{ "model": { "rank": 5510, "code": "thing-q189533", "model_id": "vr.tr.academic-degree", "name": "academic degree", "purpose": "Let an agent explain degree types and frameworks, help verify and compare degrees across countries, support choosing and applying for degree programmes, and detect fraudulent qualifications.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Cross-cutting context", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "XCT", "domain": "XCT.QLT", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q189533/", "tier": 2, "score": 66, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [], "aliasCount": 0, "merged": 0, "knownIn": 66, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q189533", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q189533", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-11T19:39:11Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 2, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q189533", "registryId": "vr.tr.academic-degree", "name": "academic degree", "version": "0.2.0-wave.2", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "XCT.QLT" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q189533/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.academic-degree", "name": "academic degree", "purpose": "Let an agent explain degree types and frameworks, help verify and compare degrees across countries, support choosing and applying for degree programmes, and detect fraudulent qualifications.", "definition": "A qualification awarded by a university or other higher education institution on completion of a course of study or research, such as bachelor, master and doctoral degrees, and honorary degrees conferred for distinction; degrees are recognised through accreditation and qualification frameworks and vary by country in structure and naming.", "what_it_is_for": "Certifying higher education attainment.", "affordances": [ "explain degree levels and naming", "compare degrees across countries", "verify a degree and its institution", "support applying for degree programmes" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Higher education qualification", "Levelled in frameworks", "Institutionally awarded", "Internationally comparable" ], "appearance": "Not physical as a concept; certificates and transcripts.", "visual_identification": [ "Awarded by accredited institutions", "Levels such as bachelor, master and doctorate", "Diplomas and certificates may be lower-level qualifications" ], "physical_properties": [], "families_and_kinds": [ "bachelor degrees", "master degrees", "doctoral degrees", "professional degrees", "honorary degrees" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "qualification", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "credential", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "is awarded by", "target": "college", "why": "institution" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "academic-relation", "why": "supervision" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "National qualification frameworks", "Bologna Process and European Qualifications Framework", "Accreditation and recognition rules such as the Lisbon Recognition Convention" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Fraudulent degrees and diploma mills", "Misrecognition across countries", "Confusing degree titles" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "levels", "name": "Levels", "description": "Degree types.", "rationale": "Frameworks define levels.", "layers": [ { "id": "type", "name": "Type", "description": "Which degree.", "findings": [ { "id": "type-finding", "name": "Type", "description": "Type.", "questions": [ { "text": "What level and type is this degree, and how long does it take?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Where does it sit in the national framework?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "naming", "name": "Naming", "description": "Titles and abbreviations.", "findings": [ { "id": "naming-finding", "name": "Naming", "description": "Naming.", "questions": [ { "text": "What does this degree title or abbreviation mean in its country?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "How is it written after a name?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "recognise", "name": "Recognise", "description": "Cross-border recognition.", "rationale": "Recognition matters.", "layers": [ { "id": "compare", "name": "Compare", "description": "Equivalence.", "findings": [ { "id": "compare-finding", "name": "Compare", "description": "Equivalence.", "questions": [ { "text": "How does this degree compare with degrees in another country, according to recognition bodies?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which credential evaluation services exist?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "verify", "name": "Verify", "description": "Verification.", "findings": [ { "id": "verify-finding", "name": "Verify", "description": "Verification.", "questions": [ { "text": "Is the awarding institution accredited, and can the degree be verified?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "text": "Are there signs of a diploma mill?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "study", "name": "Study", "description": "Getting a degree.", "rationale": "Choose and apply.", "layers": [ { "id": "choose", "name": "Choose", "description": "Choosing a programme.", "findings": [ { "id": "choose-finding", "name": "Choose", "description": "Choosing.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which programmes fit the person goals, and what are the entry requirements?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "What are the costs and funding options?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "progress", "name": "Progress", "description": "Completing a degree.", "findings": [ { "id": "progress-finding", "name": "Progress", "description": "Completing.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are the requirements to complete this degree?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which support exists for students?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "value", "name": "Value", "description": "Use and meaning.", "rationale": "Outcomes and honours.", "layers": [ { "id": "outcomes", "name": "Outcomes", "description": "Career outcomes.", "findings": [ { "id": "outcomes-finding", "name": "Outcomes", "description": "Outcomes.", "questions": [ { "text": "What do official data say about employment and earnings outcomes for this degree?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which professions require it?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "honorary", "name": "Honorary", "description": "Honorary degrees.", "findings": [ { "id": "honorary-finding", "name": "Honorary", "description": "Honorary degrees.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is an honorary degree, and what does it entitle the holder to?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "How are they awarded?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should each degree level be a separate entry?", "How should recognition databases be linked?", "How should naming conventions be mapped?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a academic degree, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain degree types and frameworks, help verify and compare degrees across countries, support choosing and applying for degree programmes, and detect fraudulent qualifications.", "characteristics": { "substance": "abstract", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Described in 66 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a academic degree, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "an abstraction with no physical instance", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [], "standing": "Described in 66 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one academic degree from another, and a academic degree from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a academic degree, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a academic degree, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a academic degree is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a academic degree, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a academic degree, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a academic degree is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a academic degree sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a academic degree, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a academic degree, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a academic degree is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a academic degree from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a academic degree, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a academic degree, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a academic degree is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a academic degree passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a academic degree between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a academic degree, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a academic degree, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a academic degree is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a academic degree, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a academic degree is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a academic degree, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a academic degree, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a academic degree is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What academic degree is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of academic degree are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is academic degree operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of academic degree and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of academic degree?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as academic degree?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a academic degree came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a academic degree and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a academic degree, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a academic degree, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a academic degree is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a academic degree is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a academic degree, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a academic degree, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a academic degree is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 5, "layers": 10, "findings": 12, "questions": 32 } } } }