Candidate of Sciences
Sign in to saveAlso known as Candidate of Sciences (Soviet Union and post-Soviet states), Kandidat nauk, CSc, C.Sc.
junior scientific degree in Soviet Union and post-Soviet countries; somewhat comparable to the PhD
~14 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Cover of a Soviet Candidate of Sciences diploma
A Candidate of Sciences is a PhD-equivalent academic research degree established by the Soviet Union. Since the 1990s, it has been replaced by a Doctor of Philosophy degree in many post-soviet Central and Eastern European countries, but is still offered in others, particularly Russia. It is officially classified by UNESCO as ISCED level 8: doctoral or equivalent. In countries that confer a Candidate of Sciences degree, a more advanced degree, Doctor of Sciences, is usually conferred as a higher doctorate.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Candidate of Sciences” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.