Professional degree

A professional degree, sometimes known as a first professional degree, is a degree that prepares someone to work in a particular profession, often meeting the academic requirements for licensure or accreditation.[1][2][3][4] Professional degrees may be either graduate or undergraduate entry, depending on the profession concerned and the country, and may be classified as bachelor's, master's or doctoral degrees. For a variety of reasons, professional degrees may bear the name of a different level of qualification from their classification on qualifications frameworks, e.g. some UK professional degrees are named bachelor's but are at master's level, while some Australian and Canadian professional degrees have the name "doctor" but are classified as master's or bachelor's degrees.[5][6][7]

History

History of professional degrees in Europe

In Europe, the first academic degrees were doctorates in law given to recognise teachers (doctors) of civil law at the University of Bologna (see Juris Doctor).[8]

History of professional degrees in the United Kingdom

The first university medical school to be established in the United Kingdom was at the University of Edinburgh in 1726, followed in 1744 by the University of Glasgow. In 1817 Glasgow became the first British university to offer a separate degree in surgery, the Master of Surgery. However, other Scottish universities – St Andrews and the two universities in Aberdeen – also offered medical degrees, often in absentia and without examination, despite not having medical schools.[9] In England, the two universities (Oxford and Cambridge) were only sporadically interested in medical teaching, which was mainly carried out in the London hospitals.[10] It was not until the establishment of the University of London in 1836, however, that students at the hospital medical schools could earn degrees. Following the passing of the Medical Act 1858 and the establishment of the General Medical Council, Scottish graduates gained the right to practice in England and degrees in both medicine and surgery became the norm, standardising eventually on the double Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degree.

The first university in England to offer training in theology for those intending to become priests in the Church of England was the University of Durham in 1833, following the lead of colleges such as St Bees Theological College and St David's College, Lampeter. The Licence in Theology could be taken as either a one year graduate course, following on from a BA, or a three year undergraduate course.[11] Shortly after, in 1837, Durham also became the first British university to teach engineering, although the course closed after a few years.

Anglican theological colleges partnered with local universities to offer professional degrees in theology and ministry during the twentieth century. Since 2014, however, the Common Award degrees, validated by Durham, have offered a more unified training across the theological colleges. Some colleges continue to offer other degrees in addition to the Common Awards, such as the Cambridge Bachelor of Theology at the Cambridge Theological Federation

Legal studies in England were mainly confined to the Inns of Court until the late nineteenth century. The only undergraduate course was at Cambridge and concentrated on Roman civil law rather than English common law; in terms of employment that the bishops accepted it as equivalent to a BA for ordination was more useful than the legal training it provided, and it was generally seen as an easy option for those who couldn't cope with the mathematics on the BA course.[12] Cambridge reformed its course in 1858, and London established an undergraduate course a few years later. However, it has only been since the 1960s that law schools have taken on a leading role in training lawyers and truly established professional degrees.[13]

In the latter part of the twentieth century, many chartered bodies introduced educational requirements for their chartered professional statuses, most notably the Engineering Council requirements for Chartered Engineer. This led to the accreditation of degrees by the relevant professional bodies and, in the case of engineering, to the Washington Accord – an international agreement between engineering regulatory bodies to recognise professional degrees accredited in each country – signed originally in 1989 by the UK, US, Australia, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand, and since expanded to include many other countries.[14] In the twenty-first century, the standard professional degree for many science and engineering fields was raised from bachelor's to master's level, including for qualification as a Chartered Physicist (from 2001), Chartered Scientist (from 2004) and Chartered Engineer (from 2012).[15][16][17]

History of professional degrees in North America

The M.B. or Bachelor of Medicine was the first medical degree to be granted in the United States and Canada. The first medical schools that granted the MB degree were at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University. Columbia University was the first American university to grant the M.D. degree in 1770, although this followed the M.B., after the English model, rather than replacing it.[18][19] Professional societies started licensing doctors from the 1760s, and in the early nineteenth century started setting up their own medical schools, known as proprietary medical colleges, the first being the medical college of the Medical Society of the County of New York, which opened March 12, 1807. These eliminated the general education and long lecture terms of the university schools, making them much more popular. Without effective regulation, abuses arose, and national conventions in 1846 and 1847 led to the establishment of the American Medical Association. This new body set the first nationwide standards for M.D. degrees, requiring that students had a liberal education in arts and sciences as part of their degree, that they had served an apprenticeship before starting the course, and that the course lasted three years.[20]

The M.D. was thus the first entry-level professional degree to be awarded as a purely trade school doctorate in the United States, before the first European-style research doctorate, the Ph.D., was awarded in the U.S. in 1861,[21] although the M.D. was not established as a graduate-entry degree until much later.[22] This changed after Abraham Flaxner's damning report into the state of medical education in 1910: by 1930 almost all medical schools required a previous liberal arts degree before starting the M.D. course.[20]

Law degrees were introduced in the US by the College of William and Mary in 1792, with its "Batchelor of Law" (sic) degree. This was followed by the "Graduate of Law" at the University of Virginia in 1829, which became the first American LL.B. in 1840. The J.D. was introduced by the University of Chicago in 1902, with the same curriculum as the LL.B. but requiring a previous B.A. or B.S. for entry. The J.D. spread, but encountered opposition, and Harvard, which imposed graduate entry as a requirement for its LL.B. course in 1909, and Yale used the name for their post-LL.B. degree, elsewhere called the LL.M. By the 1930s, when most law schools had shifted to graduate entry, the standard degree was once again the LL.B. The second shift to the J.D., again without a change of curriculum, came in the 1960s, with all American Bar Association-accredited professional degrees adopting the nomenclature by 1971.[23]

In the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, other professions, particularly in clinical fields, transitioned their professional degrees to doctorates, following the example of the M.D. and J.D. In the 1990s there was also some debate in the architectural community about renaming the professional degree in architecture a "doctorate".[24] The spread of professional doctorates raised concerns about the standards of the new degrees, particularly in cases such as Physical Therapy, where the standard set by the American Physical Therapy Association for the doctorate is the same as that for the master's degree. Critics have claimed that these degrees should not be called doctorates, pointing out that a Ph.D. takes an average of twelve years from the start of college, compared to five and a half to six and a half years for professional doctorates, while defenders of the new professional doctorates have said the point of comparison should be the M.D. and J.D., not the Ph.D.[25]

Professional degrees by country

United States

Among the professional degrees in the United States, one particular form was the graduate-entry first-professional degree, often denominated as a doctorate. The U.S. Department of Education defines these as: "A first-professional degree was an award that required completion of a program that met all of the following criteria: (1) completion of the academic requirements to begin practice in the profession; (2) at least 2 years of college work prior to entering the program; and (3) a total of at least 6 academic years of college work to complete the degree program, including prior required college work plus the length of the professional program itself."[26] The use of the term "first-professional" was discontinued by the Department of Education as of 2010-11, when new post-baccalaureate award categories were introduced.[27] Prior to this, first-professional degrees were awarded in the following ten fields:[26]

Since 2011, the classification "doctor's degree - professional practice" has been used for "[a] doctor's degree that is conferred upon completion of a program providing the knowledge and skills for the recognition, credential, or license required for professional practice." As with the "first professional degree", this classification also requires that the total time in higher education is at least six years, although the requirement for at least two years of college-level study prior to entering the program was removed.[26] The Department of Education does not define which fields professional doctorates may be awarded in, unlike with the "first professional degree". Besides professional doctorates, other professional degrees can exist that use the title of bachelor or master, e.g. B.Arch. and M.Arch. in architecture.[28] In particular, first professional degrees in theology, which did not use the title of doctor, were reclassified as master's degrees in 2011 - including the B.D.[27]

A distinction is drawn in the US between professional doctorates and "doctor's degree - research/scholarship", with the latter being "[a] Ph.D. or other doctor's degree that requires advanced work beyond the master's level, including the preparation and defense of a dissertation based on original research, or the planning and execution of an original project demonstrating substantial artistic or scholarly achievement."[26] Internationally, US professional doctorates (which, unlike research doctorates, are not defined as requiring work beyond the master's level) are not generally considered to be doctoral level qualifications.[29][30][31][32][33][34] The classification of "Doctor's degree - other" also exists for doctorates that do not meet the definition of either professional doctorates or research doctorates.[26]

Some professional fields offer degrees beyond the professional doctorate or other degree required for qualification, sometimes termed post-professional degrees. Higher professional degrees may also be offered in fields that do not have specific academic requirements for entry, such as Fine Arts. These degrees may be at master's or doctorate levels.[35][36][37]

Professional degrees in the United Kingdom

Professional degrees in the UK are accredited by professional, statutory and regulatory bodies, which work with the Quality Assurance Agency on defining benchmark statements for their subjects.[38] Specific benchmark statements have also been produced for professional qualifications in Scotland.[39]

Many professional degrees span teaching at bachelor's and master's level, leading to a master's level award. This includes older degrees that retain the names of bachelor's degrees for historic reasons, e.g. the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, MBBCh, etc.), Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) and Bachelor of Veterinary Science (BVS), and newer integrated master's degrees such as the Master of Engineering (MEng) or Master of Pharmacy (MPharm).[40][41] In some subjects, qualification can be via separate bachelor's and master's degrees, e.g. a Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) followed by a Master of Science (MSc) in Engineering,[41] or a Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Architecture followed by a year of professional experience, then a two-year Master of Architecture (MArch).[42] In some subjects the normal professional degree is a bachelor's degree, e.g. the Bachelor of Laws (LLB) or BA in Law (for both solicitors and barristers)[43] or a BSc in Surveying.[44] Some professional bodies also offer different levels of professional recognition, e.g. a master's degree is needed for Chartered Engineers or Chartered Scientists but a bachelor's degree for Incorporated Engineers and a bachelor's or foundation degree for Registered Scientists.[41][45]

It is common for professional qualification in the UK to require professional experience in addition to academic qualification. For Architecture, the standard route has a year of experience between the bachelor's and master's stages and a further year after the master's before the final examination;[42] becoming a Chartered Engineer requires post-degree Initial Professional Development that typically takes four to six years;[46] becoming a General Practitioner requires five years of study beyond the MBBS, while qualifying as a Consultant takes seven to nine more years.[47]

In addition to initial professional degrees, some professional master's degrees and most professional doctorates, e.g. the Master of Business Administration (MBA), Doctor of Education (EdD) and Doctor of Engineering (EngD), are offered for those already established in professions. It should be noted that UK professional doctorates are research degrees at the same level as PhDs, normally including teaching at doctoral level but still assessed by a doctoral research thesis or equivalent.[40][48]

Some professional degrees are designed specifically for trainees or members within a particular organisation, rather than being available via general enrolment. Examples of these include the Church of England's Common Awards with Durham University and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants' BSc in Applied Accounting with Oxford Brookes University.[49][50]

International Equivalence

In medicine, individual countries specify rules for recognising foreign qualifications; in the US, for example, this is carried out by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) and in the UK by the General Medical Council (GMC).[51][52] The Australian Medical Council, US ECFMG, UK GMC, Medical Council of Canada, Danish Health and Medicines Authority and Korean Institute of Medical Education and Evaluation jointly sponsor the World Directory of Medical Schools.[53] At least one state in the US, Wisconsin, permits foreign graduates to use the title "MD" if licensed to practice in the US.[54]

In engineering, the Washington Accord (1989) recognised that the academic training (i.e. professional degrees) for full professional status (Professional Engineer, Chartered Engineer, etc.) is equivalent in the signatory countries.[14] Similarly the Sydney Accord (2001) recognises similar academic training between signatories for Engineering Technologists, Incorporated Engineers, etc. and the Dublin Accord (2002) for Engineering Technicians.[55][56] For computing and information technology, the Seoul Accord (2008) recognises similar academic training on accredited courses for computing and information technology professionals in the signatory countries.[57]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Professional Degree Programmes". University of Glasgow. Retrieved 3 October 2016. These degrees follow a set curriculum to meet the requirements of the relevant professional organisation so that you’re fully prepared to enter your chosen profession after you graduate.
  2. ↑ "Glossary". Study in Australia. Government of Australia. Retrieved 3 October 2016. A Professional Degree is an academic degree that prepares the holder for a particular profession.
  3. ↑ John W. Collins; Nancy Patricia O'Brien (31 July 2011). The Greenwood Dictionary of Education: Second Edition. ABC-CLIO. p. 132. Degree, professional. A degree signifying the completion of an academic curriculum pertaining to a professional field; for example: JD, MD.
  4. ↑ "OnTransfer - Glossary". ONTransfer. Ontario Council on Articulation and Transfer. 2016. Retrieved 3 October 2016. A Professional Degree meets the accreditation standards of a particular professional association or college
    Professional degrees may require some undergraduate study prior to admission to the program and generally include an internship or other work experience
  5. ↑ "Canadian Degree Qualifications Framework" (PDF). Ministerial Statement on Quality Assurance of Degree Education in Canada. Council of Ministers of Education, Canada. Retrieved 3 October 2016. Though considered to be bachelor's programs in academic standing, some professional programs yield degrees with other nomenclature. Examples: DDS (Dental Surgery), MD (Medicine), LLB, or JD (Juris Doctor)
  6. ↑ "AQF qualification titles" (PDF). Australian Qualifications Framework Council. June 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  7. ↑ "The Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications of UK Degree-Awarding Bodies". QAA. November 2014.
  8. ↑ "Doctor". Catholic Encyclopaedia.
  9. ↑ L. R. C. Agnew (1970). Charles Donald O'Malley, ed. Scottish Medical Education. The History of Medical Education: An International Symposium. University of California Press. pp. 251–262.
  10. ↑ F.N.L. Poynter (1970). Charles Donald O'Malley, ed. "Medical Education in England from 1600". The History of Medical Education: An International Symposium. University of California Press. pp. 235–250.
  11. ↑ David A. Dowland (1997). Nineteenth-century Anglican Theological Training: The Redbrick Challenge. Clarendon Press. p. 24.
  12. ↑ Peter Searby. A History of the University of Cambridge:, Volume 3; Volumes 1750-1870. Cambridge University Press. pp. 187–190.
  13. ↑ John H. Langbein (1996). "Scholarly and Professional Objectives in Legal Education: American Trends and English Comparisons" (PDF). Pressing Problems in the Law, Volume 2: What are Law Schools For?. Oxford University Press.
  14. 1 2 "The Washington Accord". International Engineering Alliance. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  15. ↑ "Charter and Bylaws" (PDF). Institute of Physics. pp. 9–10. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
    7. Every person who at the twenty-eighth day of February 2001 was a Corporate Member of the Institute shall be entitled to use the title Chartered Physicist and the abbreviation CPhys according to regulations prescribed by the Council. Every person admitted to any of the corporate classes of membership after the twenty-eighth day of February 2001 who shall:
    7.1 have been educated as a physicist and have obtained an Integrated Masters degree recognised by the Council for the purpose of this Clause of this Bylaw and have had experience in responsible work including a structured training course which demands a knowledge of physics or its applications as shall satisfy the Council
    or
    7.2 have attained professional competence to an equivalent standard demonstrated through a combination of academic qualification, training and experience as shall satisfy the Council
    shall be entitled to use the title 'Chartered Physicist' and the abbreviation CPhys according to regulations prescribed by the Council.
  16. ↑ Craig Musselman (11 April 2012). "UK Raises the Engineering Education Bar for Chartered Engineers". National Society of Professional Engineers. Archived from the original on 17 February 2012.
  17. ↑ "Becoming a Chartered Scientist". Science. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  18. ↑ "History of the College of Physicians and Surgeons". Columbia University. Retrieved 7 October 2016. King's College organized a medical faculty in 1767 and was the first institution in the North American Colonies to confer the degree of Doctor of Medicine. The first graduates in medicine from the College were Robert Tucker and Samuel Kissarn, who received the degree of Bachelor of Medicine in May 1769, and that of Doctor of Medicine in May 1770 and May 1771, respectively.
  19. ↑ "History | Columbia University in the City of New York". Columbia.edu. Retrieved 2013-07-02.
  20. 1 2 "Doctor of medicine profession (MD)". Medical Encyclopedia. MedlinePlus. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  21. ↑ "Yale History Timeline: 1860 - 1869". Yale University Library. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  22. ↑ Robert McCaughey (June 19, 2012). Stand, Columbia: A History of Columbia University. Columbia University Press. In 1891 the program leading to an M.D. was three years in length and required no college preparation
  23. ↑ David Perry (June 2012). "HOW DID LAWYERS BECOME "DOCTORS"? FROM THE LL.B. TO THE J.D." (PDF). New York State Bar Association Journal. New York State Bar Association.
  24. ↑ Joanna Lombard (1997). "LL.B. to J.D. and the Professional Degree in Architecture" (PDF). Proceedings of the 85th ACSA Annual Meeting, Architecture: Material and Imagined and Technology Conference: 585–591.
  25. ↑ "Credential Creep" (PDF). The Chronicle of Higher Education. 2007-06-27. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  26. 1 2 3 4 5 "Glossary". National Center for Education Statistics. US Department of Education.
  27. 1 2 "MAPPING OLD POST-BACCALAUREATE AWARD LEVELS WITH NEW AWARD LEVELS". Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. Archived from the original on 27 July 2014.
  28. ↑ "Architecture Programs". National Architecture Accreditation Board. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  29. ↑ "PhD and Equivalent Doctoral Degrees: The ERC Policy" (PDF). European Research Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-11-06. Retrieved 2013-05-25. First-professional degrees will not be considered in themselves as PhD-equivalent, even if recipients carry the title "Doctor".
  30. ↑ "Recognition of Qualifications" (PDF). NARIC Portugal. p. 49. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  31. ↑ "The American education system described and compared with the Dutch system" (PDF). NUFFIC. p. 3. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  32. ↑ "Review of Professional Doctorates" (PDF). National Qualifications Authority of Ireland. October 2006. p. 3. Retrieved 18 September 2016. The ‘1st professional degree’ is a first degree, not a graduate degree even though it incorporates the word ‘doctor’ in the title
  33. ↑ "ISCED 1997 Mappings - United States". UNESCO. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  34. ↑ "ISCED 2011 Mappings - United States". UNESCO. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  35. ↑ "Advanced Degree Programs". National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  36. ↑ "Post-Professional Doctorate". Thomas Jefferson University. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  37. ↑ "Professional Degrees". Cornell University. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  38. ↑ "Professional, statutory and regulatory bodies (PSRBs)". Quality Assurance Agency. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  39. ↑ "Professions in Scotland". Quality Assurance Agency. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  40. 1 2 "Master's Degree Characteristics Statement". Quality Assurance Agency. September 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  41. 1 2 3 "Becoming a chartered or incorporated engineer after starting a graduate job". Target Jobs. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  42. 1 2 "Think Architecture" (PDF). Royal Institute of British Architecture. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  43. ↑ "Qualifying law degree providers". Solicitors Regulation Authority. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  44. ↑ "School student". Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. 17 Apr 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  45. ↑ "Professional recognition for practising scientists". Royal Society of Chemistry. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  46. ↑ "Getting from masters to chartered engineer status". TARGETpostgrad. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  47. ↑ "Medical training in the UK". British Medical Association. Archived from the original on 24 November 2013.
  48. ↑ "Doctoral Degree Characteristics Statement". Quality Assurance Agency. September 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  49. ↑ "About the Common Awards". Church of England. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  50. ↑ "DEGREE IN APPLIED ACCOUNTING". Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  51. ↑ "Certification Factsheet" (PDF). ECFMG. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  52. ↑ "Acceptable overseas medical qualifications". GMC. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  53. ↑ "Sponsors". World Federation for Medical Education and the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  54. ↑ "Practice, Organization and Interprofessional Issues" (PDF). Wisconsin Medical Society Policy Compendium 2007. p. 108. PHY-007 Use of the MD Title. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 February 2008.
  55. ↑ "Sydney Accord". International Engineering Alliance. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  56. ↑ "Dublin Accord". International Engineering Alliance. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  57. ↑ "About the Seoul Accord". Seoul Accord Secretariat. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
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