Academic degree

An academic degree is the state of recognized completion of studies at a school or university. A diploma is generally issued in recognition of having satisfactorily completed the prescribed course of study. The two most common degrees awarded today are associate and bachelor's.

Higher education institutions commonly offer master’s, doctoral, academic certificates, and professional degrees.

Overview

The modern academic system of academic degrees evolved and expanded in the medieval university, spreading everywhere across the globe as the institution did:

Emergence of the doctor’s and master’s degrees and the licentiate

The doctorate (Latin: doceo “I teach”) appeared in medieval Europe as a license to teach (Latin: licentia docendi) at a medieval university. Its roots can be traced to the early church when the term "doctor" referred to the Apostles, church fathers and other Christian authorities who taught and interpreted the Bible. The right to grant a licentia docendi was originally reserved to the church which required the applicant to pass a test, to take oath of allegiance and pay a fee. The Third Council of the Lateran of 1179 guaranteed the access – now largely free of charge – of all able applicants, who were, however, still tested for aptitude by the ecclesiastic scholastic. This right remained a bone of contention between the church authorities and the slowly emancipating universities, but was granted by the Pope to the University of Paris in 1231 where it became a universal license to teach (licentia ubique docendi). However, while the licentia continued to hold a higher prestige than the bachelor's degree (Baccalaureus), it was ultimately reduced to an intermediate step to the Magister and doctorate, both of which now became the exclusive qualification for teaching.

University of the People

University of the People (UoPeople) is an American 501(c)(3) non-profit online institution of higher education headquartered in Pasadena, California, United States. Founded by Shai Reshef in 2009, it currently offers degree programs in business administration and computer science, with plans to offer a degree in health sciences as well as an MBA in the near future. It is the only OER (open educational resources) university in the world. The school is accredited by the Distance Education Accrediting Commission. It is also approved by California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE).

History

Educational entrepreneur Shai Reshef launched University of the People in January 2009. Its first cohorts started studying in September 2009, when 177 students from 49 countries across the globe comprised the inaugural class of the University.

The Information Society Project at Yale Law School (Yale ISP) expanded its program in digital education by entering into a research partnership with University of the People in September 2009.

Degree

Degree may refer to:

As a unit of measurement