Academic degrees around the world An academic degree

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Theme: Academic degrees around the world

Academic degrees around the world
An academic degree is a qualification assigned to students after completing one of the higher education programs at a university or college. The most common types of degrees are a Bachelor's degree, Master's degree, Doctoral degree / PhD. However, along with them, there are a number of qualifications, which are also called degrees and reflect the characteristics of a particular country.
The Bologna degree system — Bologna Process
A large role in the formation of academic degrees belongs to the Bologna Process, which was founded in 1999. Its goal was the convergence of educational systems in Europe and the creation of a single European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Within the framework of the Bologna Process, it was planned to introduce a three-stage qualification system and a unified European system for transferring and accumulating credits (ECTS) in the participating countries :

Cycle	Number of ECTS	Duration of study	Degree
First cycle	180-240	3-4 years	Bachelor's degree
Second cycle	60-120	1-2 years	Master's degree
Third cycle	120-420	3+ years	Doctoral degree

To date, there are 48 countries participating in the Bologna Process. Despite a fairly stable system, the names of the degrees inside the cycles may differ. So, Bachelor’s in France is a Licence. Some countries also continue to assign specific qualifications, which makes it difficult to correlate education levels. For example, Associate's degree in the USA, Foundation degree in Britain, Specialist in Russia, etc.
It is also worth noting that most states that are not formally part of the process actually use the same degrees (for example, the USA, Canada, South Korea, New Zealand, etc.). They can have their own variations of additional qualifications, credits, and terms of study, but almost never depart from the three-cycle system.