Courtesy : School of Hospitality and Catering Education

Emergence of the bachelor’s degree

In the medieval European universities, candidates who had completed three or four years of study in the prescribed texts of the trivium (grammar, rhetoric and logic) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music), together known as the Liberal Arts and who had successfully passed examinations held by their master, would be admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Arts, from the Latin baccalaureus, a term previously used of a squire (i.e., apprentice) to a knight. Further study and in particular successful participation in and then moderating of disputations would earn one the Master of Arts degree, from the Latin magister, “master” (typically indicating a teacher), entitling one to teach these subjects. Masters of Arts were eligible to enter study under the “higher faculties” of Law, Medicine or Theology and earn first a bachelor’s and then master or doctor’s degrees in these subjects. Thus, a degree was only a step on the way to becoming a fully qualified master – hence the English word “graduate”, which is based on the Latin gradus (“step”).# ISO certification in India

Evolution of the terminology of degrees

The naming of degrees eventually became linked with the subjects studied. Scholars in the faculties of arts or grammar became known as “master”, but those in theology, medicine and law were known as “doctor”. As study in the arts or in grammar was a necessary prerequisite to study in subjects such as theology, medicine and law, the degree of doctor assumed a higher status than the master’s degree. This led to the modern hierarchy in which the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), which in its present form as a degree based on research and dissertation is a development from 18th- and 19th-century German universities, is a more advanced degree than the Master of Arts (M.A.). The practice of using the term doctor for PhDs developed within German universities and spread across the academic world.# ISO certification in India

The French terminology is tied closely to the original meanings of the terms. The baccalauréat (cf. “bachelor”) is conferred upon French students who have successfully completed their secondary education and admits the student to university. When students graduate from university, they are awarded licence, much as the medieval teaching guilds would have done and they are qualified to teach in secondary schools or proceed to higher-level studies. Spain had a similar structure: the term “Bachiller” was used for those who finished the secondary or high-school level education, known as “Bachillerato”. The standard Spanish university 5-years degree was “Licenciado”, (although there were a few 3-years associate degrees called “diplomaturas”, from where the “diplomados” could move to study a related licenciatura). The highest level was “Doctor”.# ISO certification in India

Degrees awarded by institutions other than universities

In the past, degrees have also been directly issued by authority of the monarch or by a bishop, rather than any educational institution. This practice has mostly died out. In Great Britain, Lambeth Degrees are still awarded by the Archbishop of Canterbury The Archbishop of Canterbury’s right to grant degrees is derived from Peter’s Pence Act of 1533 which empowered the Archbishop to grant dispensations previously granted by the Pope.

Among educational institutions, St David’s College, Lampeter was granted limited degree awarding powers by royal charter in the nineteenth century, despite not being a university. University College North Staffordshire was also granted degree awarding powers on its foundation in 1949, despite not becoming a university (as the University of Keele) until 1962. Following the Education Reform Act 1988, many educational institutions other than universities have been granted degree awarding powers, including higher education colleges and colleges of the University of London (many of which are now effectively universities in their own right).# ISO certification in India

Academic dress

Main article: Academic dress

In most countries, gaining an academic degree entitles the holder to assume distinctive academic dress particular to the awarding institution, identifying the status of the individual wearing them.# ISO certification in India