Talk:Habilitation

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This article seems well written and authoritative. As an American recently returned from France, it seems consistent with what I was told by colleagues there. However, PLEASE include some sources as to where the information was taken from--EVEN IF THESE ARE PRINT SOURCES. After all the rule is that content should be verifiable.

At least at a first glance the article seems relatively accurate and well written in my eyes as well. I've added a few resources concerning habilitation in Europe and removed the tag for now. However further references in particular for non EU countries would be desirable. Ideally a reference to some published article that describes and compares habilitation degrees around the world, because providing a link to official site of every single country describing its habilitation procedure/practice of (or even its universities) will create a list of sources/references that is way too long.--Kmhkmh 03:01, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

The Humanities and the Social Sciences are dens of iniquity, and Habilitation lets those better placed exert political pressure on those beneath them...

Contents 1 Comparison with UK etc. 2 Cleanup and globalize 3 The term habilitation is also used to describe a process similar to (physical) rehabilitation. 4 Brazilian Livre-docência

[edit] Comparison with UK etc.

I removed the following fragment from the article:

"these [higher doctorates in the UK etc.] are given in recognition of an extended research career, and would normally only come after some years at professorial status.".. this statement is INCORRECT. A D.Sc. can be easily awarded to those candidates based purely on the volume of publishing regardless of their status or rank (Professor, Statutory Lecturer, etc.) within a particular University system. However, the award criteria will be specific to the University itself. A typical criterion is that the D.Sc. may not be awarded before X semesters have passed after the candidate received his/her primary qualification, i.e. the Bachelor Degree. It is perfectly feasibly and possible for a candidate to hold a D.Sc. and not a Ph.D. Furthermore, it is also possible for a candidate to hold a Professorship without even holding a doctoral degree of any description!

An article should not contradict itself; this talk page is the proper place for discussions. -- Jitse Niesen (talk) 05:02, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

I think the comparison between the German Habilitation and higher doctorates in the UK is really inappropriate. First of all, the Habilitation is a professional qualification, necessary to get a professorship in a German, Austrian, or Swiss-German university. British higher doctorates on the other hand are academic degrees that have no connection whatsoever to one's getting a professorship or not. Second, the Habilitation process itself is somewhat different from the process used to award higher doctorates in the UK. In the latter case, the candidate simply submits a portfolio of publications that is judged by an ad hoc committee. No public oral examination is normally required. In the case of the Habilitation though, in addition to submitting a (monographical or cumulative) thesis, the candidate normally also has to give a public lecture on the thesis topic before a commitee of university professors.Toeplitz 20:25, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

The comparison is even more inappropriate when extended to U.S. honorary degrees as indicated in the last sentence of the current version of the article. In the US, degrees such as Litt.D or LL.D. are awarded only honoris causa and have no relation whatsoever to publication record or academic qualification. That blatant mistake in the article needs to be fixed. 161.24.19.82 17:53, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Cleanup and globalize

The lead should be more clear about what habilitation actually is. Currently it begins with "Habilitation is a term used within the university system..." – OK, it's a term, but what does it mean? The lead goes on to tell the reader in what countries the term is used, when it originated, what Latin word it's derived from... But only half way through the paragraph it tells the reader, rather vaguely, that it "is the highest academic degree a person can achieve by his/her own pursuit."

Despite a long list, in the first sentence, of countries where habiliation is known, the rest of the article deals with the subjest almost solely from the German perspective. The section "The process" begins with a sentence specifiying we're talking about "the German system" and the next section is "The German debate about the habilitation". The final section talks about similar degrees in countires where these degrees are not called "habilitation", but ignores the countries listed in the article's first sentence. What about habilitation in France, Austria, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Ukraine? — Kpalion^(talk) 19:31, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The term habilitation is also used to describe a process similar to (physical) rehabilitation.

It would have been very nice if the article about habilitation, at the top (as is common), had a link to a stub with a short explanation of this other possible meaning of the word, and in this stub, also a link to the similar *rehabilitation* (in the meaning of "physical rehabilitation", e.g. after injury or illness).

The process of habilitation in this context means to help a person with a congenital (born with) disability, aquire different abilities, in order to function to his/her maximum potential. The most common professions in a multidisiplinary habilitation team are MD's, physical therapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, special education teachers, registered nurses and certified social workers - all who specializes in habilitation and rehabilitation.

The only difference between habilitation and rehabilitation in this context is that in order to rehabilitate, the person has to previously have had the ability, it is lost due to injury or illness. In habilitation, the ability is to be learned for the first time, since the disability is congenital. In some countries, in order to emphasize the importance of not only rehabilitation but also habilitation, a "shared term" has been constructed; written "re-/habilitation", but pronounced "rehabilitation".

At the end I might add that I am only looking into posting here for the very first time, and I do not feel ready to write an article yet (and in English, not my native tongue). For this reason, I was hoping that somebody else could make a stub about this. I just wanted to post about it since I saw this, so I wouldn't forget.

Peapeam 10:15, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Brazilian Livre-docência

I added a reference in the article to the Brazilian qualification of Livre-docente, which is roughly equivalent to the German Habilitation, but has nevertheless been abolished in most Brazilian states, with the notable exception of the state of São Paulo. 161.24.19.82 17:47, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

This article seems well written and authoritative. As an American recently returned from France, it seems consistent with what I was told by colleagues there. However, PLEASE include some sources as to where the information was taken from--EVEN IF THESE ARE PRINT SOURCES.