A master's (doctor's) degree can be awarded to those who have passed the master's (doctor's) degree course examination and thesis defense and reached the required academic level. It is common to confuse academic qualifications with academic qualifications now. For example, some people graduated from undergraduate courses and later obtained doctoral degrees through on-the-job degree applications. At this time, the academic qualifications are still undergraduate, and it cannot be said that a "doctoral degree" has been obtained.

A degree is different from academic qualification. Those who have obtained a degree certificate but have not obtained a diploma are still the original academic qualifications. Those who have obtained undergraduate, master and doctoral diplomas may not be able to obtain the corresponding degree certificates. Those who obtain a bachelor's degree certificate must first obtain a bachelor's degree certificate, while those who obtain a master's degree or a doctorate certificate may not be able to obtain a master's degree or a doctorate certificate.