Every year men and women (mostly young from my perspective) receive graduate and post graduate degrees in recognition of their scholarly accomplishments.

Degree is simply reference to the level of education and is always accompanied by the associated qualifier.  Bachelor degree being the basic level, Masters next and topped by a doctorate.

Others forms of scholarly recognition come in the form of professional degrees (e.g., LLB) or an academic certification.  Combinations of degrees and certificates are common.

Attending the Ceremony

My wife and I were fortunate enough to attend four regular degree granting ceromonies and two professional certifications for our chlidren.  We missed one masters degree ceromony and one professional degree granting.

Today a collegue was presented (granted) his Masters of Business administration.  I did not attend the ceromony but did show up for pictures opportunities afterward.

Don’t get me wrong, sitting in hot stuffy halls for an hour of speeches followed by graduates recieving their degrees one by one is a lot of fun, but after six times I decided to take a pass.

Historical Significance

European universities and colleges initiated the degree granting process and it has circled the world and virtually every country follows the basic practices started by the traditional European  medieval institutions.

At first Christian authorities controlled the degree granting process but this gradually  morphed to institutional control with government beuracracy close at hand ( of course)

Given the level of adoption, worldwide, the system probably works.  At least, it stands on it’s own merits.