Doctorandus
Encyclopedia
Doctorandus is a Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 academic title according to the pre-bachelor
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...

-master
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...

 system. The title is acquired by passing the doctoraalexamen, traditionally a matriculation exam for admission to study at doctoral level.
In most cases this concludes University study, but occasionally students will continue to do research under the supervision of a professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

, which eventually allows them to obtain the title of doctor
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...

.

Netherlands

According to Dutch legislation, the Dutch doctorandus degree is equivalent to the MA
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

 or MSc
MSC
- Computers:* Mario Strikers Charged* Microsoft Common Console Document, file for the Microsoft Management Console* Microelectronics Support Centre* Microsoft Corporation* MIDI Show Control* Message Sequence Chart...

 degree in English-speaking countries, with the difference that the coursework and comprehensive exams for a doctorate are included in the academic study. After being graduated to "drs.", the candidate can start with PhD-level research and writing the dissertation without any further exams. A colloquial term for such degree would be all but dissertation.

The abbreviation is drs. This means that Dutch graduates who received the doctorandus title may sign like drs. A. Jansen. After the Bologna process
Bologna process
The purpose of the Bologna Process is the creation of the European Higher Education Area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe, in particular under the Lisbon Recognition Convention...

, the title doctorandus has been replaced by the degrees MA and MSc, and those who receive such Dutch degrees may choose: they may use MA/MSc behind their name, or continue to use drs., mr. or ir., reflecting the field in which they graduated. According to the Art. 7.20 of the Dutch law on higher education and scientific research, a graduate of a Master degree granted through scientific education (i.e. by a Dutch research university) may sign as ir. for those who graduated a field of agriculture, natural environment or technical field, mr. for those who graduated in law and drs. by those who graduated in other fields. According to Art. 7.19a and the Dutch customs the degrees granted to such graduates are MSc for engineers, MA or MSc for doctoranduses and established by ministerial regulation for jurists (actually LLM). This means that two situations can be discerned:

1. Those who received their doctorandus title before the Bologna process have the option of signing like A. Jansen, M, since the old doctorandus title (from before the Bologna process) is similar to a Master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...

, and the shortcut M may officially be used in order to render such title as an international title. This is especially useful when one has a combination of pre-Bologna and post-Bologna titles and degrees, since a combination of one or more recognized Dutch titles with one or more international degrees is not allowed. According to the Dutch Department of Education, "The termination ‘of Arts’ or the termination ‘of Science’ are namely legally protected and may only be used by those who have got a degree therein after the introduction of the Bachelor/Master curricula (2002)." In this respect, titles received before 1 September 2002 are considered old titles, while titles received after this date are considered new titles. The old titles ir., mr. or drs. may be borne as M behind one's name, since the Art. 7.22a of the Dutch Law on higher education and scientific research refers to the old Art. 7.21 of this law, which allowed those who bear such titles to use the M (from Master) behind their names; Art. 7.22a maintains the application of the old Art. 7.21 proviso for the old titles although the old Art. 7.21 article has been revoked (i.e. it does not apply to new titles).

2. Those who received their Master degree from Dutch research universities after the Bologna process in other fields than agriculture, natural environment, technical field and law may also bear the title doctorandus and alternatively have the option of signing like A. Jansen, MA or A. Jansen, MSc, but only as specified on their diploma. In this case, either a MA or a MSc is granted, which entitles one to bear the title doctorandus. This means that people who have graduated soon after 1 September 2002 have no Bachelor's degree, but only a Master's degree.

Belgium

In Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 the title is used for graduates working on a PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

, which will then eventually change their title from Drs. to Dr.

Indonesia

The degree was also used in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

until 1990, where it was given to bachelors in social studies.
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