Magister degree
The magister degree arose in medieval universities in Europe and was originally equal to the doctorate; while the doctorate was originally conferred in theology, law and medicine, the magister degree was usually conferred in the liberal arts, broadly known as "philosophy" in continental Europe, which encompassed all other academic subjects.
In Argentina, the Master of Science or Magister (Mg, Ma, Mag, MSc) is a postgraduate degree of two to four years of duration by depending on each university's statutes.
Under the accomplishment of the Magister Scientiæ thesis dissertation, that in years of formal education, is generally equivalent to a Ph.D. or Doctorate in universities of North America or Europe given the Bologna comparison system among academic programs.
In German-speaking Europe and other European countries culturally influenced by it the Magister's degree was originally equal to the doctorate; in German-speaking institutions the "doctorate" gradually replaced the earlier title of Magister, and it became the only recognized degree for the completion of a course of study in the faculty of arts or philosophy.
In Austria, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Germany, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia, obtaining the Magister requires at least five years of study including coursework and a final thesis, similar to a Diplom degree.
After implementation of the Bologna Process the person who obtained a Licentiate degree can continue education to the magister level (it requires additional two years of studies).
With the implementation of the Bologna Process, curriculums leading to Magister degrees have been phased out in many countries.
The dissertation was evaluated by a committee; the purpose of the trial lecture, a requirement the degree shared only with the doctoral and licentiate's degrees, was to demonstrate the candidate's suitability for permanent (tenured) academic positions at university-level.
(abbreviation of the Latin Magister Artium, "teacher of the arts"), if the degree was earned in humanities or social sciences, and mag.
In Norway it was abolished some years earlier, having become an increasingly rare, but highly regarded, degree, especially after the 1970s.
In 1955, the Licentiate's degrees were also introduced at the University of Oslo Faculty of Law, and were occasionally awarded until 2003.
[8][9] By comparison, in both Norway and Denmark, a PhD degree today only requires a 2.5-year dissertation.
Both American PhDs and German doctorates have been found to be equivalent to Danish and Norwegian Magister's degrees on several occasions.
Since 2007 in Sweden, the Magister Examination (Swedish: magisterexamen) is a one-year graduate degree which requires at least three years of undergraduate studies.
The degree usually lasted about 5–6 years and is structured into Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced progressional components.
Since the introduction of the Bologna Process in 2005, the Magister has been broken into Bachelor (formerly Basic/Intermediate) and Master (formerly Advanced) components.
In Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and other territories once part of Yugoslavia, before the implementation of the Bologna Process, the magistar nauka/magister znanosti (Magister of Science) was a research-oriented degree awarded for two or three years of study following the diploma degree (which lasted 4 to 6 years) and the defense of a magistarski rad (Magister's thesis).
After two years of coursework and research, the thesis was completed in a year or two after the coursework, although it roughly depended on a workload of an average graduate student who is considered to be a faculty member with teaching responsibilities (which can be up to 16 hours per week of a teaching load).
To enter the course, the student is required to obtain top-level grades at his Diplôme d'études universitaires générales (two-year first university degree).
The most prestigious French universities still offer "magistères" in Law, Economics, or Sciences, which are open to the highest-ranked students at the end of the first two years of studies.
In some fields (particularly, Law, Medicine, Pharmacy and Architecture) the Laurea magistrale a ciclo unico is awarded.
These are used, among others, by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, in some official ceremonies still conducted in Latin, such as the awarding of degrees.
