A licentiate (abbreviated Lic.) is an academic degree awarded in many countries, by a variety of types of educational (usually tertiary) institutions, after a variety of courses of study. It can represent completion of study at different educational levels, in Europe it is commonly for postgraduate studies program.
The canonical licentiate is also a postgraduate degree preparatory to a ecclesiastical doctoral degree when issued by pontifical universities and certain other universities in Europe. The ecclesiastical licentiate in the civil system is considered similar to the coursework and exams of a Doctor of Philosophy program.
The term is also used for a person who holds this degree.Oxford Living Dictionaries Accessed 16 September 2012
Etymology The term derives from Latin licentia, "freedom" (from Latin licere, "to be allowed"), which is applied in the phrases licentia docendi (also licentia doctorandi), meaning "permission to teach", and licentia ad practicandum (also licentia practicandi), 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 (pope 1073-1085) ordering all bishops to make provision for the teaching of liberal arts in their dioceses. Educational officials in a diocese or school (chancellors and scholasters) 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 (pope 1159-1181) 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 (eg, law, arts, theology, or medicine). 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 (the requirements for which, beyond having been awarded the licentia, were only of a ceremonial nature).
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 (beyond that required for their initial, usually Bachelor's, degree).
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' (ie non-terminal) 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 Licentiate (Theology)
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.
In the civil system, the licentiate would be considered similar to the coursework and exams of a Doctor of Philosophy program.
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."John Paul II, Apostolic Constitution Sapientia Christiana, 49.2.
The 1983 Code of Canon Law mandates that certain roles, such as bishops (canon 378 §1) or judges in ecclesiastical tribunals (canon 1421 §3), require at least a Licentiate in sacred scripture, theology, or canon law from an institute approved by the Holy See.
Notably, a licentiate also grants the holder the "licence" (which is usually necessary but is of course not sufficient by itself) to teach at any ecclesiastical institution globally.
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 (JCL), the Licentiate of Sacred Theology (STL), the Licentiate in Sacred Scripture, or the Licentiate of Philosophy (PhL). 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 (Anselmanium) Pontifical Salesian University Pontifical University of Antonianum Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in Rome Pontifical Athenaeum Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram Pontifical University of Salamanca in Spain Pontifical University of Mexico in Mexico Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas in Manila (Philippines), The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC University of Saint Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, IL, and Regis College in Toronto, Canada
The Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies in Toronto awards a licentiate in Mediaeval studies, but, unusually, only offers it as a postdoctoral degree. (Cf. the Canada section below.)
General and other licentiates: regional variants
Argentina In Argentina, the Licentiate degree (Spanish: ), by which one becomes a licenciado, is a four to six-year degree with a required final thesis defence. The Licentiate is a professional degree distinct from the Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Commerce (Perito Mercantil), Bachelor of Technology, or Bachelor of Science. Upon competition of the Licentiate degree, the student may be eligible to apply for a postgraduate degree such as a master or doctorate.The Bologna Process of Harmonization of Higher Education, Alexandra Kertz-Welzel, "Motivation zur Weiterbildung: Master- und Bachelor-Abschlüsse in den USA und Die Amerikas", Diskussion Musikpädagogik, vol. 29, pp. 33–35, 2006.
Australia Currently the only institutions in Australia to grant licentiates, apart from theological colleges, are the Australian Music Examinations Board and St Cecilia School of Music, 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 (5 for the baccalaureate and 2 for the licentiate). 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 (five years for the S.T.B.; two years for the S.T.L.). The licentiate is part of the three cycles of theological education in the Roman Catholic Church that was instituted in 1931: baccalaureate (STB); licentiate (STL) and doctorate (STD). It is the licentiate that licences faculty to teach in seminaries. See John Paul II's apostolic constitution, Sapientia Christiana.
Belgium