A professional degree or professional membership is an academic degree designed to prepare the holder for a particular career or profession, fields where scholarly research and academic activity are not the work, but rather a profession such as law, medicine, logistics, optometry, architecture, accounting, engineering, religious ministry, or education. Professional degrees may be awarded as graduate or undergraduate degrees. At the graduate level, they are typically awarded as either a professional master's degree or a professional doctorate degree. With this said, a professional degree in medicine or engineering do in fact lead and train in research areas as well. Image File history File links Gnome-globe. ... A B.A. issued as a certificate A degree is any of a wide range of status levels conferred by institutions of higher education, such as universities, normally as the result of successfully completing a program of study. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Lady Justice or Justitia is a personification of the moral force that underlies the legal system (particularly in Western art). ... medicines, see Medication. ... Look up Logistics in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Optometry (Greek: optos meaning seen or visible and metria meaning measurement) is a health care profession concerned with examination, diagnosis, and treatment of the eyes and related structures and with determination and correction of vision problems using lenses and other optical aids [1]. An optical refractor (also called a foropter... Section of the dome of Florence Cathedral. ... It has been suggested that Accounting scholarship be merged into this article or section. ... Engineering is the design, analysis, and/or construction of works for practical purposes. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... This article is about academic degrees. ... In some educational systems, undergraduate education is post-secondary education up to the level of a Bachelors degree. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... medicines, see Medication. ... Engineering is the design, analysis, and/or construction of works for practical purposes. ...

Most professions offer more than one level of professional degree; the first degree which qualifies the holder for work in the profession is titled the first professional degree.

United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand

See also First Professional degree

In the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, professional degrees refer to academic degrees that are specific to a particular vocation or profession. Architecture School: Bachelor of Architecture B. Arch, Audiology: Bachelor of applied science (Aud) or (AuD), public policy school (MPA, MPP or MHA), law school (JD or LLB), allopathic medical school (MD or MBBS/MBChB), osteopathic medical school (DO), chiropractic school (DC), engineering school (BS. or BAS. in Engineering, BEng., MEng., and DEng.), optometry school: BOptom or(OD), dental school (DDS,DMD,BDent,BDS), veterinary school (DVM, BVSc, or VMD), business school (MBA, MSF or MAcy), Bachelor of Applied Science or DOT (Occupational Therapy), physical therapy school BPT, MPT, or(DPT), pharmacy school (B.Sc. in Pharmacy: Pharm.B. or Pharm.D.), schools of social work (MSW), art school (MFA), seminary (M.Div. or M.Min.), and architecture school (MArch) are examples of institutions where professional degrees can be earned. A first professional degree is a graduate-level (postgraduate) degree that is required for professional licensure or entrance to a specific profession. ... Section of the dome of Florence Cathedral. ... The Doctorate of Audiology (Au. ... Public policy schools teach students policy analysis/policy studies, public policy, public administration, and public affairs. ... The Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree is one of several master level professional public affairs degrees that provides training in public policy and project/program implementation (more recently known as public management). ... The Master of Public Policy (M.P.P.) is a professional Masters degree that traditionally provided training in policy analysis and program evaluation at public policy schools. ... The Master of Health Administration (MHA)—also Master of Healthcare Administration—is a graduate professional degree that provides training in health policy, economics, project and program implementation. ... Doctor of Law, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Juris Doctor (abbreviated J.D. or JD, from the Latin, Teacher of Law) is a professional degree in law offered by universities in a number of countries. ... The degree of Bachelor of Laws is the principal academic degree in law in the majority of common law countries other than the United States, where it has been replaced by the Juris Doctor degree. ... The term allopathic medicine is used by adherents of alternative medicine to refer to any form of mainstream medicine. ... Doctor of Medicine (M.D. or MD, from the Latin Medicinae Doctor meaning Teacher of Medicine,) is an academic degree for medical doctors. ... The current version of the article or section is written like a magazine article instead of the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia. ... Osteopathic medicine (formerly known as osteopathy) is [1] Outside the United States, osteopathic medicine is often used interchangeably with osteopathy. Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine, or D.O.s, apply the philosophy of treating the whole person (a holistic approach) to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of illness, disease and injury... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A Bachelor of Applied Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course of study that generally lasts three years in the United Kingdom, and four to five years in Canada and the United States. ... Bachelor of Engineering (commonly abbreviated as BE or BEng) is an undergraduate academic degree awarded to a student after three, four or five years of studying engineering at an accredited university in Australia, Canada, China, Finland, Germany, India, Ireland, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Africa, the United States... A Master of Engineering (M.Eng. ... An Engineering Doctorate (EngD) is a postgraduate degree awarded by twenty universities[1] in the United Kingdom. ... Optometry (Greek: optos meaning seen or visible and metria meaning measurement) is a health care profession concerned with examination, diagnosis, and treatment of the eyes and related structures and with determination and correction of vision problems using lenses and other optical aids [1]. An optical refractor (also called a foropter... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Doctor of Dental Medicine. ... The examples and perspective in this article do not represent a worldwide view. ... EMBA redirects here; for the Mutation Mink Breeders Association, see American Legend Cooperative The Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a masters degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. ... Master of Science in Finance MSF is typically a one-year, non-thesis graduate program designed to prepare graduates for careers in financial analysis, investment management and corporate finance. ... Master of Accountancy (MAcc, MAc, or MAcy), alternatively Master of Professional Accounting (MPAcc) or Master Science in Accounting (MSAcc), is typically a one-year, non-thesis graduate program designed to prepare graduates for public accounting and to provide them with the 150 credit hours required by most states before taking... DPT is an abbreviation. ... A Bachelor of Science (B.S., B.Sc. ... In the United States the Pharm. ... Professional social workers are concerned with social problems, their causes, their solutions and their human impacts. ... The Master of Social Work (MSW) is a type of masters degree which is received from a graduate school that has been approved by the Council on Social Work Education. ... In the United States, a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) is a terminal graduate degree in an area of visual, plastic, literary or performing arts typically requiring two to three years of study beyond the bachelor level. ... Master of Divinity is a common degree among theological seminaries and is considered the minimum academic requirement for ordination into pastoral ministry. ...

According to the United States Census Bureau, on average, those possessing professional degrees earn more than those in any other category of educational attainment, including those holding academic doctorates.[1] The United States Census Bureau (officially Bureau of the Census as defined in Title ) is a part of the United States Department of Commerce. ...

Sweden

In Sweden, a professional degree is an academic degree that is regulated under common laws of the Swedish government, examined and awarded by prescribed schools and universities, and intended for those wishing to follow a given profession. The degree gives the undergraduate student a license, chartered or special competence, which is often needed—sometimes legally required—to practice as a medical doctor, logistician, nurse, teacher, engineer, accountant, lawyer or social worker. The Doctor by Luke Fildes This article is about the term physician, one type of doctor; for other uses of the word doctor see Doctor. ... Look up Logistics in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... // A nurse is a health care professional who is engaged in the practice of nursing. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Look up engineer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Accountant, or Qualified Accountant, or Professional Accountant, is a certified accountancy and financial expert in the jurisdiction of many countries. ... A lawyer, according to Blacks Law Dictionary, is a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person licensed to practice law. ... A social worker is a person employed in the administration of charity, social service, welfare, and poverty agencies, advocacy, or religious outreach programs. ...

Under certain conditions, such as being involved in a terrible accident that reduces your abilities, criminal acts or making too many mistakes in the given profession, there is a risk of losing one's license for the particular profession, and thereby having no legal rights to practice the given profession anymore.

The professional degree is often similar to Bachelor of Science or Master of Science, depending on the title of the profession and on the years of education which varies between 90-330 ECTS. In Sweden, all education is treated as undergraduate degrees up to the license or doctorate level, which are treated as postgraduate degrees. The 'undergraduate' studies is in the range 4-5.5 years, whilst the graduate studies varies between 2.5-5 years, corresponding to license and doctoral degrees, respectively. This education schemes also applies to the international degrees such as Bachelor's and Master's degrees, i.e. they corresponds to an 'undergraduate' degree, too. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A masters degree is an academic degree usually awarded for completion of a postgraduate course of one or two years in duration. ... European credit transfer system (ECTS) is a method that is used to compare the marks (US: grade) given in education across European Union. ... A bachelors 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. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

For those with a professional degree, further studies give a special graduate title, such as Licentiate of Philosophy, Licentiate of Science (a degree corresponding to a half completed PhD, i.e. 2 & 1/2 years) or Doctor of Juris, Doctor of Science, etc.. However, in English, some of these are translated to Doctor of Philosophy. Doctor of Law, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Juris Doctor (abbreviated J.D. or JD, from the Latin, Teacher of Law) is a professional degree in law offered by universities in a number of countries. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated Ph. ...

In Sweden, there are also international degrees such as Bachelor of Science or Master of Science, and especially the engineering education program has its goal to transform into those 'international standard degrees' during the next one or two decades (see the article Bologna process), not only in Sweden but in the whole of Europe. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A masters degree is an academic degree usually awarded for completion of a postgraduate course of one or two years in duration. ... The purpose of the Bologna process is to create the European higher education area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe. ...

See also

• Education in Sweden, List of universities in Sweden
• Education in Germany, for discussion concerning Staatsexamen
• Professional qualification or degree in Logistics
• Master of Professional Studies
• Professional certification
• Terminal degree