A fact from Cambridge Diploma in Computer Science appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 12 August 2004. The text of the entry was as follows:
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The Diploma was once equivalent to a Masters course, but today it falls more into the category of "graduate diploma" Neil Dodgson 12:30, 13 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Neil: I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this. As a graduate of the Diploma in 1990, my understanding was that the programme was equivalent to a Masters at other institutions. So I'm not sure I understand your comments regarding that it was "once equivalent to a Masters course but today it falls ....". If there is a change in the syllabus or rigour, surely, the programme as it stands should be referred to as a different programme. I guess in much the same way that the MPhil in Computer Speech has morphed into the (http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/admissions/cstit/) MPhil in Computer Speech, Text and Internet Technology? If, for example, the prestige of the Diploma as it stands today has been undermined by shifting resources and content to the MPhil, then should the "new" and "old" Diploma not be differentiated? Thanks, 86.147.167.212 12:18, 23 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The Diploma, today, consists almost entirely of second-year undergraduate material. At the Diploma's last external review, it was made clear that, because the Diploma consisted almost exclusively of undergraduate material, it was no longer appropriate to consider it a Master's level course. Instead it is a "graduate diploma". That is: it is a one-year degree for someone with a first degree in another subject. In the past, the Diploma was a one year course that was at Masters level. It was initially purely a post-graduate qualification, offered at a time when Cambridge did not have conventional Masters degrees. It later was also offered as a third-year Cambridge undergraduate course and, back then, a third-year Cambridge course was equivalent to a Masters course elsewhere. As Computer Science developed, the content of the Diploma gradually moved down into the second year of the undergraduate degree. As I understand it, in the early 1990s, the Diploma consisted of both second and third year material. It was considered to be equivalent to a conversion Masters degree. Today's MPhil in Computer Speech, Text and Internet Technology, by contrast, is a post-graduate qualification. You have to have an undergraduate degree in a relevant subject (computer science or linguistics) before you can even consider applying. Neil Dodgson 08:07, 24 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
There appears to be an ambiguity in nomenclature somewhere. The local paper reported that about 8% of a high school graduating class had simultaneouly qualified for a "Cambridge diploma." This is clearly not what this article is about. Is it related? Should it be dab-ed or refered to another article? Something is wrong here someplace, most likely new nomenclature and the article(s) haven't yet caught up. Student7 (talk) 20:18, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
