Cand.mag.

Candidatus magisterii (male), Candidata magisterii (female), i.e., Latin Candidate of Arts, abbreviated cand.mag., is an academic degree used in Denmark, roughly corresponding to an American Master of Arts and officially translated as such. The degree currently requires 5 years of studies. The degree was introduced in Denmark in 1883 and later also introduced in Norway and Iceland, based on the Danish degree. The formal requirements for the degree have varied somewhat in these countries depending on time, place, institution and discipline.

History

The degree was introduced in Denmark in 1883, when the University of Copenhagen started awarding it. It was introduced in Norway in 1959, modelled after the Danish degree and replacing the former adjunct exam. In Norway, it was initially awarded in the humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences, and from 1966 also in the social sciences.

In Norway, the cand. mag. degree required a minimum of three and a half years for faculties of mathematics and natural sciences, and four or four and a half years for faculties of humanities and social sciences to be completed. The normal duration was four to five years. In Denmark the degree requires at least five years of studies.

In Norway, as a result of implementing the Bologna Process, it was replaced by a Bachelor's degree (requiring three years to complete) and the Master's degree (requiring five years). Thus, the cand. mag. was situated somewhere between those degrees, with a 3,5-year cand. mag. being closer to a bachelor's degree, and a 4,5-year cand. mag. being closer to a master's degree. In Norway, education courses completed within July, 2003, can be part of a cand. mag. degree.

In Denmark, the cand. mag. degree is still awarded, and is considered equal to a master's degree in the field of humanities; it is thus awarded after a bachelor's degree plus two years of study. The English title equivalent to the cand. mag. is Master of Arts.

It is not to be confused with the magister's degree (magister artium or magister scientiarum), a degree requiring 7–8 years of studies with strong emphasis on the scientific thesis, and which is the approximate equivalent of a PhD degree.