Master's degree

A master's degree is a postgraduate academic award. Universities or colleges grant this degree to students who finish a specific course of study. This study shows that the student has achieved mastery in a field. It also shows they have a high-order overview of a professional practice.

Most people earn this degree after completing a bachelor's degree. This might be a separate degree or part of an integrated course. Graduates are expected to have advanced knowledge of many specialized topics. They must also possess high-order skills in analysis and critical evaluation. This allows them to solve complex problems and think independently.

There are several ways a student can earn a master's degree. Some students complete a postgraduate program through specific coursework. Others might earn the degree by passing a special examination. In some historical traditions, the degree was awarded based on seniority. For example, the University of Michigan offered an "in course" master's degree from 1848 to 1882. They also offered an "on examination" master's degree starting in 1859. Today, many students take integrated master's degrees. These are single, long courses of study that lead directly to the master's level.

Historically, the master's degree is linked to the start of European universities. In 1233, a Papal bull changed how teaching worked. It decreed that a master from the University of Toulouse could teach at any other university. This meant the degree was essentially a license to teach. Originally, there was no difference between masters and doctors. However, by the 15th century, English universities created a distinction. They called teachers in lower faculties, like arts and grammar, "masters." They called teachers in higher faculties "doctors."

During the 19th century, the variety of master's degrees grew rapidly. In 1815, the University of Glasgow introduced the Master in Surgery. This degree was adopted by many schools in Scotland, England, and Ireland by 1861. In the United States, the University of North Carolina began awarding master's degrees through exams in 1856. The University of Michigan introduced the Master of Science in 1858. This was one of the most important new degrees of that century. New universities were also opening across the British Empire. This included the University of Sydney in 1850 and several universities in India by 1857.

The 20th century brought new types of specialized degrees. In 1902, Dartmouth College awarded the first Master of Commercial Science. This was the first degree focused on business and led to the modern MBA. In the 1960s, Scottish universities changed how they awarded degrees. They reintroduced the Bachelor of Arts as an undergraduate degree. This moved the Master of Arts back to a postgraduate level. In the 1980s, new integrated degrees appeared for specific sciences. These included the Master of Engineering and the Master of Physics.

There has been much debate about how these degrees are awarded. In 1903, some critics called the master's degrees at Oxford and Cambridge "bogus." This was because those universities often gave the degree without extra study. Instead, they gave it to Bachelor of Arts graduates after a certain amount of time. This was done to grant them full membership in the university. In the year 2000, members of the UK Parliament also questioned these practices. They argued that these automatic degrees could be seen as discriminatory.

Today, the structure of master's degrees is quite complex. The Quality Assurance Agency in the UK identified five different routes to these degrees. One route is the four-year or five-year first degree. Another is the traditional honours undergraduate degree found in Scotland. A third route involves postgraduate programs like the MSc. The fourth route includes the automatic degrees from Oxford and Cambridge. Finally, some students use conversion degrees to enter new fields. These different paths show how much the world of higher education has evolved.