Choosing a Course

If you are in the position of trying to decide whether to do further study by a taught course or by research, it is important to consider how you would answer the following questions.

First, what do you want to achieve through the study? The answer to this question will include a consideration of the likely employment prospects, which will follow your study. If your future work will demand specific knowledge, then a taught course might provide you with this. On the other hand, if you intend to follow a research career, then a research qualification might be more suitable.

The second question involves asking yourself whether you have the right qualities for the type of study you would like to do. You will need to give serious thought to whether you really do have the extra qualities which research demands over and above those required by a taught course.

2. Read the text “Academic Degrees” and look for the answers to the following questions:

a	What is an academic degree?
b	What was the first recorded academic degree?
c	What are four principal types of academic degrees conferred by American institutions?
d	What is the best-known academic degree?
e	What are the most frequently awarded master’s degrees?
f	Who is a doctor in an academic sense?
g	What does the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree represent?

Academic Degrees

An academic degree is a title awarded by a college or university for successfully completing a course of study or for a particular attainment. Earned degrees are bestowed for completion of courses of study; honorary degrees recognize a certain attainment, not necessarily connected with an educational institution.

Development of degrees

Academic degrees have been in use for about 800 years; the first one recorded was the Doctor of Civil Law conferred by the University of Bologna (Italy) in the middle of the 12^thcentury. This was followed by the Doctor of Canon Law and Doctor of Divinity and, in the 13^thcentury, by doctorates in medicine, grammar, logic and philosophy. The use of degrees spread from Bologna to other European universities. Originally the doctor’s (from Latin doctor, “teacher”; from docere, “to teach”) and master’s degrees were used interchangeably, each indicating that the holders were qualified to teach, and the titles of Master, Doctor and Professor were synonymous. On the other hand, the bachelor’s or baccalaureate degree (from Latin baccalaureus, a bachelor of arts) was used to indicate the entrance upon a course of study preparatory to the doctorate or mastership, and not achievement. Gradually, however, it came to mean successful completion of one level of study preparatory to a higher degree.

The use of academic degrees spread to British universities from the Continent and was extensively developed, especially at Oxford and Cambridge universities. The doctorate in music was conferred by these universities in the 15^thcentury. Today there are an increasing variety of degrees in British universities, as in U.S institutions.