(cm) Former licentiate and diploma degrees are equivalent to the recently introduced Master degrees. The decision was announced last week by the Swiss University Conference (SUK) (1). In order not to discriminate against students who left university with a degree before the Bologna directives came into force, the SUK has issued transitional rules making their licentiate or diploma degrees the equivalent of a Master degree.

Following articles supplement the Bologna guidelines:

	1. Licentiates and diplomas are the equivalent of a Master degree. The commensurability is attested by the university that issued the licentiate or diploma on formal application by the holder.
	2. Holders of a licentiate or diploma have the right to use the title of Master instead of present titles.

In its commentary the SUK points out that the reason for the new regulations was to harmonise the transition from the former to the new university degree model. Additional requirements, such as admission to PhD-programmes that called for a certain grade point average, could only be stipulated if they applied to all holders of a university degree, whether a Master's, a licentiate or a diploma.

Furthermore, writes the SUK, Switzerland's cantonal universities and the ETH are obliged to attest the commensurability of degrees following an application from a student. A precise definition of the title in English, however, was not to be attempted because, although former courses of study were on the same high level, they were often not entirely congruent with new courses.

The holder of a licentiate or diploma degree did not need an attestation from the issuing university in order to use the academic title of Master. New and old titles, however, could not be accumulated and used side by side; the holder had to choose whether to use the old or the new title.

The SUK passed these new regulations on 1st December 2005 and they came into force on Wednesday, 1st February 2006. Holders of old ETH titles can write to the Rector's Office (kanzlei@rektorat.ethz.ch) for further information.