NEWTs / University (was: BRITS: Hogwarts Housing

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 29707

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Heather Moore" <heathernmoore at y...> wrote:

> You know, I've wondered once or twice why, if there is indeed no 
> tertiary magickal education, do the students have to undergo *two* 
> sets of exam levels? 

Percy had to do well on his NEWTs to get his entry level job at the 
Ministry. Maybe the second set of exams might be for getting jobs 
that in Muggle world require (but do not need) university degrees or 
specialised training.

I believe that tertiary magical education exists but is disguised as 
apprenticeship. (I keep calling the apprentices and journeymen in the 
intellectual guides 'grad students' and 'research fellows' instead of 
their proper job title.) Maybe I can explain my theory by an example. 
In my Potterverse, young Snape left Hogwarts with a A+ and Honors on 
his Potions NEWTs and a burning ambition and curiosity to invent new 
Potions. So he took a letter of recommendation from his Potions 
teacher at Hogwarts to some Masters of Magical Arts (Magistri of 
Artis Magia) who were Masters in the Potions Guild and friends of the 
Hogwarts teacher, and one of them took him on as an apprentice. The 
apprentice helps his master's potions business and research and 
teaching, writes papers set by his master, attends lectures (both 
public and for guild members only) at the Potioners' Guildhouse, 
writes exams which were set by the Guild but graded by his own 
Master, and is promoted to journeyman by his own Master. 

As a journeyman, he can seek employment doing Potions work under the 
supervision of a Master, employment doing routine Potion making 
without supervision, or future education from a Master (his old 
Master or a new one). 

To become a Master, he has to do a nice piece of Potions research and 
present it as a thesis to a committee of Masters of the Guild. If 
they like his monograph, he has to pass an oral exam from them. If he 
passes the oral exam, he has to publically defend his thesis in the 
lecture hall at the Guildhouse for twenty-four hours straight. Some 
members of the public enjoy going to dissertation defenses to try to 
rattle the candidates with irrelevant and confusing questions. 

The Masters on the promotion committees are required to have the 
higher degree of Doctor of Artis Magia, but that is kind of like an 
honorary degree: no one APPLIES for it. It is awarded during the 
Guild's Christmas Banquet to Masters who were chosen for promotion by 
a secret ballot of all the Doctores. 

Some Masters just want to open a little Potions shop and brew 
nostrums to sell to the public. Some Masters only want to do research 
and not be bothered with buying and selling. It is only the latter 
kind who get promoted to Doctor, even tho' the Guild would be in bad 
shape without the dues paid by the former. The researchers, if they 
didn't inherit enough money to live on and pay for their research, 
apply for grants from several different departments in the Ministry 
and from nongovernmental sources.   

In MY Potterverse, the Committee on Experimental Charms does little 
if any research itself, but is supposed to oversee all attempts to 
make up new spells. But it is very lax about research done by Guild 
members, kind of leaving it to the Guild to prevent their own members 
from endangeringn the public. Actually, it's lax about research done 
by anyone who doesn't call attention to themselves -- Mortlake's 
"ferrets" probably got loose and attacked someone. 

Young Snape made it from apprentice to journeyman in record time, and 
his dissertation research was about how to predict which of two 
efforts boomslang skin would have in a potion: previously, the use of 
boomslang skin had been largely trial-and-error. One of his grudges
is that he has never been promoted to Doctor, because popularity 
plays a role.