Academic degree
Doctoral degrees or doctorates, such as the Doctor of Philosophy degree (PhD or DPhil) or Doctor of Education (EdD or DEd) are awarded following a programme of original research that contributes new knowledge within the context of the student's discipline. Doctoral degrees usually take three years full-time. Therefore, in the UK it may only take seven years to progress from undergraduate to doctoral level – in some cases six, since having a Master's is not always a precondition for embarking on a doctoral degree. This contrasts with nine years in the United States, reflecting differences in the educational systems.
Candidate of Law
The Swedish "jur.kand" is obtained after four and a half years at the normal pace. Danish, Icelandic and Finnish degrees take five years. In Norway, the degree is obtained after five and a half years, in addition to a compulsory single term entrance examination in philosophy and ethics, the Examen Philosophicum – a total of 6 years. In Norway it was replaced by the degree Master of Laws in 2003; the final student to graduate as a cand.jur did so in the spring term of 2007. Swedish universities switched to a curriculum leading up to a Master of Law rather than a jur.kand in the fall of 2010.