What is the highest university degree?

Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a person can achieve by his/her own pursuit in certain European countries. Earned after taking a doctorate, the habilitation requires the candidate to write a second dissertation, reviewed by and defended before an academic committee in a process similar to that for the doctoral dissertation. Whereas in the United States, the United Kingdom and most other countries, the doctorate is sufficient qualification for a faculty position at a university, in other countries only the habilitation qualifies the holder to supervise doctoral candidates. Such a post is known in Germany as Privatdozent and there are similarly termed posts elsewhere. After service as a Privatdozent, one may be admitted to the faculty as a professor.

This habilitation qualification exists only in France ("Habilitation à diriger des recherches"), Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Slovenia, and countries of the former Soviet Union, such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, etc. A similar qualification known as Livre-docência still exists also in public universities in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, but has disappeared in other parts of Brazil. The habilitation, derived from the Latin habilitare, "to make able to" - developed in the eighteenth century.

The word habilitation can be used to describe the qualification itself, the process of earning that qualification or, incorrectly, the thesis written as part of that process (what is called Habilitationsschrift in German). A successful habilitation requires that the candidate (called Habilitand in German) be officially given the venia legendi, Latin for "permission for lecturing," or the ius docendi, "right of teaching" a specific academic subject at universities for a lifetime. This status is called Privatdozent (for males)/Privatdozentin (for females), abbreviated PD or Priv.-Doz..

Within the United States, the higest degree is most often the doctor of philosophy, (Ph.D.). Two years or so of coursework and research, plus teaching experience and the writing of a dissertation for the doctorate, for a total of about nine years from starting the bachelor's degree to the awarding of the doctorate. This timetable is flexible however as, for instance, students in accelerated programs can sometimes earn a bachelor's degree in three years or, on the other hand, a particular dissertation project might take four years to complete.

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