Ad eundem degree

An {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} degree is an academic degree awarded by one university or college to an alumnus of another, in a process commonly known as incorporation. The recipient of the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} degree is often a faculty member at the institution which awards the degree, e.g. at the University of Cambridge, where incorporation is expressly limited to a person who "has been admitted to a University office or a Headship or a Fellowship (other than an Honorary Fellowship) of a College, or holds a post in the University Press ... or is a Head-elect or designate of a College".<ref name="Section 8. Incorporation">Ordinances of the University of Cambridge, Chapter II, Section 8. Incorporation.</ref>

An {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} degree is not an earned degree.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

History

In the later Middle Ages it was common, when a graduate from one university moved into the neighborhood of another, for the new university to admit the graduate as a courtesy, "at the same degree" (in Latin, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). Thus if someone was a Bachelor of Arts in the university that they had attended, they would likewise be a bachelor of arts of their new university. Not every college extended this courtesy to all other colleges, however.

The practice of incorporation diminished in the early 19th century, but it continues at the University of Oxford,<ref>University of Oxford, Council Regulations 22 of 2002 Template:Webarchive, sec. 1.7-1.18.</ref> the University of Cambridge,<ref name="Section 8. Incorporation" /> and Trinity College Dublin.<ref>The 2010 Consolidated Statutes of Trinity College Dublin and of the University of Dublin Template:Webarchive, Division - University, sec. 3.(4)(a), p. 157.</ref>

Australia

At the University of Sydney, members of the academic staff and general staff who do not hold a degree from the university, "and who have completed a minimum of ten years’ service prior to their retirement may be considered by Senate, on their retirement, for admission ad eundem gradum to an appropriate degree of the University."<ref name="sydney2">Degrees conferred ad eundem gradum, The University of Sydney, 2007</ref>

Ireland

A number of female students at Oxford and Cambridge were awarded ad eundem University of Dublin degrees at Trinity College Dublin, between 1904 and 1907, at a time when their own universities refused to confer degrees upon women and were nicknamed steamboat ladies.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Today, graduates of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge are eligible to apply for corresponding degrees of Trinity College Dublin, and vice versa, provided that they wish to register for a degree at Trinity College or are members of the academic staff, and pay the required fee.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

South Africa

Rhodes University in South Africa uses the term {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} to give a student status to undertake a research higher degree based on experience, as opposed to an explicit qualification.<ref name="rhodes">Higher Degrees Guide Template:Webarchive, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, 2010</ref> In this case the student does not acquire a qualification, but is exempt from an entry requirement.

United Kingdom

At the University of Oxford, incorporation first appeared in the University Statutes in 1516, although the practice itself is older: in the 15th and early 16th centuries, incorporation was granted to members of universities from all over Europe. In 1861, incorporation was restricted to members of Cambridge University and Trinity College, Dublin. In 1908, incorporation was further restricted to specific degrees from these universities.<ref>Oxford University Archives, A History of Incorporation at Oxford.</ref> While not an earned degree, both original degree(s) and incorporated ad eundem degree(s) are given in post-nominals listed in the Oxford University Calendar.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

After the foundation of the University of Durham in 1832, Durham made attempts to have its degrees recognised in the ad eundem system, introducing the first external examiner system, with all examinations co-marked by an Oxford academic, to assure the other universities that it was maintaining comparable standards. These attempts were rebuffed by the other universities, and eventually abandoned by Durham.<ref name="universityhistories">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Still, Durham granted graduates from other universities degrees ad eundem until the practice was abolished by the adoption of new university statutes in 1909.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

United States

Original use

In the United States, the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts as a regularly awarded academic qualification from graduates of other colleges and universities generally dates from the colonial period, and was awarded at the institutions listed below.

Institution	First Documented	Most Recently Documented
Harvard University	Common in the 1700s.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Ad eundem degrees were not specifically recorded as such at Harvard until the period after 1750.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	1830<ref name=":5"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Yale University	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	1879<ref name="Miscellaneous Regulations"/>
Columbia University	1758<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	1774<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Princeton University	1763<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	1884<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
University of Pennsylvania<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Williams College	1795<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Contemporary use

Five US universities follow a tradition that only alumni may hold certain faculty positions, and in limited cases preserve the tradition of the ad eundem Master of Arts to the present day, with the specific circumstances described below.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":2">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Institution	MA awarded upon promotion to	First documented	Most recent
Amherst College	Professor	1916<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Brown University	Associate Professor	1945 <ref>[1]</ref>	Current<ref name="commencement.brown.edu">[2]</ref>
Harvard University	Associate Professor	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":5">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Wesleyan University	Professor	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Yale University	Professor	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Current<ref name="news.yale.edu"/>

Upon being awarded tenure

File:Brown - Ad Eundem Gradum.jpg

Ad eundem gradum Master of Arts degree awarded by Brown University

At Brown and Harvard the degrees are awarded to those faculty who are granted tenure and the rank of associate professor, usually after approximately eight years of service to the university as an assistant professor or for a shorter amount of time for a professor with prior service at another university.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="commencement.brown.edu"/><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> Because these degrees do not involve any further study, many faculty members do not list them on their curricula vitae, although some, such as Francesca Gino, choose to do so given the exclusivity of the degree.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

At Harvard the degree is described as given ut in grege nostro numeretur ("so that (s)he may be numbered in our flock").<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3">Template:Citation</ref> During the 1950s, it was noted that the degree were "not announced at Commencement, or included in the printed list of honorary degrees circulated at that time, nor is there any 'citation.'"<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Instead, the President of Harvard would present "the diploma at the first meeting of the faculty following the recipient's appointment to permanent rank."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

At Brown, the degrees have been awarded as a part of the annual May commencement ceremony.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref>

Upon being promoted to full professor

At Amherst, Wesleyan, and Yale, the degrees are conferred upon those who rise to the rank of full professor.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Yale refers to this degree as the MA Privatim. During the 150th anniversary of Princeton University, in 1896, 16 full professors were awarded the MA Privatim.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

At Amherst, in recent years, the degrees are awarded during first-year student convocation in August, at Yale it is an "elegant, brief ceremony, usual in February or March", and at Wesleyan as part of commencement in May.<ref name="amherst.edu">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="secretary.yale.edu">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":6">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Amherst College grants this degree to college faculty despite the fact that it grants only bachelor's degrees to its matriculated students.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> However, those professors who already earned a bachelor's degree at Amherst or Wesleyan by attending as an undergraduate are not presented with a second degree.<ref name=":6" /> In 2024, Amherst College President Michael A. Elliott called this additional rule a "custom, some might say a strange custom."<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Posthumous awards

In April 2023, the President of Yale, Peter Salovey, awarded M.A. Privatim degrees posthumously to Reverend James W. C. Pennington and Reverend Alexander Crummell, the first two black students at Yale, both of whom faced numerous incidents of discrimination and left Yale without earning degrees.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See also

• Master of Arts (Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin)