Master's degree

===19th century===
The 19th century saw a great expansion in the variety of master's degrees offered. At the start of the century, the only master's degree was the MA, and this was normally awarded without any further study or examination. The [[Master of Surgery|Master in Surgery]] degree was introduced by the [[University of Glasgow]] in 1815.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-1hYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA687|work=Association Medical Journal|date=20 July 1855|publisher=Provincial Medical and Surgical Association|page=687|title=The Charters of the Scotch Universities and Medical Corporations, and Medical Reform in Scotland|author=J. A. Lawrie|access-date=4 September 2017|archive-date=31 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231140819/https://books.google.com/books?id=-1hYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA687|url-status=live}}</ref> By 1861 this had been adopted throughout Scotland as well as by [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] and Durham in England and the [[University of Dublin]] in Ireland.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lGkCBTGYtmYC&pg=PA41|work=The Medical Times and Gazette|volume=2|page=441|date=13 July 1861|title=Minutes of the Medical Council|access-date=4 September 2017|archive-date=13 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191213005036/https://books.google.com/books?id=lGkCBTGYtmYC&pg=PA41|url-status=live}}</ref> When the Philadelphia College of Surgeons was established in 1870, it too conferred the Master of Surgery, "the same as that in Europe".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=11MCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA284|title=College of Surgeons|work=The Philadelphia University Journal of Medicine and Surgery|date=1870|volume=13|page=284|access-date=4 September 2017|archive-date=31 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231124008/https://books.google.com/books?id=11MCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA284|url-status=live}}</ref>

In Scotland, Edinburgh maintained separate BA and MA degrees until the mid-19th century,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B2JLAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA821|title=University of Edinburgh|work=American Journal of Education|volume=4|page=821|date=1858|last1=Barnard|first1=Henry|access-date=4 September 2017|archive-date=30 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230122203/https://books.google.com/books?id=B2JLAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA821|url-status=live}}</ref> although there were major doubts as to the quality of the Scottish degrees of this period. In 1832 [[Lord Brougham]], the [[Lord Chancellor]] and an alumnus of the University of Edinburgh, told the [[House of Lords]] that "In England the Universities conferred degrees after a considerable period of residence, after much labour performed, and if they were not in all respects so rigorous as the statutes of the Universities required, nevertheless it could not be said, that Masters of Arts were created at Oxford and Cambridge as they were in Scotland, without any residence, or without some kind of examination. In Scotland, all the statutes of the Universities which enforced conditions on the grant of degrees were a dead letter."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1832/jul/09/parliamentary-reform-bill-for-scotland#S3V0014P0_18320709_HOL_44|title=PARLIAMENTARY REFORM—BILL FOR SCOTLAND—COMMITTEE.|work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]|date=9 July 1832|access-date=21 August 2016|archive-date=2 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202000904/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1832/jul/09/parliamentary-reform-bill-for-scotland#S3V0014P0_18320709_HOL_44|url-status=live}}</ref>

It 1837, separate examinations were reintroduced for the MA in England, at the newly established [[Durham University]] (even though, as in the ancient English universities, this was to confer full membership), to be followed in 1840 by the similarly new [[University of London]], which was only empowered by its charter to grant degrees by examination.<ref>{{cite news|work=[[Yorkshire Post]]|date=29 June 1937|title=Durham University Centenary|access-date=8 August 2016|url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/19370629/295/0008|via=[[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription|author=C. E. Whiting|quote=The M.A. degree at Oxford and Cambridge had degenerated, and was granted to Bachelors of three years' standing on the payment of certain fees. At Durham the B.A. had to keep residence for three extra terms, and to pass what seems have been an honours examination in order to proceed to the Master's degree, and for a number of years classes were awarded in the M.A. examination.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|pages=21–23|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AYNCAQAAMAAJ&pg=PR1|title=Regulations of the University of London on the Subject of Degrees in Arts|date=1839|chapter=Examination for the degree of Master of Arts|access-date=4 September 2017|archive-date=5 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805180257/https://books.google.com/books?id=AYNCAQAAMAAJ&pg=PR1|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fd8NAAAAQAAJ|pages=xxv–xxvi|chapter=Regulations|title=The Durham University Calendar|date=1842|access-date=29 May 2020|archive-date=18 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418093316/https://books.google.com/books?id=fd8NAAAAQAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> However, by the middle of the century the MA as an examined second degree was again under threat, with Durham moving to awarding it automatically to those who gained honours in the BA in 1857, along the lines of the [[Oxbridge MA]], and Edinburgh following the other Scottish universities in awarding the MA as its first degree, in place of the BA, from 1858.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8gTj2h8cFM4C&pg=PA768|title=Edinburgh University|encyclopedia=Chambers's Encyclopaedia•volume=III|date=1862|last1=Chambers w. And r|first1=ltd}}</ref> At the same time, new universities were being established around the then British Empire along the lines of London, including examinations for the MA: the [[University of Sydney]] in Australia and the [[Queen's University of Ireland]] in 1850, and the Universities of Bombay (now the [[University of Mumbai]]), [[University of Madras|Madras]] and [[University of Calcutta|Calcutta]] in India in 1857.

In the US, the revival of master's degrees as an examined qualification began in 1856 at the [[University of North Carolina]], followed by the [[University of Michigan]] in 1859,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nsf.gov/nsb/publications/1969/nsb0269.pdf|pages=1–5|title=Graduate Education: Parameters for Public Policy|publisher=[[National Science Board]]|date=1969|access-date=10 August 2016|archive-date=2 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202004900/https://www.nsf.gov/nsb/publications/1969/nsb0269.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> although the idea of a master's degree as an earned second degree was not well established until the 1870s, alongside the [[PhD]] as the terminal degree.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/archives/retrieving-the-masters-degree-from-the-dustbin-of-history/i-a-(very)-brief-history-of-the-masters-degree|title=A (Very) Brief History the Master's Degree|publisher=[[American Historical Association]]|access-date=10 August 2016|archive-date=26 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826200727/https://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/archives/retrieving-the-masters-degree-from-the-dustbin-of-history/i-a-(very)-brief-history-of-the-masters-degree|url-status=live}}</ref> Sometimes it was possible to earn an MA either by examination or by seniority in the same institution; for example, in Michigan the "in course" MA was introduced in 1848 and was last awarded in 1882, while the "on examination" MA was introduced in 1859.<ref name=UMich>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ITcOAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA294|title=Degrees Authorized by the University of Michigan|series=The University of Michigan, an Encyclopedic Survey|publisher=University of Michigan|page=294|author=Walter Arthur Donnelly|date=1941|access-date=4 September 2017|archive-date=3 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103004725/https://books.google.com/books?id=ITcOAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA294|url-status=live}}</ref>

Probably the most important master's degree introduced in the 19th century was the Master of Science (MS in the US, MSc in the UK). At the University of Michigan this was introduced in two forms in 1858: "in course", first awarded in 1859, and "on examination", first awarded in 1862. The "in course" MS was last awarded in 1876.<ref name=UMich/> In Britain, however, the degree took a while longer to arrive. When London introduced its Faculty of Sciences in 1858, the university was granted a new charter giving it the power "to confer the several Degrees of Bachelor, Master, and Doctor, in Arts, Laws, Science, Medicine, Music",<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vyPiAAAAMAAJ|title=University of London, the Historical Record: 1836-1912|publisher=University of London Press|date=1912|chapter=Third Charter, 1858|pages=39–48|access-date=9 August 2016|archive-date=20 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160520025543/https://books.google.com/books?id=vyPiAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> but the degrees it awarded in science were the [[Bachelor of Science]] and the [[Doctor of Science]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000876/18591228/042/0002|title=University of London|work=Southern Reporter and Cork Commercial Courier|date=28 December 1859|via=[[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription|access-date=9 August 2016}}</ref> The same two degrees, again omitting the master's, were awarded at Edinburgh, despite the MA being the standard undergraduate degree for Arts in Scotland.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EekNAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA115|pages=115–117|title=Regulations as to Degrees in Science|work=The Edinburgh University Calendar|date=872|last1=Ravenscroft|first1=Edward|access-date=4 September 2017|archive-date=28 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228045337/https://books.google.com/books?id=EekNAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA115|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1862, a [[royal commission]] suggested that Durham should award master's degrees in theology and science (with the suggested abbreviations MT and MS, contrary to later British practice of using MTh or MTheol and MSc for these degrees),<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000156/18621007/029/0008|title=Durham University|work=Bury and Norwich Post|date=7 October 1862|via=[[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription|access-date=9 August 2016}}</ref> but its recommendations were not enacted. In 1877, Oxford introduced the Master of Natural Science, along with the Bachelor of Natural Science, to stand alongside the MA and BA degrees and be awarded to students who took their degrees in the honours school of natural sciences.<ref>{{cite news|work=Cheltenham Chronicle|date=5 June 1877|url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000312/18770605/018/0003|title=New Degrees of Science|via=[[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription|access-date=9 August 2016}}</ref> In 1879 a statute to actually establish the faculty of Natural Sciences at Oxford was promulgated,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000073/18790405/007/0005|title=University Intelligence|work=Oxford Journal|date=5 April 1879|via=[[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription|access-date=9 August 2016}}</ref> but in 1880 a proposal to rename the degree as a Master of Science was rejected along with a proposal to grant Masters of Natural Sciences a Master of Arts degree, in order to make them full members of the university.<ref>{{cite news|work=Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser|date=5 February 1880|title=University Intelligence|url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000206/18800205/063/0008|via=[[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription|access-date=9 August 2016}}</ref> This scheme would appear to have then been quietly dropped, with Oxford going on to award BAs and MAs in science.

The [[Master of Science]] (MSc) degree was finally introduced in Britain in 1878 at Durham,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000289/18780824/007/0003|work=Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette|date=24 August 1878|title=Clippings from the Athenaeum|via=[[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription|access-date=9 August 2016}}</ref> followed by the new [[Victoria University (United Kingdom)|Victoria University]] in 1881.<ref>{{cite news |work=Birmingham Daily Post |date=16 April 1881 |title=The Victoria University and its Science Degrees |access-date=8 August 2016 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000033/18810416/011/0005 |via=[[British Newspaper Archive]] |url-access=subscription }}</ref> At the Victoria University both the MA and MSc followed the lead of Durham's MA in requiring a further examination for those with an ordinary bachelor's degree but not for those with honours.<ref>{{cite book|title=University Calendar|pages=37–38|publisher=Victoria University|date=1883|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_t8NAAAAQAAJ|access-date=4 September 2017|archive-date=18 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418091423/https://books.google.com/books?id=_t8NAAAAQAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>