, the principal founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies, holds a mag.art. degree as his highest degree, translated into English as a PhD. In
Denmark and
Norway, the Magister's degree was formerly an advanced research degree used in certain fields, that was equivalent to the
PhD in English-speaking countries. It was usually translated as a PhD in an English language context and was replaced by PhD degrees in the 1990s and 2000s. The Magister's degree in Denmark and Norway was based on the classical Magister's degree also found in other European countries, that was equal to the doctorate. The Magister's degree was, and to some extent still is, commonly the
terminal degree held by academics in the new sciences, that is the humanities, natural sciences and social sciences; it was not used in the traditional "higher faculties" of theology, law and medicine in the modern era. In Norway, the Magister's degree in the 20th century required 7–8 years of studies, with strong emphasis on the scientific dissertation, which eventually had a formal standardized scope of 3 years; the degree required a first degree such as a
cand.mag. (4–5 years of studies) or equivalent, an independent scientific work with a dissertation workload corresponding to three years of full-time research and dissertation work, and a public
trial lecture. As such it was a research-only degree. The dissertation was evaluated by a committee; the purpose of the trial lecture, a requirement the degree shared only with the doctoral and licentiate's degrees, was to demonstrate the candidate's suitability for permanent (tenured) academic positions at university-level. Like doctoral and licentiate's dissertations, magister's dissertations did not receive grades, but all approved dissertations were
ipso facto regarded as "laudable" (the highest grade, equal to A in the
ECTS grading scale). The degree of magister qualified for positions as assistant or associate professor, and many went on to become full professors without obtaining further degrees. The Magister's degree became increasingly rare from the 1970s, and as a result of Denmark and Norway implementing the
Bologna Process, it has now been completely abolished and replaced by PhD degrees. In Norway, the formal requirements for equivalence with the modern PhD are "a standardized scope of at least 3 years of study" and "an independent scientific work" with a thesis workload corresponding to "at least two years of standardized full time study," which is one year less than the requirements for the Magister's degree. Two main forms of the Magister's degree existed:
Mag. art. (abbreviation of the Latin ''
, "teacher of the arts"), if the degree was earned in humanities or social sciences, and mag. scient.
for Natural Science. In Denmark, there was also a third degree in sociology, mag. scient. soc''. The mag. scient. degree was discontinued in the 1970s and the mag. art. degree programs in Denmark ceased immatriculating students in 2007, but the degree was rarely used since the 1990s. In Norway it was abolished some years earlier, having become an increasingly rare, but highly regarded, degree, especially after the 1970s. The degree was introduced in
Denmark–Norway in 1479, as the highest degree at the Faculty of Philosophy, and was equivalent to the doctoral degrees in theology, law and medicine. It was replaced by the
Doctor Philosophiae degree as the highest degree at the Faculty of Philosophy in both countries in 1824. In 1848, the Magister's degree was reintroduced in Denmark, as a degree above the candidate's degree. The new Magister's degree was originally formally known as
Magisterkonferens, "Magister Counselor". The program was designed to be preparation for finding employment as a researcher. Sometimes the degree was obtained after the candidate's degree had been obtained. The Magister's degrees, directly based on the Danish ones, were introduced in Norway in 1921. In 1955, the Licentiate's degrees were also introduced at the
University of Oslo Faculty of Law, and were occasionally awarded until 2003. A Norwegian Magister's degree required a three-year scientific dissertation of high quality, and is considered "approximately equivalent to an American Ph.D." Also in Denmark the Magister's degree is considered a degree at the same level as a PhD. By comparison, in both Norway and Denmark, a PhD degree today only requires a 2.5-year dissertation. The Danish and Norwegian PhD degrees are identical, but in Denmark, the PhD is not considered a doctorate, as is established by law. Both American PhDs and German doctorates have been found to be equivalent to Danish and Norwegian Magister's degrees on several occasions. In Denmark, the PhD degree has been introduced as a so-called "lower doctorate" (although it is not a doctorate in the legal sense), formally replacing the Licentiate's degree and thus also the Magister's degree. Those obtaining the traditional doctorates in Denmark, now called
higher doctorates, are well-established academics, overwhelmingly at the associate or full professor level, and this was also traditionally the situation in Norway. In Norway, however, the earlier Magister's degree and the formal doctorates, which are now roughly similar to the Magister's degree in extent, are now equivalent, as Norway unlike Denmark does not draw a distinction between the PhD (with its predecessors, the Licentiate's and Magister's degrees) and the doctorates. The Danish and Norwegian Magister's degree should not be confused with the
cand.mag. (
candidatus magisterii), which corresponds to an American
Master of Arts. ==Sweden==