Courtesy : Masters of Arts (M.A)

Nordic countries

In Finland, Denmark and Norway, the master’s degree is a combined taught/research degree, awarded after two years of studies after completing the bachelor’s degree. The student is required to write a scientific thesis. # ISO certification in India

In Finland, this master’s degree is called a filosofian maisteri (in Finnish) or filosofie magister (in Swedish), and it is abbreviated as FM or “fil.mag.”.

In Sweden, there is still an intermediate degree between the Bachelor (kandidat) and Master called magister which only requires one year of studies, including a scientific thesis after completing the bachelor’s degree. This fourth year typically constitutes the first half of a Master’s programme. If not, it may be supplemented by a fifth year and a Master’s thesis to obtain a master’s degree in the field of study.# ISO certification in India

United Kingdom and Ireland

Most universities

Except at Oxford, Cambridge, and Trinity College Dublin (see below) the MA is typically a “taught” postgraduate degree, involving lectures, examination, and a dissertation based on independent research. Taught master’s programs involve one or two years of full-time study. Many can be done part-time as well. Until recently, both the undergraduate and postgraduate master’s degrees were awarded without grade or class (like the class of an honours degree). Nowadays, however, master’s degrees are normally classified into the categories of Fail, Pass, Pass with Merit, or Pass with Distinction. This education pattern in the United Kingdom is followed in India and many Commonwealth Nations.# ISO certification in India

The Master of Laws (LLM) is the standard degree taught for law, but certain courses may lead to MA, MLitt, Master of Studies (MSt), and the Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) at Oxford. All of these degrees are considered substitutes to one another and are thus generally equivalent.

Scotland

In the ancient universities of Scotland, the degree of Master of Arts is awarded in universities as a four-year undergraduate degree, see Master of Arts (Scotland).

The degree of Master of Arts is the first degree awarded in arts, humanities, theology, and social sciences. However, some universities in Scotland award the degree of Master of Letters (MLitt) to students in the arts, humanities, divinity, and social sciences.# ISO certification in India

Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin (conferred)

At Oxford, Cambridge and the University of Dublin, the title of Master of Arts is conferred after a certain number of years, without further examination, to those who have graduated as Bachelor of Arts and who have the requisite years’ standing as members of the university or as graduates. This happens, in England, only at the universities of Oxford, four years after completing a bachelor’s degree, and Cambridge, six years after the first term of study. It is also the case at the University of Dublin. The abbreviated name of the university (Oxon, Cantab or Dubl) is therefore almost always appended in parentheses to the initials “MA” in the same way that it is to higher degrees, e.g. “John Smith, MA (Cantab), PhD (Lond)”, principally so that it is clear (to those who are aware of the system) that these are nominal and unexamined degrees.

The MLitt is a research degree at the University of Cambridge, where the Master of Philosophy (MPhil) is the name given to the standard one-year taught degree with a unique research element, in contrast to the use of MPhil at other institutions for a research degree.# ISO certification in India

Confusion

Research in 2000 by the universities watchdog, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, showed that two-thirds of employers were unaware that the Oxford and Cambridge MA did not represent any kind of post-graduate achievement

In February 2011, the Labour Member of Parliament Chris Leslie sponsored a private member’s bill in Parliament, the Master’s Degrees (Minimum Standards) Bill, in order to “prohibit universities awarding Master’s degrees unless certain standards of study and assessment are met”. The bill’s supporters described the practice as a “historical anachronism” and argued that “unearned qualifications” should be discontinued in order to preserve the academic integrity of the taught MA. Further, they warned that the title gave Oxbridge graduates an unfair advantage in the job market. On 21 October 2011, the bill received its second reading, but it failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session, meaning it fell.# ISO certification in India

Oxford, Cambridge (earned)

A number of different master’s degrees may be earned at Oxford and Cambridge. The most common, the Master of Philosophy degree (MPhil), is a two-year research degree. To prepare to graduate as a Master of Science (MSc) or a Master of Studies (MSt) takes only one year, both courses often combining some coursework with research. A Master of Letters (MLitt) is the holder of a pure research master’s degree. In comparison to the LLM at Cambridge, Oxford offers two master’s degrees in law depending on the jurisdictional background of the student. The degree of Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) is for those from a common law background, whilst the more recent Magister Juris is for those from civil law jurisdictions. More recently, Oxford and Cambridge offer the degree of Master of Business Administration. Master’s degrees are generally offered without classification, although the top five percent may be deemed worthy of Distinction. Both universities also offer a variety of four-year undergraduate integrated master’s degrees such as MEng or MMath.# ISO certification in India

North America

In Canada and the United States, the Master of Arts (Magister Artium) and Master of Science (Magister Scientiæ) are the basic graduate-level degrees in most subjects and may be course-based, research-based, or, more typically, a combination of the two.

Admission to a master’s program is normally contingent upon holding a bachelor’s degree. Some programs provide for a joint bachelor’s and master’s after about five years. Some universities use the Latin degree names, such as Artium Magister (AM) or Scientiæ Magister (SM). For example, Harvard University, Dartmouth College, the University of Chicago, MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, and Brown University use the abbreviations AM and SM for some of their master’s degrees. A Master of Arts may be given in a scientific discipline, common at Ivy League universities.# ISO certification in India

Many universities offer Master of Arts programs, which are differentiated either as Thesis or Non-Thesis programs. Usually, the duration for a Non-Thesis option is one to two years of full-time study. The period for a Thesis option may last longer, depending also on the required level of courses and complexity of the thesis. Sometimes, qualified students who are admitted to a “very high research” Master of Arts might have to earn credits also at the PhD level, and they may need to complete their program in about three years of full-time candidature e.g. at the universities Harvard in the US and McGill in Canada.# ISO certification in India

A thesis must be a distinct contribution to knowledge. It must demonstrate ability to plan and carry out research, organize results, and defend the approach and conclusions in a scholarly manner. The research presented must meet current standards of the discipline. Finally, the thesis must clearly demonstrate how the research advances knowledge in the field.# ISO certification in India