The question often arises about the different nature of the master’s degrees offered in our country. The question of whether a master’s degree is “official” or not, whether it is “accredited” or not, or whether it is a “university” master’s degree or not, is commonly asked, often resulting from confusion and misinformation about these topics. We will try to resolve these doubts clearly and simply in a few lines.
In general terms, we could say that there are two types of master’s degrees: academic and professionalizing. Currently, most universities offer hybrids: that is, they mix academic content with professionalizing content. In fact, with the Bologna Process reform, these have come to replace classic doctorates, sharing with them the objective of training university research and teaching staff.
However, in most cases, a student’s objective when choosing one master’s degree or another is not to develop an academic career but rather a professional career. Thus, what the student requires is very practical training, far from the academic focus of official master’s degrees, though no less rigorous, systematic, and exhaustive. Professionalizing master’s degrees aim to train professionals who know how to accurately diagnose a case and treat it using the most appropriate therapeutic and clinical strategies. For this reason, the professors who teach the different modules of this type of master’s degree are active professionals, with extensive and broad experience in the therapeutic and clinical approach to the various disorders and difficulties present in the areas in which they carry out their activity. These professionals not only transmit their theoretical knowledge but, very importantly, transmit to the student their accumulated experiences over years of clinical practice, through very dynamic and highly practical methodological techniques.