A diploma is a certificate.
A diploma is a title , certificate or credential issued by an entity or corporation to accredit something (an academic degree, an award, etc.). The term comes from the Latin word diploma , although its most remote origin is found in a Greek concept that can be translated as "to fold" .
For example: "Tomorrow they will give me the diploma at the faculty" , "The Lawyer's diploma is at my parents' house" , "When Matías won the literary prize, he received 1,000 pesos and a diploma" .
The diploma as recognition
The diploma is usually awarded by an educational institution when a student completes a training degree. Upon completion of primary school, secondary school or a university degree, therefore, the graduate usually receives a diploma. It should be noted that, for legal purposes, the diploma is usually symbolic, since the document that certifies the academic degree obtained is the title.
Contests or competitions also usually award diplomas to the winners as recognition. The first prize often consists of money or a trophy along with a diploma, while those in second and third place simply receive a diploma.
The classic or traditional meaning of diploma, on the other hand, refers to any document issued by public authority . In this case, the diploma includes data such as the author, the recipient and the notary or chancellor who authenticates the document. The diploma, as an official document or instrument , presents the corresponding seal and has an original that is filed in a registry.
Whoever completes training usually receives a diploma.
Differences with the title in some countries
Often, the words title and diploma are used interchangeably, but there are certain fundamental differences between them on which the success of a job application, or the mere possibility of carrying it out, can absolutely depend.
In principle, it is important to highlight that in some countries the title is the accreditation that an educational institution grants to its students when they have completed a series of studies, while the diploma is defined as a document that students receive after having completed a course .
The courses through which diplomas are obtained are usually shorter and less complex than those that culminate in the award of a degree; Some examples are foreign language teaching courses and business or nursing courses. In these cases, both the specialization and the level of studies are lower than in a university degree, and in fact they are usually called tertiary degrees to avoid confusion.
To cite a couple of examples, a nursing degree can take between two and three years, and a business degree can take a maximum of one year; On the other hand, the respective bachelor's degrees, of which the diploma course may be a subset, do not usually last less than 3 years. This does not mean that a diploma is easy to obtain, nor that a degree is the only respectable path when embarking on a career, but rather that each alternative responds to different needs and objectives .
One of the benefits of the diploma is that it provides more immediate training in the chosen field of interest and allows you to enter the workplace much sooner than with a degree. Obtaining a university degree, on the other hand, speaks of a deeper study, a much greater volume of knowledge, which opens the doors to larger job opportunities.
In job boards it is always specified whether they are looking for people with a diploma or title, and this can be exclusive in either direction; There are employers who require a specific level of knowledge and who reject anyone who exceeds these limits, either because they prefer to train their employees in-house or because they do not consider the added value that a bachelor's degree can provide to be necessary.