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125-605: The National Postgraduate Committee of the United Kingdom ( NPC ) was a charitable organisation which represented postgraduates at UK universities. In 2009 it voted to dissolve itself and merge with the National Union of Students . NPC was formed by affiliation from student representative bodies across the United Kingdom and seeks, in the words of its constitution, "to advance, in the public interest,

250-453: A Bachelor of Arts degree had been obtained, the student could choose one of three faculties— law , medicine , or theology —in which to pursue master's or doctor's degrees. The degrees of master (from Latin magister ) and doctor (from Latin doctor ) were for some time equivalent, "the former being more in favour at Paris and the universities modeled after it, and the latter at Bologna and its derivative universities. At Oxford and Cambridge

375-572: A Doctor of Science degree (from Latin Doctor scientiae ; D.Sc.). The Doctor of Science degree can also be awarded in specific fields, such as a Doctor of Science in Mathematics degree (from Latin Doctor scientiarum mathematic arum ; D.Sc.Math.), a Doctor of Agricultural Science degree (from Latin Doctor scientiarum agrariarum ; D.Sc.Agr.), a Doctor of Business Administration degree (D.B.A.), etc. In some parts of Europe, doctorates are divided into

500-494: A degree in the subject. The classic brief definition of economics, set out by Lionel Robbins in 1932, is "the science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses". Without scarcity and alternative uses, there is no economic problem . Briefer yet is "the study of how people seek to satisfy needs and wants" and "the study of the financial aspects of human behavior". Economics has two broad branches: microeconomics , where

625-611: A science of society based on historical materialism , becoming recognized as a founding figure of sociology posthumously as the term gained broader meaning. Around the start of the 20th century, the first wave of German sociologists, including Max Weber and Georg Simmel , developed sociological antipositivism. The field may be broadly recognized as an amalgam of three modes of social thought in particular: Durkheimian positivism and structural functionalism ; Marxist historical materialism and conflict theory ; and Weberian antipositivism and verstehen analysis. American sociology broadly arose on

750-457: A "system of rules", as an "interpretive concept" to achieve justice, as an "authority" to mediate people's interests, and even as "the command of a sovereign, backed by the threat of a sanction". However one likes to think of law, it is a completely central social institution. Legal policy incorporates the practical manifestation of thinking from almost every social science and the humanities. Laws are politics, because politicians create them. Law

875-404: A Bachelor's, Licenciate or Technologist degree is required in order to enter a graduate program, called pós-graduação . Generally, in order to be accepted, the candidate must have above average grades and it is highly recommended to be initiated on scientific research through government programs on undergraduate areas, as a complement to usual coursework. The competition for public universities

1000-449: A Ph.D. program without the requirement to first complete a master's. Many Canadian graduate programs allow students who start in a master's to "reclassify" into a Ph.D. program after satisfactory performance in the first year, bypassing the master's degree. Students must usually declare their research goal or submit a research proposal upon entering graduate school; in the case of master's degrees, there will be some flexibility (that is, one

1125-424: A bachelor's degree in a related field, with sufficiently high grades usually ranging from B+ and higher (different schools have different letter grade conventions, and this requirement may be significantly higher in some faculties), and recommendations from professors. Admission to a high-quality thesis-type master's program generally requires an honours bachelor or Canadian bachelor with honours , samples of

1250-577: A completed undergraduate (pass) degree with a high grade-point average ). In scientific research, it is commonly accepted that an Australian postgraduate honours is equivalent to a British master's degree (in research). There has been some debate over the acceptance of a three-year honours degree (as in the case of graduates from British universities) as the equivalent entry requirement to graduate research programmes (M.Phil., Ph.D.) in Australian universities. The letters of honours programmes also added to

1375-454: A degree of autonomy as practitioners from various disciplines share similar goals and methods. The history of the social sciences began in the Age of Enlightenment after 1651, which saw a revolution within natural philosophy , changing the basic framework by which individuals understood what was scientific. Social sciences came forth from the moral philosophy of the time and were influenced by

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1500-415: A dissertation or thesis prepared under the supervision of a tutor or director, and reviewed by a postgraduate committee. This committee should be composed of examiners external to the program, and at least one of them should also be external to the institution. Programmes are divided into coursework-based and research-based degrees. Coursework programs typically include qualifications such as: Generally,

1625-533: A distinction came to be drawn between the Faculties of Law, Medicine, and Theology and the Faculty of Arts in this respect, the title of Doctor being used for the former, and that of Master for the latter." Because theology was thought to be the highest of the subjects, the doctorate came to be thought of as higher than the master's. The main significance of the higher, postgraduate degrees was that they licensed

1750-421: A diversity of research methods, collecting both quantitative and qualitative data, draw upon empirical techniques, and engage critical theory. Common modern methods include case studies, historical research , interviewing, participant observation , social network analysis , survey research, statistical analysis, and model building, among other approaches. Since the late 1970s, many sociologists have tried to make

1875-430: A doctoral program typically requires a master's degree in a related field, sufficiently high grades, recommendations, samples of writing, a research proposal, and an interview with a prospective supervisor. Requirements are often set higher than those for a master's program. In exceptional cases, a student holding an honours BA with sufficiently high grades and proven writing and research abilities may be admitted directly to

2000-662: A foundation to practical social research. Durkheim set up the first European department of sociology at the University of Bordeaux in 1895, publishing his Rules of the Sociological Method . In 1896, he established the journal L'Année sociologique . Durkheim's seminal monograph, Suicide (1897), a case study of suicide rates among Catholic and Protestant populations, distinguished sociological analysis from psychology or philosophy. Karl Marx rejected Comte's positivism but nevertheless aimed to establish

2125-429: A graduate certificate program requires a university degree (or in some cases, a diploma with years of related experience). English speaking colleges require proof of English language proficiency such as IELTS. Some colleges may provide English language upgrading to students prior to the start of their graduate certificate program. Admission to a master's (course-based, also called "non-thesis") program generally requires

2250-452: A heavy science basis, or heavy social science basis to their degree. If they applied to read the BA . for example, but specialized in heavily science-based modules, then they will still generally be awarded the BA . Sociology is the systematic study of society, individuals' relationship to their societies, the consequences of difference, and other aspects of human social action . The meaning of

2375-921: A humanities-based subject is contested. In the United States the National Endowment for the Humanities includes history in its definition of humanities (as it does for applied linguistics). However, the National Research Council classifies history as a social science. The historical method comprises the techniques and guidelines by which historians use primary sources and other evidence to research and then to write history . The Social Science History Association , formed in 1976, brings together scholars from numerous disciplines interested in social history . The social science of law, jurisprudence, in common parlance, means

2500-610: A life of its own after World War II, influencing literary criticism and the Birmingham School establishment of cultural studies . Sociology evolved as an academic response to the challenges of modernity , such as industrialization , urbanization , secularization , and a perceived process of enveloping rationalization . The field generally concerns the social rules and processes that bind and separate people not only as individuals, but as members of associations , groups , communities and institutions , and includes

2625-422: A master's degree by research, or a master's with a significant research component. Entry requirements depend on the subject studied and the individual university. The minimum duration of a Ph.D. programme is two years, but completing within this time span is unusual, with Ph.D.s usually taking an average of three to four years to be completed. Most of the confusion with Australian postgraduate programmes occurs with

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2750-478: A minimum of two years but frequently take much longer, although not usually exceeding six years. Graduate students may take out student loans , but instead they often work as teaching or research assistants . Students often agree, as a condition of acceptance to a programme, not to devote more than twelve hours per week to work or outside interests. Funding is available to first-year masters students whose transcripts reflect exceptionally high grades; this funding

2875-479: A mutual contempt for one another, the former looking down on the latter as unscientific, the latter regarding the former as philistine . […] The difference comes down to the fact that social science really wants to be predictive, meaning that man is predictable, while the humanities say that he is not. The social science disciplines are branches of knowledge taught and researched at the college or university level. Social science disciplines are defined and recognized by

3000-706: A one-and-a-half-year programme, and twelve taught modules plus a thesis or dissertation for a two-year programme. The academic year for an Australian postgraduate programme is typically two semesters (eight months of study). Requirements for research-based programmes vary among universities. Generally, however, a student is not required to take taught modules as part of their candidacy. It is now common that first-year Ph.D. candidates are not regarded as permanent Ph.D. students for fear that they may not be sufficiently prepared to undertake independent research. In such cases, an alternative degree will be awarded for their previous work, usually an M.Phil. or M.Sc. by research. In Brazil,

3125-437: A particular profession ) and professional schools , which can include medical school , law school , business school , and other institutions of specialized fields such as nursing , speech–language pathology , engineering , or architecture . The distinction between graduate schools and professional schools is not absolute since various professional schools offer graduate degrees and vice versa. Producing original research

3250-517: A particular point in time), and a great deal of it—partly owing to the influence of Noam Chomsky —aims at formulating theories of the cognitive processing of language. However, language does not exist in a vacuum, or only in the brain, and approaches like contact linguistics, creole studies, discourse analysis , social interactional linguistics, and sociolinguistics explore language in its social context. Sociolinguistics often makes use of traditional quantitative analysis and statistics in investigating

3375-499: A people in detail, using biogenetic, archaeological, and linguistic data alongside direct observation of contemporary customs. In the 1990s and 2000s, calls for clarification of what constitutes a culture , of how an observer knows where his or her own culture ends and another begins, and other crucial topics in writing anthropology were heard. It is possible to view all human cultures as part of one large, evolving global culture. These dynamic relationships, between what can be observed on

3500-622: A prerequisite to continuing their studies, and must defend their thesis as a final requirement. Some faculties require candidates to earn sufficient credits in a third or fourth foreign language; for example, most candidates in modern Japanese topics must demonstrate ability in English, Japanese , and Mandarin , while candidates in pre-modern Japanese topics must demonstrate ability in English, Japanese, Classical Chinese , and Classical Japanese . At English-speaking Canadian universities, both master's and Ph.D. theses may be presented in English or in

3625-676: A previous bachelors for admission and are considered graduate or Graduate Entry programs even though they culminate in a bachelor's degree. Example, the Bachelor of Medicine (MBBS) or Bachelor of Dentistry (BDent) . There has also been some confusion over the conversion of the different marking schemes between British, US, and Australian systems for the purpose of assessment for entry to graduate programmes. The Australian grades are divided into four categories: High Distinction, Distinction, Credit, and Pass (though many institutions have idiosyncratic grading systems). Assessment and evaluation based on

3750-486: A requirement of taking two additional courses, at minimum, in lieu of preparing a thesis. Ph.D. candidates undertaking research must typically complete a thesis, or dissertation , consisting of original research representing a significant contribution to their field, and ranging from 200 to 500 pages. Most Ph.D. candidates will be required to sit comprehensive examinations —examinations testing general knowledge in their field of specialization—in their second or third year as

3875-502: A research project or a work placement. Both master's and doctoral programs may be done by coursework or research or a combination of the two, depending on the subject and faculty . Most faculties require both, with the emphasis on research, and with coursework being directly related to the field of research. Master's and doctoral programs may also be completed on a part-time basis. Part-time graduate programs will usually require that students take one to two courses per semester, and

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4000-447: A rule that (unlike a rule of ethics ) is capable of enforcement through institutions. However, many laws are based on norms accepted by a community and thus have an ethical foundation. The study of law crosses the boundaries between the social sciences and humanities, depending on one's view of research into its objectives and effects. Law is not always enforceable, especially in the international relations context. It has been defined as

4125-623: A separate trajectory, with little Marxist influence, an emphasis on rigorous experimental methodology, and a closer association with pragmatism and social psychology . In the 1920s, the Chicago school developed symbolic interactionism . Meanwhile, in the 1930s, the Frankfurt School pioneered the idea of critical theory , an interdisciplinary form of Marxist sociology drawing upon thinkers as diverse as Sigmund Freud and Friedrich Nietzsche . Critical theory would take on something of

4250-652: A specialization course in one area of study, mostly addressed to professional practice, and stricto sensu (Latin for "in narrow sense"), which means a master's degree or doctorate , encompassing broader and profound activities of scientific research. In Canada , the schools and faculties of graduate studies are represented by the Canadian Association of Graduate Studies (CAGS) or Association canadienne pour les études supérieures (ACES). The Association brings together 58 Canadian universities with graduate programs, two national graduate student associations, and

4375-459: A strong (or entire) scientific concentration, whereas a BA underlines a majority of social science credits. This is not always necessarily the case however, and in many UK institutions students studying the BPsy , BSc , and BA follow the same curriculum as outlined by The British Psychological Society and have the same options of specialism open to them regardless of whether they choose a balance,

4500-498: A theoretical structure. The development of social science subfields became very quantitative in methodology. The interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary nature of scientific inquiry into human behaviour, social and environmental factors affecting it, made many of the natural sciences interested in some aspects of social science methodology. Examples of boundary blurring include emerging disciplines like social research of medicine , sociobiology , neuropsychology , bioeconomics and

4625-414: A wider range of study, for which some fixed portion of coursework, sometimes known as a residency , is typically required to be taken from outside the department and university of the degree-seeking candidate to broaden the research abilities of the student. There are two main types of degrees studied for at the postgraduate level: academic and vocational degrees. The term degree in this context means

4750-423: Is a relatively autonomous term, encompassing the work of practitioners from various disciplines that share in its aims and methods. Social scientists employ a range of methods in order to analyse a vast breadth of social phenomena; from census survey data derived from millions of individuals, to the in-depth analysis of a single agent's social experiences; from monitoring what is happening on contemporary streets, to

4875-420: Is a significant component of graduate studies in the humanities , natural sciences and social sciences . This research typically leads to the writing and defense of a thesis or dissertation . In graduate programs that are oriented toward professional training (e.g., MPA , MBA , JD , MD ), the degrees may consist solely of coursework , without an original research or thesis component. Graduate students in

5000-500: Is a social science that seeks to analyze and describe the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth. The word "economics" is from the Ancient Greek οἶκος ( oikos , "family, household, estate") and νόμος ( nomos , "custom, law"), and hence means "household management" or "management of the state". An economist is a person using economic concepts and data in the course of employment, or someone who has earned

5125-402: Is a very broad science that is rarely tackled as a whole, major block. Although some subfields encompass a natural science base and a social science application, others can be clearly distinguished as having little to do with the social sciences or having a lot to do with the social sciences. For example, biological psychology is considered a natural science with a social scientific application (as

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5250-543: Is an academic and applied field involving the study of behaviour and mental processes. Psychology also refers to the application of such knowledge to various spheres of human activity, including problems of individuals' daily lives and the treatment of mental illness . The word psychology comes from the Ancient Greek ψυχή ( psyche , "soul" or "mind") and the suffix logy ("study"). Psychology differs from anthropology, economics, political science, and sociology in seeking to capture explanatory generalizations about

5375-547: Is an area that is offered at most undergraduate institutions. The word anthropos ( ἄνθρωπος ) in Ancient Greek means "human being" or "person". Eric Wolf described sociocultural anthropology as "the most scientific of the humanities, and the most humanistic of the sciences". The goal of anthropology is to provide a holistic account of humans and human nature. This means that, though anthropologists generally specialize in only one sub-field, they always keep in mind

5500-450: Is clinical medicine), social and occupational psychology are, generally speaking, purely social sciences, whereas neuropsychology is a natural science that lacks application out of the scientific tradition entirely. In British universities, emphasis on what tenet of psychology a student has studied and/or concentrated is communicated through the degree conferred: BPsy indicates a balance between natural and social sciences, BSc indicates

5625-472: Is normally given in the second year. Funding for Ph.D. students comes from a variety of sources, and many universities waive tuition fees for doctoral candidates. Funding is available in the form of scholarships , bursaries and other awards, both private and public. Graduate certificates require between eight and sixteen months of study. The length of study depends on the program. Graduate certificates primarily involve coursework. However, some may require

5750-430: Is not always the case as the credit structure of doctoral degrees is not officially defined. In some countries such as Finland and Sweden, there is the degree of Licentiate , which is more advanced than a master's degree but less so than a doctorate. Credits required are about half of those required for a doctoral degree. Coursework requirements are the same as for a doctorate, but the extent of original research required

5875-562: Is not as high as for doctorate. Medical doctors for example are typically licentiates instead of doctors. In the UK and countries whose education systems were founded on the British model, such as the US, the master's degree was for a long time the only postgraduate degree normally awarded, while in most European countries apart from the UK, the master's degree almost disappeared . In the second half of

6000-405: Is not held to one's research proposal, although major changes, for example from premodern to modern history, are discouraged). In the case of Ph.D.s, the research direction is usually known as it will typically follow the direction of the master's research. Master's degrees can be completed in one year but normally take at least two; they typically may not exceed five years. Doctoral degrees require

6125-597: Is one of the branches of science , devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology , the original "science of society", established in the 18th century. In addition to sociology, it now encompasses a wide array of academic disciplines , including anthropology , archaeology , economics , geography , linguistics , management , communication studies , psychology , culturology and political science . Positivist social scientists use methods resembling those used in

6250-515: Is philosophy, because moral and ethical persuasions shape their ideas. Law tells many of history's stories, because statutes, case law and codifications build up over time. And law is economics, because any rule about contract , tort , property law , labour law , company law and many more can have long-lasting effects on the distribution of wealth. The noun law derives from the Old English lagu , meaning something laid down or fixed and

6375-599: Is the NVQ 5 or QCF 8. Most universities award honorary degrees, usually at the postgraduate level. These are awarded to a wide variety of people, such as artists, musicians, writers, politicians, businesspeople, etc., in recognition of their achievements in their various fields. (Recipients of such degrees do not normally use the associated titles or letters, such as "Dr.") Postgraduate education can involve studying for qualifications such as postgraduate certificates and postgraduate diplomas . They are sometimes used as steps on

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6500-467: Is the continuous, systematic narrative and research into past human events as interpreted through historiographical paradigms or theories. When used as the name of a field of study , history refers to the study and interpretation of the record of humans , societies, institutions, and any topic that has changed over time. Traditionally, the study of history has been considered a part of the humanities . In modern academia , whether or not history remains

6625-431: Is the holistic "science of man", a science of the totality of human existence. The discipline deals with the integration of different aspects of the social sciences, humanities , and human biology . In the twentieth century, academic disciplines have often been institutionally divided into three broad domains. Firstly, the natural sciences seek to derive general laws through reproducible and verifiable experiments. Secondly,

6750-415: Is the norm for accepted students. Not all coursework programs require the student to already possess the relevant undergraduate degree, they are intended as "conversion" or professional qualification programs, and merely any relevant undergraduate degree with good grades is required. Ph.D. entrance requirements in the higher ranked schools typically require a student to have postgraduate research honours or

6875-541: Is typically used in North America , while "postgraduate" is more common in the rest of the English-speaking world. Graduate degrees can include master's and doctoral degrees, and other qualifications such as graduate diplomas, certificates and professional degrees . A distinction is typically made between graduate schools (where courses of study vary in the degree to which they provide training for

7000-542: Is very large, as they are the most prestigious and respected universities in Brazil. Public universities do not charge fees for undergraduate level/course. Funding, similar to wages, is available but is usually granted by public agencies linked to the university in question (i.e. FAPESP , CAPES , CNPq , etc.), given to the students previously ranked based on internal criteria. There are two types of postgraduate ; lato sensu (Latin for "in broad sense"), which generally means

7125-641: The Age of Revolutions , such as the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution . The social sciences developed from the sciences ( experimental and applied ), or the systematic knowledge-bases or prescriptive practices, relating to the social improvement of a group of interacting entities . The beginnings of the social sciences in the 18th century are reflected in the grand encyclopedia of Diderot , with articles from Jean-Jacques Rousseau and other pioneers. The growth of

7250-552: The Latin educare , or to facilitate the realization of an individual's potential and talents. It is an application of pedagogy , a body of theoretical and applied research relating to teaching and learning and draws on many disciplines such as psychology, philosophy , computer science , linguistics, neuroscience , sociology and anthropology. Geography as a discipline can be split broadly into two main sub fields: human geography and physical geography . The former focuses largely on

7375-501: The Master of Business Administration degree (M.B.A.) can last up to two years to satisfy the requirement to become a knowledgeable business leader. Doctorates . These are often further divided into academic and professional doctorates. An academic doctorate can be awarded as a Doctor of Philosophy degree (from Latin Doctor philosophiae ; Ph.D. or D.Phil.), a Doctor of Psychology degree (from Latin Doctor psychologia; Psy.D.), or as

7500-565: The Master of Letters degree (from Latin Magister litterarum ; M.Litt.) (all formerly known in France as DEA or DESS before 2005, and nowadays Masters too). In the UK, master's degrees may be taught or by research: taught master's degrees include the Master of Science and Master of Arts degrees which last one year and are worth 180 CATS credits (equivalent to 90 ECTS European credits ), whereas

7625-400: The Master of Letters degree tends to be the taught or lower master's degree. In many fields such as clinical social work , or library science in North America , a master's is the terminal degree . Professional degrees such as the Master of Architecture degree (M.Arch.) can last to three and a half years to satisfy professional requirements to be an architect. Professional degrees such as

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7750-496: The United States and Europe . Another route undertaken was initiated by Émile Durkheim , studying "social facts", and Vilfredo Pareto , opening metatheoretical ideas and individual theories. A third means developed, arising from the methodological dichotomy present, in which social phenomena were identified with and understood; this was championed by figures such as Max Weber . The fourth route taken, based in economics,

7875-411: The academic journals in which research is published, and the learned social science societies and academic departments or faculties to which their practitioners belong. Social science fields of study usually have several sub-disciplines or branches, and the distinguishing lines between these are often both arbitrary and ambiguous. The following are widely-considered to be social sciences: Anthropology

8000-496: The built environment and how space is created, viewed and managed by humans as well as the influence humans have on the space they occupy. This may involve cultural geography , transportation , health , military operations , and cities . The latter examines the natural environment and how the climate, vegetation and life, soil, oceans , water and landforms are produced and interact (is also commonly regarded as an Earth Science ). Physical geography examines phenomena related to

8125-480: The full-time post of General Secretary and began its affiliation scheme. The NPC sought charitable status for a number of years and obtained this in 2002, following the passing of a new constitution. Past General Secretaries: The majority of NPC's work was conducted by the General Secretary who worked full-time; there were 14 other voluntary officers on the executive to assist in the general running of

8250-419: The history and sociology of science . Increasingly, quantitative research and qualitative methods are being integrated in the study of human action and its implications and consequences. In the first half of the 20th century, statistics became a free-standing discipline of applied mathematics. Statistical methods were used confidently. In the contemporary period, Karl Popper and Talcott Parsons influenced

8375-533: The law , education , health , economy and trade , and art . Around the start of the 21st century, the expanding domain of economics in the social sciences has been described as economic imperialism . A distinction is usually drawn between the social sciences and the humanities . Classicist Allan Bloom writes in The Closing of the American Mind (1987): Social science and humanities have

8500-412: The measurement of earth . As a result of the two subfields using different approaches a third field has emerged, which is environmental geography . Environmental geography combines physical and human geography and looks at the interactions between the environment and humans. Other branches of geography include social geography , regional geography , and geomatics . Geographers attempt to understand

8625-408: The mental function and overt behaviour of individuals, while the other disciplines focus on creating descriptive generalizations about the functioning of social groups or situation-specific human behaviour. In practice, however, there is quite a lot of cross-fertilization that takes place among the various fields. Psychology differs from biology and neuroscience in that it is primarily concerned with

8750-555: The natural sciences as tools for understanding societies, and so define science in its stricter modern sense . Interpretivist or speculative social scientists, by contrast, may use social critique or symbolic interpretation rather than constructing empirically falsifiable theories, and thus treat science in its broader sense. In modern academic practice, researchers are often eclectic , using multiple methodologies (for instance, by combining both quantitative and qualitative research ). The term social research has also acquired

8875-844: The 19th and early 20th centuries. Ferdinand Saussure is considered the father of modern linguistics. Political science is an academic and research discipline that deals with the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behaviour. Fields and subfields of political science include political economy , political theory and philosophy , civics and comparative politics , theory of direct democracy , apolitical governance, participatory direct democracy, national systems, cross-national political analysis, political development, international relations, foreign policy , international law , politics, public administration, administrative behaviour, public law, judicial behaviour, and public policy . Political science also studies power in international relations and

9000-530: The 19th century, however, US universities began to follow the European model by awarding doctorates, and this practice spread to the UK. Conversely, most European universities now offer master's degrees parallelling or replacing their regular system, so as to offer their students better chances to compete in an international market dominated by the American model. In the UK, an equivalent formation to doctorate

9125-529: The Australian Government's FEE-Help loan scheme. Some students may be eligible for a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP), via the HECS-Help scheme, at a substantially lower cost. Requirements for the successful completion of a taught master's programme are that the student pass all the required modules. Some universities require eight taught modules for a one-year programme, twelve modules for

9250-412: The Australian higher education system follows that of its British counterpart (with some notable exceptions). Entrance is decided by merit, entrance to coursework-based programmes is usually not as strict; most universities usually require a "Credit" average as entry to their taught programmes in a field related to their previous undergraduate. On average, however, a strong "Credit" or "Distinction" average

9375-826: The Australian system is not equivalent to British or US schemes because of the "low-marking" scheme used by Australian universities. For example, a British student who achieves 70+ will receive an A grade, whereas an Australian student with 70+ will receive a Distinction which is not the highest grade in the marking scheme. The Australian government usually offer full funding (fees and a monthly stipend) to its citizens and permanent residents who are pursuing research-based higher degrees. There are also highly competitive scholarships for international candidates who intend to pursue research-based programmes. Taught-degree scholarships (certain master's degrees, Grad. Dip., Grad. Cert., D.Eng., D.B.A.) are almost non-existent for international students. Domestic students have access to tuition subsidy through

9500-533: The Doctor of Philosophy degree or "junior doctorate", and the "higher doctorates" such as the Doctor of Science degree, which is generally awarded to highly distinguished professors. A doctorate is the terminal degree in most fields. In the United States, there is little distinction between a Doctor of Philosophy degree and a Doctor of Science degree. In the UK, Doctor of Philosophy degrees are often equivalent to 540 CATS credits or 270 ECTS European credits, but this

9625-910: The Earth in terms of physical and spatial relationships. The first geographers focused on the science of mapmaking and finding ways to precisely project the surface of the earth. In this sense, geography bridges some gaps between the natural sciences and social sciences. Historical geography is often taught in a college in a unified Department of Geography. Modern geography is an all-encompassing discipline, closely related to Geographic Information Science , that seeks to understand humanity and its natural environment. The fields of urban planning , regional science , and planetology are closely related to geography. Practitioners of geography use many technologies and methods to collect data such as Geographic Information Systems , remote sensing , aerial photography , statistics , and global positioning systems . History

9750-586: The Fulbright Program and the Organization of American States (OAS), have been known to grant full scholarships for tuition with apportions for housing. Upon completion of at least two years' research and coursework as a postgraduate student, a candidate must demonstrate truthful and original contributions to his or her specific field of knowledge within a frame of academic excellence. The Master and Doctoral candidate's work should be presented in

9875-490: The Italian one, sociology slowly affirms itself and experiences the difficulty of affirming a strategic knowledge beyond philosophy and theology. Around the start of the 20th century, Enlightenment philosophy was challenged in various quarters. After the use of classical theories since the end of the scientific revolution, various fields substituted mathematics studies for experimental studies and examining equations to build

10000-517: The NUS with regards to that organisation's ability to meet the needs of postgraduates, and that likelihood that this capacity will increase." Other organisations cited additional reasons which led to NPC's dissolution, including financial and management difficulties. The NPC was formed in the 1980s as a network of officers. In 1990, recognising that at that time the National Union of Students (NUS)

10125-416: The US, Australia, and other countries) is often offered by some of the same senior academic staff and departments who teach undergraduate courses. Unlike in undergraduate programs, however, it is less common for graduate students to take coursework outside their specific field of study at graduate or graduate entry level. At the doctorate programs, though, it is quite common for students to take courses from

10250-402: The abstract sound system of a particular language); however, work in areas like evolutionary linguistics (the study of the origins and evolution of language) and psycholinguistics (the study of psychological factors in human language) cut across these divisions. The overwhelming majority of modern research in linguistics takes a predominantly synchronic perspective (focusing on language at

10375-460: The adjective legal comes from the Latin word lex . Linguistics investigates the cognitive and social aspects of human language. The field is divided into areas that focus on aspects of the linguistic signal, such as syntax (the study of the rules that govern the structure of sentences), semantics (the study of meaning), morphology (the study of the structure of words), phonetics (the study of speech sounds) and phonology (the study of

10500-853: The biological, linguistic, historic and cultural aspects of any problem. Since anthropology arose as a science in Western societies that were complex and industrial, a major trend within anthropology has been a methodological drive to study peoples in societies with more simple social organization, sometimes called "primitive" in anthropological literature, but without any connotation of "inferior". Today, anthropologists use terms such as "less complex" societies or refer to specific modes of subsistence or production , such as "pastoralist" or "forager" or "horticulturalist" to refer to humans living in non-industrial, non-Western cultures, such people or folk ( ethnos ) remaining of great interest within anthropology. The quest for holism leads most anthropologists to study

10625-526: The confusion. For example: B.Sc. (Hons) are the letters gained for postgraduate research honours at the University of Queensland. B.Sc. (Hons) does not indicate that this honours are postgraduate qualification. The difficulty also arises between different universities in Australia—some universities have followed the UK system. There are many professional programs such as medical and dental school require

10750-580: The descriptive understanding of the social realm. He proposed that social ills could be remedied through sociological positivism, an epistemological approach outlined in The Course in Positive Philosophy [1830–1842] and A General View of Positivism (1844). Though Comte is generally regarded as the "Father of Sociology", the discipline was formally established by another French thinker, Émile Durkheim (1858–1917), who developed positivism as

10875-498: The discipline is as a cluster of sub-fields that examine different dimensions of society. For example, social stratification studies inequality and class structure; demography studies changes in population size or type; criminology examines criminal behaviour and deviance; and political sociology studies the interaction between society and state. Since its inception, sociological epistemologies, methods, and frames of enquiry, have significantly expanded and diverged. Sociologists use

11000-426: The discipline useful for purposes beyond the academy. The results of sociological research aid educators, lawmakers, administrators, developers, and others interested in resolving social problems and formulating public policy, through subdisciplinary areas such as evaluation research , methodological assessment, and public sociology . In the early 1970s, women sociologists began to question sociological paradigms and

11125-488: The early part of the 20th century, economics has focused largely on measurable quantities, employing both theoretical models and empirical analysis. Quantitative models, however, can be traced as far back as the physiocratic school . Economic reasoning has been increasingly applied in recent decades to other social situations such as politics , law, psychology , history , religion , marriage and family life, and other social interactions. The expanding domain of economics in

11250-427: The education of postgraduate students within the United Kingdom" through representation, lobbying, contribution to public policy debate, initiating communication between relevant parties and bringing key issues and potential solutions to wider audiences. The organisation's motion to dissolve and engage in merger talks with NUS cited several reasons for the organisation's winding up, including "the increased capacity of

11375-578: The equivalent qualification in Law degrees (a graduate from a "carrera de grado") are similar in content, length and skill-set to a joint first and second cycles in the qualification framework of the Bologna Process (that is, Bachelor and Master qualifications). While a significant portion of postgraduate students finance their tuition and living costs with teaching or research work at private and state-run institutions, international institutions, such as

11500-540: The examination of the organization and development of human social life. The sociological field of interest ranges from the analysis of short contacts between anonymous individuals on the street to the study of global social processes . In the terms of sociologists Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann , social scientists seek an understanding of the Social Construction of Reality . Most sociologists work in one or more subfields . One useful way to describe

11625-419: The frequency of features, while some disciplines, like contact linguistics, focus on qualitative analysis. While certain areas of linguistics can thus be understood as clearly falling within the social sciences, other areas, like acoustic phonetics and neurolinguistics , draw on the natural sciences. Linguistics draws only secondarily on the humanities, which played a rather greater role in linguistic inquiry in

11750-442: The furtherance of the social sciences. Researchers continue to search for a unified consensus on what methodology might have the power and refinement to connect a proposed "grand theory" with the various midrange theories that, with considerable success, continue to provide usable frameworks for massive, growing data banks; for more, see consilience . The social sciences will for the foreseeable future be composed of different zones in

11875-510: The general laws derived in physics or chemistry, or they may explain individual cases through more general principles, as in many fields of psychology. Anthropology (like some fields of history) does not easily fit into one of these categories, and different branches of anthropology draw on one or more of these domains. Within the United States, anthropology is divided into four sub-fields: archaeology, physical or biological anthropology , anthropological linguistics , and cultural anthropology . It

12000-531: The ground, as opposed to what can be observed by compiling many local observations remain fundamental in any kind of anthropology, whether cultural, biological, linguistic or archaeological. Communication studies deals with processes of human communication , commonly defined as the sharing of symbols to create meaning . The discipline encompasses a range of topics, from face-to-face conversation to mass media outlets such as television broadcasting. Communication studies also examine how messages are interpreted through

12125-479: The holder to teach ("doctor" comes from Latin docere , "to teach"). In most countries, the hierarchy of postgraduate degrees is as follows: Master's degrees . These are sometimes placed in a further hierarchy, starting with degrees such as the Master of Arts (from Latin Magister artium ; M.A.) and Master of Science (from Latin Magister scientiae ; M.Sc.) degrees, then the Master of Philosophy degree (from Latin Magister philosophiae ; M.Phil.), and finally

12250-473: The humanities generally study local traditions, through their history, literature, music, and arts, with an emphasis on understanding particular individuals, events, or eras. Finally, the social sciences have generally attempted to develop scientific methods to understand social phenomena in a generalizable way, though usually with methods distinct from those of the natural sciences. The anthropological social sciences often develop nuanced descriptions rather than

12375-410: The humanities, sciences and social sciences often receive funding from their university (e.g., fellowships or scholarships ) or a teaching assistant position or other job; in the profession-oriented grad programs, students are less likely to get funding, and the fees are typically much higher. Although graduate school programs are distinct from undergraduate degree programs, graduate instruction (in

12500-523: The humanities. As a social science, the discipline often overlaps with sociology, psychology, anthropology, biology, political science, economics, and public policy, among others. From a humanities perspective, communication is concerned with rhetoric and persuasion (traditional graduate programs in communication studies trace their history to the rhetoricians of Ancient Greece ). The field applies to outside disciplines as well, including engineering, architecture, mathematics, and information science. Economics

12625-760: The interaction of mental processes and behaviour, and of the overall processes of a system, and not simply the biological or neural processes themselves, though the subfield of neuropsychology combines the study of the actual neural processes with the study of the mental effects they have subjectively produced. Many people associate psychology with clinical psychology , which focuses on assessment and treatment of problems in living and psychopathology. In reality, psychology has myriad specialties including social psychology , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , educational psychology , industrial-organizational psychology , mathematical psychology , neuropsychology, and quantitative analysis of behaviour. Psychology

12750-562: The invisibility of women in sociological studies, analysis, and courses. In 1969, feminist sociologists challenged the discipline's androcentrism at the American Sociological Association's annual conference. This led to the founding of the organization Sociologists for Women in Society, and, eventually, a new sociology journal, Gender & Society . Today, the sociology of gender is considered to be one of

12875-777: The language of the subject ( German for German literature , for example), but if this is the case an extensive abstract must be also presented in English. In exceptional circumstances , a thesis may be presented in French. One exception to this rule is McGill University, where all work can be submitted in either English or French, unless the purpose of the course of study is acquisition of a language. French-speaking universities have varying sets of rules; some (e.g. HEC Montreal ) will accept students with little knowledge of French if they can communicate with their supervisors (usually in English). Social sciences Social science

13000-446: The master's degrees by research include the Master of Research degree (M.Res.) which also lasts one year and is worth 180 CATS or 90 ECTS credits (the difference compared to the Master of Science and Master of Arts degrees being that the research is much more extensive) and the Master of Philosophy degree which lasts two years. In Scottish Universities, the Master of Philosophy degree tends to be by research or higher master's degree and

13125-453: The most prominent sub-fields in the discipline. New sociological sub-fields continue to appear — such as community studies , computational sociology , environmental sociology , network analysis, actor-network theory , gender studies, and a growing list, many of which are cross-disciplinary in nature. Additional applied or interdisciplinary fields related to the social sciences or are applied social sciences include: The origin of

13250-399: The moving from one stage or level to another (from French degré , from Latin dē- + gradus ), and first appeared in the 13th century. Although systems of higher education date back to ancient India , ancient Greece , ancient Rome and ancient China , the concept of postgraduate education depends upon the system of awarding degrees at different levels of study, and can be traced to

13375-642: The organisation. Income was derived from affiliation fees by several student representative bodies in the United Kingdom along with a small number of donations. The Journal of Graduate Education ( ISSN   1354-0653 ) was an academic journal established by the NPC in 1994. It was incorporated with the now-defunct International Journal of Graduate Education in 2008. Postgraduate The organization and structure of postgraduate education varies in different countries, as well as in different institutions within countries. The term "graduate school" or "grad school"

13500-516: The part-time graduate programs may be offered in online formats, evening formats, or a combination of both. Master's candidates undertaking research are typically required to complete a thesis comprising some original research and ranging from 70 to 200 pages. Some fields may require candidates to study at least one foreign language if they have not already earned sufficient foreign-language credits. Some faculties require candidates to defend their thesis , but many do not. Those that do not, often have

13625-474: The political, cultural, economic, and social dimensions of their contexts. Communication is institutionalized under many different names at different universities, including communication , communication studies , speech communication , rhetorical studies , communication science , media studies , communication arts , mass communication , media ecology , and communication and media science . Communication studies integrate aspects of both social sciences and

13750-417: The research of, and sometimes distinct in approach toward, the field. The term "social science" may refer either to the specific sciences of society established by thinkers such as Comte, Durkheim, Marx, and Weber, or more generally to all disciplines outside of "noble science" and arts . By the late 19th century, the academic social sciences were constituted of five fields: jurisprudence and amendment of

13875-435: The research-based programmes, particularly scientific programmes. Research degrees generally require candidates to have a minimum of a second-class four-year honours undergraduate degree to be considered for admission to a Ph.D. programme (M.Phil. are an uncommon route ). In science, a British first class honours (3 years) is not equivalent to an Australian first class honours (1 year research postgraduate programme that requires

14000-496: The route to a degree, as part of the training for a specific career, or as a qualification in an area of study too narrow to warrant a full degree course. In Argentina, the admission to a Postgraduate program at an Argentine University requires the full completion of any undergraduate course, called in Argentina "carrera de grado" (v.gr. Licenciado , Ingeniero or Lawyer degree). The qualifications of 'Licenciado', 'Ingeniero', or

14125-419: The social sciences has been described as economic imperialism. Education encompasses teaching and learning specific skills, and also something less tangible but more profound: the imparting of knowledge, positive judgement and well-developed wisdom. Education has as one of its fundamental aspects the imparting of culture from generation to generation (see socialization ). To educate means 'to draw out', from

14250-413: The social sciences is also reflected in other specialized encyclopedias. The term "social science" was coined in French by Mirabeau in 1767, before becoming a distinct conceptual field in the nineteenth century. Social science was influenced by positivism, focusing on knowledge based on actual positive sense experience and avoiding the negative; metaphysical speculation was avoided. Auguste Comte used

14375-426: The social sciences, uses methods and techniques that relate to the kinds of inquiries sought: primary sources such as historical documents, interviews, and official records, as well as secondary sources such as scholarly articles , are used in building and testing theories. Empirical methods include survey research, statistical analysis or econometrics , case studies , experiments, and model building. Psychology

14500-633: The student's writing as well as a research thesis proposal. Some programs require Graduate Record Exams (GRE) in both the general examination and the examination for its specific discipline, with minimum scores for admittance. At English-speaking universities, applicants from countries where English is not the primary language are required to submit scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language ( TOEFL ). Nevertheless, some French speaking universities, like HEC Montreal, also require candidates to submit TOEFL score or to pass their own English test. Admission to

14625-525: The survey can be traced back at least as early as the Domesday Book in 1086, while some scholars pinpoint the origin of demography to 1663 with the publication of John Graunt 's Natural and Political Observations upon the Bills of Mortality . Social research began most intentionally, however, with the positivist philosophy of science in the 19th century. In contemporary usage, "social research"

14750-399: The term science sociale to describe the field, taken from the ideas of Charles Fourier ; Comte also referred to the field as social physics . Following this period, five paths of development sprang forth in the social sciences, influenced by Comte in other fields. One route that was taken was the rise of social research. Large statistical surveys were undertaken in various parts of

14875-505: The theory of great powers and superpowers . Political science is methodologically diverse, although recent years have witnessed an upsurge in the use of the scientific method , that is, the proliferation of formal-deductive model building and quantitative hypothesis testing. Approaches to the discipline include rational choice , classical political philosophy, interpretivism , structuralism , and behaviouralism , realism , pluralism, and institutionalism . Political science, as one of

15000-455: The three federal research-granting agencies and organizations having an interest in graduate studies. Its mandate is to promote, advance, and foster excellence in graduate education and university research in Canada. In addition to an annual conference, the association prepares briefs on issues related to graduate studies including supervision, funding, and professional development. Admission to

15125-423: The unit of analysis is the individual agent, such as a household or firm, and macroeconomics , where the unit of analysis is an economy as a whole. Another division of the subject distinguishes positive economics, which seeks to predict and explain economic phenomena, from normative economics , which orders choices and actions by some criterion; such orderings necessarily involve subjective value judgments. Since

15250-478: The word comes from the suffix -logy , which means "study of", derived from Ancient Greek, and the stem soci- , which is from the Latin word socius , meaning "companion", or society in general. Auguste Comte (1798–1857) coined the term sociology to describe a way to apply natural science principles and techniques to the social world in 1838. Comte endeavoured to unify history, psychology and economics through

15375-416: The workings of European medieval universities , mostly Italian. University studies took six years for a bachelor's degree and up to twelve additional years for a master's degree or doctorate. The first six years taught the faculty of the arts, which was the study of the seven liberal arts : arithmetic , geometry , astronomy, music theory, grammar , logic, and rhetoric. The main emphasis was on logic. Once

15500-557: Was developed and furthered economic knowledge as a hard science . The last path was the correlation of knowledge and social values ; the antipositivism and verstehen sociology of Max Weber firmly demanded this distinction. In this route, theory (description) and prescription were non-overlapping formal discussions of a subject. The foundation of social sciences in the West implies conditioned relationships between progressive and traditional spheres of knowledge. In some contexts, such as

15625-419: Was not well set up to represent the particular issues postgraduate faced nationally it held its first conference at the University of Cambridge ; Chris Whitty of Wolfson College , Oxford (later Chief Medical Officer for England) was elected chair. Following this a growth in activity ensued, leading to the adoption of formal structures. It adopted its first constitution in 1992, the same year that it created

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