Use of International Academic Title

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Scott Henley, Aug 29, 2004.

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  1. Scott Henley

    Scott Henley New Member

    I have noticed that some faculty members that are graduates of non-North-American or British doctoral programs, use the title of Ph.D. in their CV or after their name even if that have not graduate from a program that grants the degree of "Doctor of Philosophy"

    For example, some European universities award someone the titile of "Doctor" in a specific discipline, however, do not mention Ph.D. or Doctor of Philosophy. Yet, it seems that academics take the liberty to use "Ph.D." as their credential.

    Is this appropriate? Are all "doctoral" programs that otherwise do not have a name considered to be Ph.D.'s and is the use of title appropriate?
     
  2. Jack Tracey

    Jack Tracey New Member

    This is an interesting topic to me and I'd like to say up front that I don't know the answer. My opinion is that people should use the official degree designation as it is written by the university that granted it. I can't imagine that they don't all have official abbreviations but if there is a case where no abbreviation exists then I'd say that you write it out in full. I'd even include any foreign phrases that don't translate accurately. I can understand why someone might want to shift their D.Litt. et Phil. (for example) into a PhD but I'd say that they worry too much. In a way, it's just a diversity issue.
    Jack
     
  3. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    I don't think we've reached a point where "Ph.D." is the generic abbreviation for any doctorate. Even the substitution of "D.Phil" and "Ph.D." seems to rile some people.

    If one has a doctoral title that is unlikely to be known in the US, it seems not uncommon to use a parenthetical addition -- either with or without the word 'equivalent' added. One example is the Tibetan title of "Geshe" (which some scholars familiar with both the US and the Tibetan system -- Robert Thurman, whose Ph.D. is from Harvard, for instance -- believe to be equivalent.

    Thus this wording from the Nobel Prize citation:

    "He began his education at the age of six and completed the Geshe Lharampa Degree (Doctorate of Buddhist Philosophy) when he was 25. At 24, he took the preliminary examination at each of the three monastic universities: Drepung, Sera and Ganden. The final examination was held in the Jokhang, Lhasa, during the annual Monlam Festival of Prayer, held in the first month of every year. In the morning he was examined by 30 scholars on logic. In the afternoon, he debated with 15 scholars on the subject of the Middle Path, and in the evening, 35 scholars tested his knowledge of the canon of monastic discipline and the study of metaphysics. His Holiness passed the examinations with honours, conducted before 70,000 monk scholars."
     
  4. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member


    There are a lot of degrees that are equivalent to the PhD, some are D.Arch, D. Mus, DBA, DFA just to mention some.

    http://www.informationgenius.com/encyclopedia/d/do/doctorate.html

    The problem is that if you hold a degree from a country that is not known in the country of residency, this can cause confusion. Take the example of a DBA in Canada which is not offered by regular english canadian universities (French universities used the name "Doctorat en Administration"), the problem is that if you use the "DBA" in your resume, people will confuse this by "Data Base administrator" and you will be screen out for those positions that require a PhD. The legal way is to get a degree equivalency from an agency recognized by the goverment and use this designation. Any degree that requires a master's degree for entrance, at least two years of full time study and dissertation will be given the PhD equivalent regardless of the original degree designation (e.g. D.Comm, D.Mgt, DBA, DBL). So if you are given an equivalent of a PhD in your country of residence, I believe it is perfectly legal to use the PhD designation even if you have another variant of this degree.

    In the case of the US, since the DBA is g
     
  5. Scott Henley

    Scott Henley New Member

    I know that many foreign-trained engineers here in Canada that have graduated from European "Diplom-Ingeniuer" programs take the liberty to use the B.Sc. or M.Sc. designation so popular in English-speaking countries.

    I know of some Romanian engineers with a "Diplom" that use M.Sc. because it is a 5-year engineering program and was equated as such by the local educational authorities.

    It is an interesting topic. French universities use the "Doctorat" title which is de-facto the equivalent of a Ph.D. I see nothing misleading about a French doctoral graduate using Ph.D. as their designation for the sake of commonality.
     
  6. Stanislav

    Stanislav Well-Known Member

    I beleive it is appropriate to list a doctorate as "Ph. D." if the source is clearly identified. E. g., if someone has defended his dissertation at Moscow State and submit his CV to American employer, why the employer would want to know that the official abbreviation for a degree is "k. f.-m. n.", in lowercase Cyrillic? I often see Kandidat degree written as "Ph. D." and Doktor - as "D. Sc." (which in this case would be pretty close).
     
  7. Scott Henley

    Scott Henley New Member

    The Italian "dottorato di ricerca" as far as I know does not have an abbreviation and the holders are called "Dottore". Naturally, equivalent to a Ph.D. (which is a Latin term ironically!)
     
  8. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member


    For Canadians or immigrants in Canada with foreign credentials, there is an article that tells you how to get the Canadian equivalent

    http://www.cicic.ca/factsheets/factsheet4en.stm


    I think it is perfectly legal for a rumanian
    engineer to use the B.Sc title, although I doubt that a first 5 year degree would be regarded as an M.Sc. However, if an agency recognized by the goverment (e.g. University of Toronto) recognizes it as such, then you can use the title legaly
     
  9. uncle janko

    uncle janko member

    If memory serves:

    It should be noted that the Dutch abbreviation Drs--used by one famous Calvinist propagandist in the US--is for the "doctorandus", NOT for the ultimate "doctor", whose abbreviation is the same as ours. I am not clear whether the Dutch doctorandus will have completed a dissertation.

    In Hungary, the "doktorandus" is simply a student making satisfactory progress in a PhD program, moving toward becoming a "kandidat" upon submission of an acceptable diss proposal.

    Doctorandus/doktorandus derives from the Latin, meaning "one who ought to become a doctor".
     
  10. adireynolds

    adireynolds New Member

    Ergo, doctoranda/doktoranda for the gentler sex?
     
  11. uncle janko

    uncle janko member

    Yes, although in the Netherlands the use of "doctoranda" is obsolete. Whether this means that women are now barred from doctoral study in order not to offend a certain religious population, that women grad students are issued erm prostheses, or that the Dutch are losing their grijp of Latin grammar, I couldn't rightly say.
     
  12. triggersoft

    triggersoft New Member

    In the NL, the "drs." (all in SMALL capitals!) is the usual university degree on Master´s level (first Dutch university degree with ca. 8-9 semesters total length of studies).
    Since one or two years, the Dutch universities don´t award that degree anymore, but ONLY the newly introduced Bachelor´s and Master´s.
    Usually, the old "drs." studies now award M.Sc. degrees. Though, still the Dutch students are allowed to use either one of both degrees, but only IN THE NETHERLANDS. That means that most people still use the "drs." in NL, and when they correspond with internationals - or are in other countries - the use the "M.Sc." degree.

    In Germany, "doctoral candidates" (university graduate on German "Diplom" level) are also called "Doktorand".

    Generally, in the German speaking countries, there are about one or two dozens of Doctoral degrees, all with a certain (LATIN!) abbreviation, like e.g.:

    Dr. med. (=M.D.)
    Dr. rer. pol. (=PhD in Political Sciences or Economics)
    Dr. rer. oec. (=PhD in Economics)
    Dr. rer. net (=Dr. in natural sciences)
    Dr. ing. (=Dr. of Engineering)

    etc., etc.

    The degrees are BY LAW only allowed to be lead in exactly the way they were issued (as above), though everybody (except for the M.D.´s) "forgets" the latin suffic, and just calls himself "Dr." BEFORE his name.

    The use of the "Ph.D." degree instead of the original name is not allowed, EXCEPT for that is is a degree in two languages (in the last years, there are more and more English language doctoral programs which issue two diplomas, e.g.).

    Though, most people in academics here also tend to use the "Ph.D." in their ENGLISH CV´s (either on paper or on their websites), but not (as often) on their business cards - here, they also use "Dr."

    Regards,
    T.
     
  13. uncle janko

    uncle janko member

    That's what I thought about les Pays-Bas. Thanks for the details.
     

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