Bachelor of Philosophy
The B.Phil.'s earliest form is as a University of Oxford graduate degree, first awarded in 1682. Originally, Oxford named its pre-doctoral graduate degrees the Bachelor of Philosophy (B.Phil.) (a two-year degree, partly taught and partly by research) and the Bachelor of Letters (B.Litt.) (a two-year research degree). After complaints, especially from overseas students, that this naming convention often meant that graduate degrees were not being recognised as such, the University renamed them Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) and Master of Letters (M.Litt.). However, the Philosophy Faculty (then a Sub-Faculty) argued that its B.Phil. degree had become so well known and respected in the philosophical world that it would be confusing to change the name. In philosophy, therefore, the degree continues to be called the B.Phil. Those who pass the degree are given the choice of taking a B.Phil. or an M.Phil.; few if any choose the latter. (Note that Oxford also offers a number of other graduate degrees labeled as baccalaureate degrees: the law faculty's BCL; and the music faculty's B.Mus)
Faculty of Law, University of Tirana
Until the 1970s, the normal duration of studies was four years, but later it was reduced to three years of study, followed by a year of practical training in the courts. In the 1980s, the faculty returned to the four year study system. The most dramatic changes occurred after the fall of communism in Albania in 1991. The arrival of new concepts dealing with democracy, the rule of law and equality before the law, necessitated deep reforms in the academic and educational conception of the law and of the role of the lawyer. Thus, starting from 1991 the curriculum was developed according to Western models, and after 2000 there were efforts to transition the degrees offered by the Faculty to the Bologna process, thus now the "Faculty of Law" offers Bachelor of laws, Master of laws and PhD in Law degrees.