Talk:Academic degree

Hey everyone,

I removed a pretty big chunk in the history section regarding the ijazah. I got here while going through WP:Jagged 85 cleanup and noticed that the IP address that added this section has only made this one edit, but it is virtually identical to Jagged 85's words, with the same sources and everything, as you can see with this (and many others): . Whether it was him or just someone using his words, I dunno, but the edit itself is incorrect as has been pointed out several times in the past 8 years at Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Jagged 85/Evidence#HISTORY. Dragoon17 (talk) 23:46, 13 August 2018 (UTC)

The National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), which accredits Bachelor of Fine Arts programs in visual art and design in the United States, states that "the professional degree (BFA) focuses on intensive work in the visual arts supported by a program of general studies," whereas "the liberal arts degree (BA) focuses on art and design in the context of a broad program of general studies." A Bachelor of Fine Arts degree will often require an area of specialty such as acting, musical theatre, game design, ceramics, computer animation, creative writing, dance, dramatic writing, drawing, fiber, film production, visual effects, animation, graphic design, illustration, industrial design, visual arts, technical arts, interior design, metalworking, music, new media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, stage management, or television production. Some schools instead give their students a broad education in many disciplines of the arts. Although a Bachelor of Fine Arts is traditionally considered a four-year degree, a BFA program may take longer to complete because of the amount of studio course work required.

The Master of Fine Arts degree is a professional performance degree which generally requires a bachelor degree for admission. The MFA usually requires six semesters for completion and is granted in writing, studio art, theatre-acting, directing, technical theatre, costume design, costume technology, stage management, and theatre management, and film. The MFA is recognized by the National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST) and accredited schools of theatre, art and design, dance, and film making as a terminal degree on par with the PhD and is a minimum requirement for tenure-track appointments. Whereas the PhD is a research degree with a dissertation the MFA concludes with an exhibition or a production and portfolio similar to the recital performances of the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA). (15:43, 13 August 2019 (UTC)) 2601:282:A00:CF18:FC82:2B6C:8768:34BB (talk) 20:59, 13 August 2019 (UTC)

There are lots of degrees not mentioned here, because this is not a listing of degrees. The MFA is classified by USNEI as a master's degree . It does not appear to have any special characteristics that would justify mentioning it and not the many, many other master's degrees. Robminchin (talk) 16:49, 13 August 2019 (UTC)

Please follow the Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines and add your responses beneath rather than editing your original post. I'm not going to attempt to disentangle which bits of your post have appeared since I wrote my reply, but I will reiterate that this is not a list of degrees and there is no obvious reason why those two degrees (the BFA having been edited in) should be singled out for mentioning. Robminchin (talk) 21:49, 13 August 2019 (UTC)

Greetings to all,

A Request for comment has been initiated regarding RfC about whether to allow use of honorofic 'Allama' with the names or not?

Requesting your comments to formalize the relevant policy @ Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Islam-related articles

Thanks

Bookku (talk) 18:03, 9 July 2020 (UTC)

This is certainly not what the current lead of Habilitation would have you believe (not even after I changed the wording to "qualification" in the lead sentence of that page):

However, sometimes incorrectly regarded as a degree, the Habilitation is a higher academic qualification in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic that allows further teaching and research endorsement after a doctorate.

It is earned by writing a second thesis (the Habilitationsschrift) or presenting a portfolio of first-author publications in an advanced topic.

The exact requirements for satisfying a Habilitation depend on individual universities.

The "habil.", as it is abbreviated to represent that a habilitation has been awarded after the doctorate, was traditionally the conventional qualification for serving at least as a Privatdozent (e.g. "PD Dr habil.") (senior lecturer) in an academic professorship.

Some German universities no longer require the Habilitation, although preference may still be given to applicants who have this credential, for academic posts in the more traditional fields.

— MaxEnt 03:30, 4 December 2022 (UTC)

No masters is a standard I have seen used extensively. I have also heard many many people from many contexts confirm and affirm their awareness of the concept that a Masters Degree is often seen as a failure to complete a PhD. I have heard it called "Leaving with your Masters" which is supposed to imply that you "left" rather than graduated, and doing so with a Masters (which is, of course, less than ideal). Some universities or university systems don't even offer Masters as outright programs that you can deliberately sign up for, with the MS treated as a sort of "administrative side channel." This isnt my opinion. Its stated this way explicitly on at least a few of the University of California graduate admission pages. UCSB's chemistry department explains that they don't have "outright" masters programs, or at least that they strongly suggest you sign up for PhD and that they strongly discourage MS applications (as in: even if you really want an MS, you should still sign up for a PhD). The final case to note are programs that automatically award MS degrees as a component of the program, presumably by enforcing the barest minimum of legal or accreditation requirements on the students. But more often its simply skipped (presumably, and I cant say for certain, this is an optional choice that is left up to the student, either comitting to those minimum requirements, which may or may not include testing and a thesis, or skipping it and simply getting the PhD a few years later, as is MORE common these days)73.193.91.227 (talk) 08:00, 26 October 2025 (UTC)