Courtesy :Bachelor of Education

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 US Department of Education defined 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 two years of college work prior to entering the program; and (3) a total of at least six academic years of college work to complete the degree program, including prior required college work plus the length of the professional program itself.” 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.Prior to this, first-professional degrees (so defined) were awarded in the following ten fields:

• Chiropractic (D.C. or D.C.M.)
• Dentistry (D.D.S. or D.M.D.)
• Law (LL.B. or J.D.)
• Medicine (M.D.)
• Optometry (O.D.)
• Osteopathic medicine (D.O.)
• Pharmacy (Pharm.D.)
• Podiatry (Pod.D. or D.P.) or Podiatric medicine (D.P.M.)
• Theology (M. Div., M.H.L., B.D., or Ord. and M.H.L./Rav.)
• Veterinary medicine (D.V.M.)

Since 2011, the classification “doctor’s degree – professional practice” has been used for 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.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. 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. # ISO certification in India

A distinction is drawn in the US between professional doctorates and “doctor’s degree – research/scholarship”, with the latter being ” 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.”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. The classification of “Doctor’s degree – other” also exists for doctorates that do not meet the definition of either professional doctorates or research doctorates.# ISO certification in India

The US Census Bureau uses the classification “professional degree beyond bachelor’s degree” as one of the possible answers to “What is the highest degree or level of school this person has completed?” in the American Community Survey, with examples of M.D., D.D.S., D.V.M., LL.B., and J.D. This sits between “master’s degree” and “doctorate degree” (with the examples for a doctorate being Ph.D. and Ed.D.).# ISO certification in India

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.# ISO certification in India

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. Specific benchmark statements have also been produced for professional qualifications in Scotland.

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 (M.B.B.S.; M.B., Ch.B.; etc.), Bachelor of Dental Surgery (B.D.S.), and Bachelor of Veterinary Science (B.V.S.), and newer integrated master’s degrees such as the Master of Engineering (M.Eng.), Master of Optometry (M.Optom), or Master of Pharmacy (M.Pharm.). In some subjects, qualification can be via separate bachelor’s and master’s degrees, e.g., a Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.) followed by a Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Engineering,or a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Architecture followed by a year of professional experience, then a two-year Master of Architecture (M.Arch.).In some subjects the normal professional degree is a bachelor’s degree, e.g., the Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) or B.A. in Law (for both solicitors and barristers)or a B.Sc. in Surveying.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.# ISO certification in India

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; becoming a Chartered Engineer requires post-degree Initial Professional Development that typically takes four to six years; becoming a General Practitioner requires five years of study beyond the M.B.B.S., while qualifying as a Consultant takes seven to nine more years.Although initial registration as a medical doctor occurs after the initial four-to-six-year primary medical qualification (e.g., M.B.B.S.).# ISO certification in India

In addition to initial professional degrees, some professional master’s degrees and most professional doctorates, e.g., the Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.), Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Doctor of Engineering (Eng.D.) and Doctor of Agriculture (D.Ag.), are offered for those already established in professions. UK professional doctorates are research degrees at the same level as Ph.D.’s, normally including teaching at doctoral level but still assessed by a doctoral research thesis or equivalent.# ISO certification in India

Some professional degrees are designed specifically for trainees or members within a particular organisation, rather than being available via general enrollment. Examples of these include the Church of England’s Common Awards with Durham University and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants’ B.Sc. in Applied Accounting with Oxford Brookes University.# ISO certification in India