Master of Arts (postgraduate)

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Master of Arts (postgraduate)

A Master of Arts is a postgraduate

Postgraduate education

Postgraduate education involves studying for Academic degree or other qualifications for which a first or Bachelor's degree is required, and is normally considered to be part of tertiary or higher education....
academic

Academic degree

A degree is any of a wide range of status levels conferred by institutions of higher education, such as University, normally as the result of successfully completing a program of study....
master degree awarded by universities

University

A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education....
in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
, Fine Arts, History

HIStory

HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I is a double album by Michael Jackson, released on June 20, 1995, and is Jackson's ninth. The first disc, named "HIStory Begins" consists of a selection of Jackson's greatest hits from the singer's past fifteen years, while the second, named "HIStory Continues" features new songs, with the...
, Humanities

Humanities

The humanities are academic disciplines which study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytic, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural science and social sciences....
, Philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, justice, validity, mind, and language....
, Social Sciences

Social sciences

The social sciences comprise academic disciplines concerned with the study of the social life of human groups and individuals including anthropology, communication studies, economics, human geography, history, political science, psychology and sociology....
or Theology

Theology

Theology is the study of the existence or attributes of a deity or gods, or more generally the study of religion or spirituality. It is sometimes contrasted with religious studies: theology is understood as the study of religion from an internal perspective , and religious studies as the study of religion from an external perspective....
and can be either fully-taught, research-based, or a combination of the two.

At Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford , located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation in the English-speaking world....
, Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge , located in Cambridge, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation university in the Anglosphere....
and Dublin

University of Dublin

The University of Dublin, corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin , located in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, was effectively founded when in 1592, Queen Elizabeth I of England issued a charter for Trinity College, Dublin as "the mother of a university" - this date making it Ireland's List of...
, it is awarded without further examination to those who are entitled to the undergraduate degree of Bachelor of Arts after a certain number of years

Master of Arts (Oxbridge)

In the Universities of University of Oxford, University of Cambridge and University of Dublin, the degree of Master of Arts or Master in Arts is awarded to Bachelor of Arts of those universities on application after six or seven years' seniority as members of the university....
, and in the ancient universities of Scotland

Ancient universities of Scotland

The ancient universities of Scotland are medieval universities and renaissance university which continue to exist until the present day. The majority of the ancient universities of the British Isles are located within Scotland, and have a number of distinctive features in common, being governed by a series of measures laid down in the Univers...
it is awarded as a first degree

Master of Arts (Scotland)

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Encyclopedia

A Master of Arts is a postgraduate

Postgraduate education

Academic degree

University

English language

HIStory

Humanities

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, justice, validity, mind, and language....
, Social Sciences

Social sciences

Theology

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford , located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation in the English-speaking world....
, Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge , located in Cambridge, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation university in the Anglosphere....
and Dublin

University of Dublin

Master of Arts (Oxbridge)

Ancient universities of Scotland

Master of Arts (Scotland)

A Master of Arts in Scotland is an academic degree in humanities and social sciences awarded by the ancient universities of Scotland ? St Andrews University, the University of Glasgow, the University of Aberdeen and Edinburgh University....
to undergraduates. The Master of Arts degree traces its origin to the teaching licence, or Licentia docendi, for the University of Paris

University of Paris

The historic University of Paris first appeared in the 12th century. In 1970 it was reorganized as 13 autonomous university . The university is often referred to as the Sorbonne or La Sorbonne after the collegiate institution founded about 1257 by Robert de Sorbon....
.

North America

The Master of Arts (Magister Artium) and Master of Science
Master of Science

A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in a large number of countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences and occasionally in the social sciences....
(Magister Scientiæ) degrees are the basic type in most subjects and may be entirely course-based, entirely research-based or (more typically) a mixture.

Admission to a master's program is normally contingent upon holding a bachelor's degree

Bachelor's degree

A bachelor's degree is usually an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course or major that generally lasts for three, four, or in some cases and countries, five or six years....
, and progressing to a doctoral

Doctorate

A doctorate is an academic degree that in most countries represents the highest level of formal study or research in a given field. In some countries it also refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to practice in a specific profession ....
program usually requires a master's degree. In some fields or graduate programs, work on a doctorate begins immediately after the bachelors degree. Some programs provide for a joint bachelor's and master's degree after about five years. Some universities use the Latin degree names, and due to the flexibility of word order in Latin

Latin grammar

The grammar of Latin language, like that of other ancient Indo-European languages, is highly inflection, which allows for a large degree of flexibility when choosing word order....
, Artium Magister (AM) or Scientiæ Magister (SM) may be used at some schools. For example, Brown University

Brown University

Brown University is a private university university located in , United States and is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1764 as the College of Rhode Island, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in New England and Colonial Colleges in the United States....
, the University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private university located principally in the Hyde Park, Chicago neighborhood of Chicago. Although an older university by the same name existed prior to its founding, the modern University of Chicago credits its founding to the oil magnate John D....
, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is America's first university and is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States....
use the degree abbreviations A.M. and S.M. for some of their master's degrees.

Masters level theological degrees

Graduate theological degrees require special attention because they are amongst the oldest and differentiated Master degrees offered by universities. The prerequisite for enrollment in the following graduate degree programs is usually a Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin language Artium Baccalaureus, is an Undergraduate education bachelor's degree awarded for either a course or a program in either the liberal arts, the sciences or both....
degree in either philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, justice, validity, mind, and language....
or theology

Theology

Master of Arts in Practical Theology

The Master of Arts in Practical Theology degree is an advanced theology Academic degree at the graduate school designed to prepare students for careers in Christianity minister ....
(M.A.P.T.) is a more practical--as the title suggests--academic graduate degree than the M.A. in Theology

Theology

Theology is the study of the existence or attributes of a deity or gods, or more generally the study of religion or spirituality. It is sometimes contrasted with religious studies: theology is understood as the study of religion from an internal perspective , and religious studies as the study of religion from an external perspective....
, focusing primarily on pastoral theology.

The Master of Divinity

Master of Divinity

In Christianity theology, the Master of Divinity is both the first professional degree and also the terminal degree in Divinity in North America and is a common academic degree in theology seminary....
(M.Div.), (formerly Bachelor of Divinity

Bachelor of Divinity

In Western culture universities, a Bachelor of Divinity is usually an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology or, rarely, religious studies....
), is not a Master of Arts degree but a professional graduate degree which is required by the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
in the United States as well as by many mainline Protestant denominations as a prerequisite for public ordained ministry and consists of both academic and pastoral courses in theology including Scripture, theology

Theology

Pastoral counseling

Pastoral counseling is a branch of counseling in which ordained religious ministers, rabbis, priests and others provide psychotherapy services. The therapists integrate modern psychological thought and method with traditional religious training....
, and church administration. The M.Div. balances academic rigor with pastoral approaches.

The Master of Arts in Theology (M.A.

Master of Arts

The Magister Artium, Magister in Artibus, or Master of Arts degree is an academic degree of medieval origin which has later acquired different characteristics in different educational systems....
in Theology

Theology

Theology is the study of the existence or attributes of a deity or gods, or more generally the study of religion or spirituality. It is sometimes contrasted with religious studies: theology is understood as the study of religion from an internal perspective , and religious studies as the study of religion from an external perspective....
) is a traditional academic graduate degree which consists in the study of theology, focuses upon a specific area such as dogmatic, historical, moral

Moral

A moral is a message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim....
, sacramental

Sacramental

Sacramental may refer to:* Sacramental, as an adjective means of or pertaining to sacraments* Sacramentals, in Anglicanism and Roman Catholicism, objects whose supernatural effects, unlike those of a sacrament, depend on the belief of the recipient...
, or scriptural, and normally requires the writing and defense of a thesis.

The Master of Theology

Master of Theology

A Master of Theology is an academic degree offered by many university divinity schools and seminaries worldwide....
(Th.M.) is an academic graduate degree which, like the M.A. in Theology

Theology

Theology is the study of the existence or attributes of a deity or gods, or more generally the study of religion or spirituality. It is sometimes contrasted with religious studies: theology is understood as the study of religion from an internal perspective , and religious studies as the study of religion from an external perspective....
, is more academic than the M.A.P.T. and the M.Div. The Th.M. is considered by some as a half-step between the Master's and Doctoral level. The Th.M. almost always requires a thesis of at least 100 pages.

Scandinavia

In Denmark and Norway, the candidate degree is a combined taught/research degree, awarded after 2 years of studies after completing the bachelor degree. The student is required to write a scientific thesis.

This programme was earlier called a candidate degree, abbreviated as cand. and followed by a suffix denoting the subject of study - e.g. cand.mag. (Master of Arts), cand.scient. (Master of Science), cand.psych./cand.pæd.psych. (Master of Psychology), etc.

In both Norway and Denmark, there previously existed a higher degree, the magister

Magister (degree)

Magister is an academic degree used in various systems of higher education....
degree, which in Norway required 7 years of studies including a 3-year research thesis, and was roughly comparable to a PhD

PHD

PHD may refer to:* Parisada Hindu Dharma, an Indonesian reform organization* PHD, a track on The Crystal Method album Tweekend* PHD finger, a protein sequence...
.

United Kingdom

The Master of Arts (MA) is awarded in Arts

ARts

aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is most famous for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....
, Humanities

Humanities

Theology

Social sciences

Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
—award the Master of Letters

Master of Letters

The Master of Letters is a postgraduate degree....
(MLitt) to students in the Arts

ARts

Humanities

Divinity (academic discipline)

Divinity is the study of Christianity and other theology and religious ministry at a school, divinity school, university, or seminary. The term is sometimes a synonym for theology as an academic, speculative pursuit, and sometimes is used for the study of applied theology and ministry to make a distinction between that and academic theology....
and Social Sciences

Social sciences

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge , located in Cambridge, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation university in the Anglosphere....
, where the Master of Philosophy (MPhil) is the name given to the standard one-year taught degree, in contrast to the use of MPhil at other institutions for a research degree.)

The MA is typically a "taught" postgraduate degree, involving lectures, examination, and a short dissertation. Taught masters programmes involve 1 or 2 years of full-time study.

In law

LAW

LAW may refer to:* Anti-tank warfare, e.g. the US Army M72 LAW or the British Army LAW 80*Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights ...
, the standard taught degree is the Master of Laws, but certain courses may lead to the award of an MA, MLitt, Master of Studies

Master of Studies

The Master of Studies is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom and by the University of Dublin in Ireland....
(MSt), and at Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford , located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation in the English-speaking world....
, the Bachelor of Civil Law

Bachelor of Civil Law

Bachelor of Civil Law or BCL is the name of various degrees in law conferred by English-language universities. Historically, it originated as a postgraduate degree in the universities of University of Oxford and University of Cambridge, but many universities now offer the BCL as an undergraduate degree....
(BCL). These degrees are all considered susbtitutes to one another and are thus generally equivalent.

Until recently, both the undergraduate and postgraduate masters degrees were awarded without grade or class (like the class of an honours degree). Nowadays however, masters degrees are normally classified into the categories of Pass, Merit or Distinction.

The degree of Master of Arts may also be awarded, in the case of the oldest British universities only, without further examination to those who have graduated as Bachelor of Arts and who have the requisite years' standing as members of the university or as graduates. This happens, in England, only at the universities of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford , located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation in the English-speaking world....
and Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge , located in Cambridge, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation university in the Anglosphere....
(see Master of Arts (Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin)). It is also the case at the University of Dublin

University of Dublin

Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
. In Scotland

Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
, the degree of Master of Arts is awarded in some universities as a first degree to undergraduates (see Master of Arts (Scotland)

Master of Arts (Scotland)

A Master of Arts in Scotland is an academic degree in humanities and social sciences awarded by the ancient universities of Scotland ? St Andrews University, the University of Glasgow, the University of Aberdeen and Edinburgh University....
). The practice of awarding these degrees of Master of Arts without postgraduate examination or coursework is very ancient although, among modern universities, anomalous.

This education pattern in United Kingdom is followed in India

India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
and many Commonwealth Nations

Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations, also known as the Commonwealth or the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organization of fifty-three independent member states....
.