doctorate degree definition
A doctorate (from Latin docere, to teach) or doctor's degree (from Latin doctor, teacher) or doctoral degree is an academic degree (Ph.D. or Ed.D.) awarded by universities that, in most countries, qualifies the holder to teach at the university level in the degree's field, or to work in a specific profession.he first professional doctorate to be offered in the United States was the M.D. at the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania) in 1765, with the first doctoral degrees conferred in 1771., nearly one hundred years before the first Ph.D. was awarded in the U.S. in 1861.