Types of doctorate degrees

LIKE any part of culture, including academic culture, the purpose and features of the doctorate degree do change overtime. There are three known types at present – the research, the practitioner’s and the honorary doctorate. Let’s have a swift rundown of its origin up to what it is at present.

“Doctorate” comes from the Latin “docere” which means “to teach,” a term used in medieval Europe. At that time, universities required doctorates a license to be able to teach Latin. Licensing goes back to the early church practice where the term doctor referred to “the Apostles, the church fathers and other Christian authorities who taught and interpreted the Bible.” Later, in 1213, Pope Innocent III granted the University of Paris the right of the Catholic church to award the licentia, which became a universal license to teach (licentia ubiquie docendi).