In the UK the master's degree was for a long time the only postgraduate degree normally awarded, while in most European countries apart from the UK, the master's degree almost disappeared. In the second half of the 19th century, however, US universities began to follow the European model by awarding doctorates, and this practice spread to the UK. Conversely, most European universities now offer master's degrees parallelling or replacing their regular system, so as to offer their students better chances to compete in an international market dominated by the American model.
UK: Admission to undertake a research degree in the UK typically requires a good bachelor's degree, or Scottish M.A. In some institutions, Bar Professional Training Course and Doctoral candidates are initially admitted to a Masters in Research Philosophy (M.Phil. or M.Res.), then later transfer to a Ph.D./D.Phil. if they can show satisfactory progress in their first 8–12 months of study. Candidates for the degree of Doctor of Education (Ed.D) are typically required to hold a good bachelor's degree as well as an appropriate master's degree before being admitted.
Funding for postgraduate study in the UK is awarded competitively, and usually is disseminated by institution rather than directly to individuals. There are a number of scholarships for master's courses, but these are relatively rare and dependent on the course and class of undergraduate degree obtained. Most master's students are self-funded. Funding is available for some Ph.D./D.Phil. courses. As at the master's level, there is more funding available to those in the sciences than in other disciplines. Such funding generally comes from Research Councils such as the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Arts and Humanities Research Council, Medical Research Council and others. Masters students may also have the option of a Postgraduate loan introduced by the British Government in 2016. For overseas students, most major funding applications are due as early as twelve months or more before the intended graduate course will begin. This funding is also often highly competitive. The most widely available, and thus important, award for overseas students is the Overseas Research Student Award, which pays the difference in university fees between an overseas student and a British or EU resident. Students studying part-time for a master's degree can apply for income-based Jobseeker's Allowance provided their timetabled hours are fewer than 16 hours per week. Full-time students are not normally eligible for state benefits, including during vacation time.
United States: Many graduate programs require students to pass one or several examinations in order to demonstrate their competence as scholars. In some departments, a comprehensive examination is often required in the first year of doctoral study, and is designed to test a student's background undergraduate-level knowledge. Examinations of this type are more common in the sciences and some social sciences, and relatively unknown in most humanities disciplines. Some graduate students perform teaching duties, often serving as graders, tutors, or teaching assistants. In some departments, they can be promoted to Lecturer status, a position that comes with more responsibilities. Doctoral students generally spend roughly their first two to three years doing coursework, and begin research by their second year if not before. Many master's and all specialist students will perform research culminating in a paper, presentation, and defense of their research. This is called the master's thesis (or, for Educational Specialist students, the specialist paper). However, many US master's degree programs do not require a master's thesis, focusing instead primarily on course work or on «practicals» or «workshops». Such «real-world» experience may typically require a candidate work on a project alone or in a team as a consultant, or consultants, for an outside entity approved or selected by the academic institution, and under faculty supervision.
Some schools have an intermediate category, passing at the master's level, which allows the student to leave with a master's without having completed a master's thesis. Many departments, especially those in which students have research or teaching responsibilities, offer tuition-forgiveness and a stipend that pays for most expenses. The terms of these stipends vary greatly, and may consist of a scholarship or fellowship, followed by teaching responsibilities. At many elite universities, these stipends have been increasing, in response both to student pressure and, especially, to competition among the elite universities for graduate students. In some fields, research positions are more coveted than teaching positions because student researchers are typically paid to work on the dissertation they are required to complete anyway, while teaching is generally considered a distraction from one's work. Research positions are more typical of science disciplines; they are relatively uncommon in humanities disciplines, and where they exist, they rarely allow the student to work on their own research. Departments often have money for limited discretionary funding to supplement minor expenses such as research trips and travel to conferences. Foreign students are typically funded the same way as domestic students, although federally subsidized student and parent loans and work-study assistance are generally limited to US citizens and nationals, permanent residents, and approved refugees.