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Licentiate (from Latin licentia doctorandi = permission/right to teach) is the title of a person who holds an academic degree called a license. This degree exists in various African, European and Latin American countries but can represent different educational levels. It usually signifies someone who holds a certificate of competence to practise a profession.

Contents 1 Regional variations 1.1 Argentina 1.2 Australia 1.3 Belgium 1.4 Brazil 1.5 Costa Rica 1.6 France 1.7 Germany 1.8 Mexico 1.9 Peru 1.10 Portugal 1.11 Spain 1.12 Finland and Sweden 1.13 Switzerland 1.14 Venezuela 2 India 3 Domain variations 3.1 Heraldry 3.2 Medicine and surgery 3.3 Theology 4 Bologna Convention 5 See also

In Argentina, the licenciatura is a 4-5 year degree, generally equivalent to an M.Sc. in North American universities. In some cases it does not require the formal writing of a thesis, although almost invariably a quota of research is required.

Currently the only institution in Australia to grant licentiates - apart from theological colleges (see below) - is the Australian Music Examinations Board, which confers licentiate diplomas including the Licentiate in Music, Australia (LMusA).

In Belgian universities, a person titled Licentiate (or Licentiaat in Dutch or Licencié in French) holds the equivalent education of a master's degree. Students used to receive a license after 4 or 5 years of successful study. The first two years were known as kandidatuur (candidacy), meaning students were qualifying themselves for study at the licential level. This candidate-licentiate system is now being replaced by an American-style bachelor-master system. The Belgian licentiate was also equivalent to the doctorandus in the Netherlands. Study is very rigorous. Students in Belgian universities usually take more than 30 hours a week (as opposed to an average of 15 at American universities.) Thus, students are able to complete their (licentiate or master's) degrees in four or five years, as opposed to the usual six at American institutions.

In Brazil, the licenciate is a 3-4 year degree that qualifies to teach in primary and secondary education.

This title is awarded to students after 5 years of study, they are required to write a thesis, attend a graduation seminar or develop a project in other to graduate.

In French universities, a licenciate (licencié(e)) is the holder of a licence, which is a three-year degree, roughly equivalent to an Anglo-Saxon bachelor's degree. There are two kinds of licence: general and professional.

In Germany, a person titled Lizentiat holds the equivalent education of a master's degree or Diplom. Until the 1990s the degree was offered as a law degree at the University of the Saar as a single university degree (Lic.iur.) with a duration varying between 5 to 8-years. For political reasons this degree was discontinued, mainly because the Staatsexamen (Law degree) was predominantly representing the mainstream education of a lawyer. The Lizentiat is largely equivalent to the 1. Staatsexamen but unlike the latter is assessed by university, not the state administration. It also allowed specialisation in areas of the law which were either not covered by other legal qualifications, e.g. ecclesiastical law etc, or not covered to the same extent. Other disciplines such as theology or journalism (FU Berlin) used to offer a Lizentiat qualification instead of a PhD.

Licenciados. Not unlike Argentina's system, it is the de-facto professional qualification on a national level. Most universities do not require a thesis to graduate, but for a number of years, it was the only method by which one could qualify for their title in the National University (UNAM). Conversions of the title range from being a B.A. to something as advanced as M.S., though most would qualify as a Master's degree in their respective fields (as is the case in the scientific, medical and engineering disciplines). As in Argentina, careers can span 4 to 5 years and usually continue on to a Master's Degree in a more generalized field. Master degrees are subsequently 2 years or less, as are the doctorates (doctorates can also be achieved straight out of the Licentiate, though comprising another 4 or 5 years in this case).

A Licenciatura is awarded to students after 5 years of study, they are required to write a thesis or develop a research project in order to graduate.

In Portugal, the licentiate's degree (licenciatura) was a single university degree with a duration varying between 4 to 6-years, higher than the polytechnic 3-years bacharelato degree (now discontinued), but lower than the Portuguese full scientific master's degree. However, although it was a single undergraduate degree awarded by accredited universities, it conferred an automatic licensure for working in a particular profession and a full accreditation by the respective professional orders - ordens profissionais. The Portuguese polytechnic institutions used to award a single 3-year short cycle bacharelato (bachelor) degree that like the 4 to 6-years university licenciatura, was also an undergraduate degree but without neither the licenciatura's licensure for working in a particular profession nor an accreditation by the respective professional orders. After 1998, the polytechnic institutions were legally upgraded to award new licenciaturas bietápicas which were a 3-years bacharelato plus an additional optative 1 to 2-years cycle conferring a polytechnic licenciatura. The licenciatura diploma was also required for those applicants who wished to undertake master's and/or doctorate programs but admission were only allowed for licenciatura degree owners with grades over 13.5 (out of 20). Due to Europe's Bologna Process, since 2006 new licenciatura degrees were organized at both universities and polytechnics - they are now a first study cycle (3 to 4 years) offered by any institution of higher education, and are the only required condition for any applicant who wish to undertake the second study cycle which awards a master's degree. The process was not a mere formal administrative change because the curricula and the teaching methods of the new Bologna licenciatura and master's degrees are totally new. Like in the past, not all new "Bologna" licentiate's degrees are accredited by the ordens in the concerned field (for example, an accredited full chartered engineer must have a recognized diploma from the Ordem dos Engenheiros in a country where accredited courses in engineering are only about one-third of the total number of engineering courses offered by a large number of institutions).

After the implementation of the Bologna process, some courses (like engineering) should be accredited only after the student finishes his second study cycle which confers the masters' degree (mestrado), and the first study cycle which confers the licenciatura is not sufficient to be an accredited professional (for example a professional full chartered engineer or architect) in Portugal or in Europe. On the other side, there are not licenciatura degrees in medicine because the shortest first study cycle in this field after "Bologna", is a 6-year masters' degree, so all medicine students are award at least a master diploma.

In Spain the Licenciatura degree is one of the major University degree previous to doctoral studies. This system will also be progressively changed for the 'Grado' (Bachelor) and 'Master' system due to the Bologna Declaration on the European space for higher education. Nowadays Licenciatura is consisting of 5 years, or 6 years in Medicine. Currently, Licenciatura degrees, Diplomatura degrees (3 years), Ingeniería Técnica degrees (3 years) and Ingeniería degrees (5 or 6 years) are the undergraduate diplomas in Spain.

After the Bologna process apparently, because the final decission has not yet been taken, Licenciatura and Ingeniería degrees will be divided into Grados (4 years) and Masters (1 or 2 years) and Diplomatura and Ingeniería Técnica will be upgraded to Grado (1 more year). Most of Ingeniería técnica and Ingeniería degrees will be unified because of their similarity. There will be exceptions for Pharmacy, Law, Odontology, Veterinary, Medicine, Architecture degrees. These ones will keep the 5 years (6 years in case of Medicine) in their curricula.

In Swedish and Finnish universities, Licentiate's degree equals completion of the coursework required for a doctorate and a dissertation formally equivalent to half of a doctoral dissertation, likened to a MPhil degree in the British system. The licentiate is particularly popular with students already involved in the working life, such that completing a full doctor's dissertation while working would be too difficult. The Licentiate's degree is called a filosofie licentiat in Swedish and filosofian lisensiaatti in Finnish (Licentiate of Philosophy), teologie licentiat and teologian lisensiaatti (Licentiate of Theology) etc, depending on the faculty. Furthermore, the requisite degree for a physician's license is lisensiaatti; there is no Master's degree. (The degree lääketieteen tohtori "Doctor of Medicine" is a traditional "professors degree", or a research doctorate, with Licentiate as a prerequisite.)

The Licentiate of Engineering (LicEng) is an intermediate postgraduate degree used only in a few countries, among them Sweden and Finland, and can be seen as an academic step halfway between a Master's and a PhD. In Swedish, it is called Teknologie Licentiat, usually abbreviated as Tekn. Lic. The Licentiate of Engineering corresponds to 80 academic credits, or nominally two years of full – time work, whereas a Swedish PhD amounts to 160 credits, or a nominal period of four years of full – time work (one credit equals one week of full – time studies). However, as a result of the differences in requirements and individual performance, the time to complete a Licentiate of Engineering degree varies.

The programme for a licentiate degree is equivalent to a total of two years of full-time study for those who are awarded a doctoral position. A person who has a doctoral position normally teaches on the undergraduate programmes, equivalent to a maximum of 20% of the working time. It then ought to be possible for a licentiate degree to be taken within 2.5 years. (see http://www.chalmers.se/en/sections/education/current_students/joint_rules_and_dire/degree_system/licentiate_degree)

In Switzerland most of the first University degrees are called licentiate or licence, but mostly used in its abbreviation lic. (coming from Latin licentiatus (m) or licentiata (f)). It usually requires 4-7 years of study depending on the field of study. The second University degrees are called DEA or DESS degrees and are equivalent to a Master's degree and they qualify the holder for admission to doctoral studies. The licentiate will be progressively changed for the 'Bachelor' grade 3-years of study and the 'DEA & DESS' for the 'Master' grade 2-years of study, due to the Bologna Convention.

A Licenciatura is awarded to students after 5 years of study, they are required to write a thesis or develop a research project in order to graduate.

In India Licentiate is a vocational qualification offered by the special vocational boards or professional bodies. These are offered after completion of School education and are some what lower than a Full fledged University Degree. Insurance Institute of India ,Association of Mutual Funds of India,Diploma examination Board of Government of Andhra Pradesh etc.

In Canada, anyone who complete the Level III Heraldic Proficiency Courses will be granted the right to use the post-nominal of LRHSC (Licentiate of the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada). This is awarded by the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada.

In Britain, several medical degrees are called licentiates. These include:

• Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians (LRCP) (awarded by the Royal College of Physicians of London),
• Licentiate in Medicine and Surgery of the Society of Apothecaries (LMSSA), awarded by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London
• Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (LRCPE), awarded by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
• Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (LRCSE) awarded by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
• Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (LRCPSG), awarded by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow

Until 1999, these degrees were registerable with the General Medical Council, and allowed the bearer to practice medicine in the UK.

Main article: Licentiate in Theology

The Licentiate of Theology is a sub-degree or diploma- or master's-level qualification offered by a number of educational institutions.

In 2003, the European Union organized the Bologna convention on higher education - 'The Bologna process' - in order to create uniform standards across the EU in that field. The resulting conclusions called for all European universities to change their degree programs to an undergraduate degree and a master's degree.

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Associate's degree (U.S.) · Foundation degree (U.K.) · Bachelor's degree · Master's degree · DEA · Licentiate · Specialist degree · Engineer's degree · Professional degree · Doctoral degree