that it is clear (to those who are aware of the system) that these are nominal and unexamined degrees. If someone incorporates from one of the above universities to another, the Latin et can be inserted between the university names, e.g. "MA (Oxon et Cantab)", etc. as opposed to "MA (Oxon), MA (Cantab)" which would indicate that the holder graduated BA at both universities. The Oxford University Gazette and University Calendar have, since 2007, used Oxf rather than Oxon (also Camb rather than Cantab and Dub rather than Dubl) to match the style used for other universities, stating that: "It is not feasible to use the form ‘Oxon’ because to do so would entail Latinising all of the very many university names which occur in the Calendar". This style is used equally for all degrees, with no distinction being made between incorporated, incepted, and examined MAs. However, the BA degree is not shown if the graduate has proceeded from BA to MA – "BA MA Oxf" should not appear. For example, someone who graduated BA at Oxford and proceeded to MA, studied for an MA in London, then moved to Cambridge and became an MA by incorporation, would be shown as MA Camb, MA Lond, MA Oxf (note the universities are ordered alphabetically), while someone who had graduated as both BA and MA in London is shown as BA MA Lond. History and rationale This system dates from the Middle Ages, when the study of the liberal arts took seven years. In the late Middle Ages most students joined their university at an earlier age than is now usual, often when aged only 14 or 15. The basic university education in the liberal arts comprised the Trivium (grammar, rhetoric and dialectic) and the Quadrivium (geometry, arithmetic, astronomy and music), and typically took seven years of full-time study. In between matriculation and licence to teach, which was awarded at the end of an undergraduate's studies (whereafter he was incepted as a Master of Arts), he took an intermediate degree known as the baccalaureate, or degree of Bachelor of Arts. The division into trivium and quadrivium did not always correspond with the division between the studies required for the BA and MA degrees, but was adopted in Cambridge in the Tudor era and maintained long after it was abandoned elsewhere in Europe. In the University of Paris the baccalaureate was granted soon