Master's degree

===20th century===
At the start of the 20th century, there were four different sorts of master's degree in the UK: the [[Scottish MA]], granted as a first degree; the [[Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)]], granted to all BA graduates a certain period after their first degree without further study; master's degrees that could be gained either by further study or by gaining an [[honours degree]] (which, at the time in the UK involved further study beyond the ordinary degree, as it still does in Scotland and some Commonwealth countries); and master's degrees that could only be obtained by further study (including all London master's degrees). In 1903, the ''[[The Daily News (UK)|London Daily News]]'' criticised the practice of Oxford and Cambridge, calling their MAs "the most stupendous of academic frauds" and "bogus degrees".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000051/19030831/118/0006|title=Mr. Meyer and his D.D.|work=London Daily News|date=31 August 1903|via=[[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription|access-date=13 August 2016}}</ref> Ensuing correspondence pointed out that "A Scotch M.A., at the most, is only the equivalent of an English B.A." and called for common standards for degrees, while defenders of the ancient universities said that "the Cambridge M.A. does not pretend to be a reward of learning" and that "it is rather absurd to describe one of their degrees as a bogus one because other modern Universities grant the same degree for different reasons".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000051/19030902/089/0005|title=University Degrees|work=London Daily News|date=2 September 1903|via=[[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription|access-date=13 August 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000051/19030907/160/0008|title=University Degrees|work=London Daily News|date=7 September 1903|via=[[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription|access-date=13 August 2016}}</ref>

In 1900, [[Dartmouth College]] introduced the Master of Commercial Science (MCS), first awarded in 1902. This was the first master's degree in business, the forerunner of the modern [[MBA]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bi014Kss9s8C&pg=PA15|page=15|title=MBA: The First Century|author=Carter A. Daniel|publisher=Bucknell University Press|date=1998|isbn=9780838753620|access-date=4 September 2017|archive-date=1 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200101013716/https://books.google.com/books?id=bi014Kss9s8C&pg=PA15|url-status=live}}</ref> The idea quickly crossed the Atlantic, with Manchester establishing a Faculty of Commerce, awarding Bachelor and Master of Commerce degrees, in 1903.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000051/19031126/202/0012|title=Commerce as a Science|work=London Daily News|date=26 November 1903|via=[[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription|access-date=13 August 2016}}</ref> Over the first half of the century the automatic master's degrees for honours graduates vanished as honours degrees became the standard undergraduate qualification in the UK. In the 1960s, new Scottish universities (except for Dundee, which inherited the undergraduate MA from St Andrews) reintroduced the BA as their undergraduate degree in arts, restoring the MA to its position as a postgraduate qualification. Oxford and Cambridge retained their MAs, but renamed many of their postgraduate bachelor's degrees in the higher faculties as master's degrees, e.g. the Cambridge LLB became the LLM in 1982,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.mcl.law.cam.ac.uk/the-faculty-of-law |title= The Faculty of Law |publisher= [[University of Cambridge]] |access-date= 14 August 2016 |archive-date= 21 August 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160821083737/http://www.mcl.law.cam.ac.uk/the-faculty-of-law |url-status= live }}</ref> and the Oxford BLitt, BPhil (except in philosophy) and BSc became the MLitt, MPhil and MSc.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/statutes/regulations/307-072.shtml#_Toc28140153 |title= Regulations for Degrees, Diplomas, and Certificates |publisher= [[University of Oxford]] |work= Statutes and Regulations |at= Conversion of BLitt, BPhil, and BSc to MLitt, MPhil, and MSc |access-date= 14 August 2016 |date= 16 September 2015 |archive-date= 27 July 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160727184601/http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/statutes/regulations/307-072.shtml#_Toc28140153 |url-status= live }}</ref>

In 1983, the [[Engineering Council]] issued a "'Statement on enhanced and extended undergraduate engineering degree courses", proposing the establishment of a four-year first degree (Master of Engineering).<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://digital-library.theiet.org/content/journals/10.1049/tpe.1983.0163|title=New-style engineering degrees proposed|journal=The Production Engineer|date=September 1983 |volume=62 |issue=9 |page=4 |doi=10.1049/tpe.1983.0163 }}</ref><ref name="EngC Chronicle">{{cite web|url=https://www.engc.org.uk/engcdocuments/internet/website/Chronicle%2520of%2520Engineering%2520Council%25202004.pdf|title=An Engine for Change: A Chronicle of the Engineering Council|author1=Colin R. Chapman|author2=Jack Levy|date=2004|publisher=[[Engineering Council]]|access-date=13 August 2016|archive-date=26 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826010221/http://www.engc.org.uk/engcdocuments/internet/Website/Chronicle%20of%20Engineering%20Council%202004.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> These were up and running by the mid-1980s and were followed in the early 1990s by the [[MPhys]] for physicists and since then integrated master's degrees in other sciences such as [[MChem]], [[MMath]], and MGeol, and in some institutions general or specific MSci (Master in Science) and MArts (Master in Arts) degrees. This development was noted by the [[Dearing Report]] into UK Higher Education in 1997, which called for the establishment of a national framework of qualifications and identified five different routes to master's degrees:<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/dearing1997/dearing1997.html#10|title=Higher Education in the learning society|author=The National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education|publisher=[[Her Majesty's Stationery Office]]|date=1997|access-date=14 August 2016|archive-date=15 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815085757/http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/dearing1997/dearing1997.html#10|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* Four year (five in [[Scotland]]) first degrees such as the MEng
* Conversion degrees, sometimes below the standard of undergraduate degrees in the same subject
* The honours arts degree of the [[ancient universities of Scotland]]
* Specialist postgraduate programmes, such as the MA and MSc
* The Oxbridge MA, awarded without additional work
This led to the establishment of the [[Quality Assurance Agency]], which was charged with drawing up the framework.