChartered Institute of Personnel and DevelopmentThe Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development is Europe's largest professional institute for people management and development. It is located in Wimbledon, London, England. The organisation has over 135,000 members across 120 countries, and achieved chartered status in 2000...
is a part qualified professional grade of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD). Prior to the Institute gaining its Royal Charter, members at this grade were able to use the post nominal Lic IPD after their names.
Theology and canon law
The degree Licentiate of Theology (LTh) is a theological qualification commonly awarded for ordinands and laymen studying theology in the United Kingdom, Malta, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.A qualification similar to the LTh is the two-year postgraduate Licentiate of Sacred Theology (STL), available from many Roman Catholic schools of theology that possess the authority to grant Pontifical degree. This compares with, for example in North American institutions, the four year program for a B.A. at many universities, a two year program for an M.A., and the writing and successful defense of the doctoral dissertation for the Ph.D. or Th.D. (an additional two to three years).
The degree Licentiate of Canon Law is similarly awarded like the license in Sacred Theology at pontifical universities. Other qualifications for canon law include an inter-denominational LL.M. program at least one university (Cardiff
Cardiff University
Cardiff University is a leading research university located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It received its Royal charter in 1883 and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities. The university is consistently recognised as providing high quality research-based...
), though this degree would not have canonical effects in the Roman Catholic Church.
Bologna convention
In 2003, the European UnionEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
organized the Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
convention
Treaty
A treaty is an express agreement under international law entered into by actors in international law, namely sovereign states and international organizations. A treaty may also be known as an agreement, protocol, covenant, convention or exchange of letters, among other terms...
on higher education
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
, more commonly known as the Bologna process
Bologna process
The purpose of the Bologna Process is the creation of the European Higher Education Area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe, in particular under the Lisbon Recognition Convention...
, in order to create uniform standards across the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
in that field. The resulting conclusions called for all Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an universities to change their degree programs to an undergraduate degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
and a master's degree.
See also
- Undergraduate degreeUndergraduate degreeAn undergraduate degree is a colloquial term for an academic degree taken by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. It is usually offered at an institution of higher education, such as a university...
- Graduate degree
- All But Dissertation