The specialist degree is an academic degree conferred by a college or university. The degree is formatted differently worldwide and may be either a five-year program or a doctoral level graduate program that occurs after a master's degree but before a doctoral degree. In the post-Soviet system, the degree is between a bachelor's and a master's degree.
By countries
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Diploma of Specialist () is a five-year higher-education diploma that was the only first higher-education diploma in the former Soviet Union (the Candidate of Sciences was the first academic level degree while the Doctor of Sciences was the highest academic credential) and continues to be offered throughout the USSR successor states in parallel with the new bachelor's degree. In terms of the number of instructional hours it is typically, 35 to 42 classroom hours per week, 34 weeks of instruction plus 6 weeks of exams per academic year. Commonly referred to simply as "Diploma" (), the Soviet/Russian-style Diploma of Specialist is believed to have originated in the engineering education in the Russian Empire. According to the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, the specialist degree called qualification (degree) of "specialist" ().
In the early 1990s the bakalavr (), bachelor's degree) and magistr (, master's degree) were introduced in all countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States except Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. However, Diploma of Specialist (five years) is still conferred in Belarus, Russia and Tajikistan. The Diploma of Specialist was discontinued in the following countries: Kazakhstan (2004), Ukraine (2017), Georgia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Moldova.
Under the Federal Law on Education of Russia, the Diploma of Specialist requires a minimum of five years of study.