Licentiate
A licentiate is an academic degree awarded in many countries, by a variety of types of educational institutions, after a variety of courses of study. It can represent completion of study at different educational levels, but in many contexts is seen as broadly similar to a diploma; it is commonly for postgraduate studies shorter than a masters program.
The pontifical or canonical licentiate is also a postgraduate degree preparatory to a doctoral degree when issued by pontifical universities and certain other universities in Europe, Latin America, and Asia.
The term is also used for a person who holds this degree.
Etymology
The term derives from Latin licentia, "freedom", which is applied in the phrases licentia docendi, meaning "permission to teach", and licentia ad practicandum, meaning "permission to practice", signifying someone who holds a certificate of competence to practise a profession.History
The Gregorian Reform of the Catholic Church led to an increased focus on the liberal arts in episcopal schools during the 11th and 12th centuries, with Pope Gregory VII ordering all bishops to make provision for the teaching of liberal arts in their dioceses. Educational officials in a diocese or school exercised a high degree of control over who could teach within their locus magisterii — the geographical area in which they had authority to regulate teaching and schools. Throughout the 12th century, their control tightened to such an extent that they essentially had regulatory monopolies over all teachers in their diocese or area; thus, potential teachers were barred from acting as instructors without the explicit authorization of their scholasters. Thus arose the licentia as a licence or permission or authority to conduct one's professional work: as an educator.Conflicts then sometimes arose between scholasters and local independent educators, who might for example have taught at, or operated an educational facility, without church permission. Additionally, chancellors often improperly demanded expensive gifts before granting a person a license to teach: a form of church corruption or simony. In response to these issues and otherwise escalating abuses of power, Pope Alexander III demanded that a free licentia docendi should be granted to anyone deemed qualified to teach. This allowed the Church in Rome, over time, to centralize and doctrinalise its educational control: reducing the power of individual scholasters locally to regulate teachers, but maintaining some doctrinal orthodoxy or harmony throughout the Christian world as to what content should be taught.
Originally, for the student in the medieval university the licentia docendi was of a somewhat different nature than the academic degrees of bachelor, master or doctor. The latter degrees essentially indicated the rank or seniority of the holder in her faculty or subject matter/professional/practice area. In a different way, the licentia was literally a licence to teach. It was awarded not by a university but by the church, embodied in the chancellor of the diocese in which the university was located. The licentia would only be awarded, however, upon recommendation by the university, initially shortly before the candidate would be awarded the degree of master or doctor.
Over time, however, this distinction in nature between the licentia on the one hand and the bachelor, master and doctor degrees on the other began to fade. In the continental European universities the licentia became an academic degree intermediate between the bachelor's degree on the one hand and the master's or doctor's degree on the other, in particular in the so-called 'higher' faculties. Moreover, the costs for obtaining the doctorate degree, in particular, could be significant. As a result, most students not intending an academic career would forgo the doctorate, and the licentiate became a common highest-obtained degree for those who had pursued some additional study.
Notable exceptions to this ongoing development in the use and status of the licentate were the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and the universities modelled after them. As their locations were not the seats of bishops, the granting of the licentia docendi was by proxy, and its significance faded away. In many such places other 'intermediate' postgraduate, or pre-doctoral postgraduate degrees took the place of what began to be called the licentiate in Europe: most often these were masters programs with a degree that could then, with some years of further research or doctoral work, be 'converted' to a PhD or DPhil.
Canonical (theological) licenctiates
The pontifical or canonical licentiate is a post-graduate, research degree, considered above the master's degree and below the research doctoral degree, conferred by authority of the Holy See by a pontifical university or ecclesiastical faculty upon completion of studies in one of the sacred sciences. The pontifical licentiate is a canonical pre-requisite for entrance into a pontifical doctoral program: "Nobody can be admitted to the doctorate unless first having obtained the licentiate."This type of licentiate may be conferred in any of the sacred sciences, including theology, philosophy or canon law, such as the Licentiate of Canon Law, the Licentiate of Sacred Theology, or the Licentiate of Philosophy. Pontifical universities and Catholic Universities with Ecclesiastical Faculties all confer such degrees. Thus, the list of tertiary institutions awarding these licentiates includes:
- Pontifical Lateran University
- Pontifical Gregorian University,
- Pontifical University of the Holy Cross
- Pontifical Athenaeum of Sant'Anselmo
- Pontifical Salesian University
- Pontifical University of Antonianum
- Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in Rome
- Pontifical University of Salamanca in Spain
- Pontifical University of Mexico in Mexico
- Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas in Manila,
- The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC
- University of Saint Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, IL, and
- Regis College in Toronto, Canada
Notably, such a canonical licentiate also grants the holder the "licence" to teach at any Catholic university, seminary, or pontifical faculty, globally.
General and other licentiates: regional variants
Argentina
In Argentina, the Licentiate degree, by which one becomes a licenciado, is a four to six-year degree with a required final thesis defence. Upon competition of the licentiate degree the student may be eligible to apply for a postgraduate degree such as a master or doctorate.Australia
Currently the only institutions in Australia to grant licentiates, apart from theological colleges, are the Australian Music Examinations Board and , which confer licentiate diplomas. The status of this award is similar to that of an Australian diploma—currently one year of post-secondary education—and so it is a lesser award than a degree, although this award can usually take two or more years to complete due to its high standard. Similarly, for theological colleges in former times, the licentiate was a specific post graduate award, analogous to a current graduate diploma. It was used specifically because some theological colleges did not enjoy university status, and could not award degrees such as baccalaureates, masters and doctorates. Though this was never the case in Catholic Colleges where the Licentiate cannot be earned until one has completed 7 years of study. In such an instance, it sits well above the level of graduate diploma between that of master's and doctorate.The Catholic Institute of Sydney is a Pontifical Faculty and as such offers the Licentiate of Sacred Theology which ranks above a master's degree and can only be earned after seven years of study. The licentiate is part of the three cycles of theological education in the Roman Catholic Church that was instituted in 1931: baccalaureate ; licentiate and doctorate. It is the licentiate that licences faculty to teach in seminaries. See John Paul II's apostolic constitution, Sapientia Christiana.
Belgium
At Belgian universities, a person titled Licentiate holds the equivalent education of a master's degree. A female Licentiate was called Licentiate in Dutch and Licenciée in French. The years spent to obtain the degree of Licentiate were called Licentiaat or Licentie in Dutch and Licence in French. It was the second level of university study, after that of Candidate. A female Candidate was called Kandidate in Dutch and Candidate in French. The years spent to obtain the degree of Candidate were called Kandidaats or Kandidatuur in Dutch and Candidature in French. Each of those two levels required at least two years of successful study. Licentiates were required to write a thesis. This candidate-licentiate system is now being replaced by an American-style bachelor-master system. Civil engineer, Doctor of Medicine, Physician, Doctor of Law and Magister were equivalent to Licentiate. Baccalaureus was equivalent to Candidate. The former titles dr. med. and dr. iur. are to be considered as professional doctorates, whereas the title dr., which is the result of third level study and research, is a higher doctorate. The Belgian licentiate was also equivalent to the doctorandus in the Netherlands. At the KU Leuven there used to be a degree Licentiaat-doctorandus in de TEW en in Beleidsinformatica. Apart from the general abbreviation lic., more specific abbreviations, such as LHFW and LTH exist.Study for a Belgian degree is very rigorous. Students in Belgian universities usually spend more than thirty hours a week on their studies, as opposed to the average of fifteen hours at American universities. As a result of this, students in Belgium are able to complete their licentiate or master's degrees in four to five years, as opposed to the usual six at American institutions.