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.
Diplom
In Greece, a "higher education diploma" (δίπλωμα/πτυχίο ανώτατης εκπαίδευσης) is a 4 to 5-year (8-10 semester) (240 ISCED 6 - 300 ECTS ISCED 7) degree, 5-year Diplomas formatted similarly to the German Diplom(Uni), awarded to students of the Greek Engineering Schools and Departments (called Polytechnic in Greece – not to be confused though with the polytechnics of the UK), with the only exception of "higher education diploma" (δίπλωμα/πτυχίο ανώτατης εκπαίδευσης) 4-year (8 semester) (240 ISCED 6) newfly founded University of Western Attica.