Why is graduating from graduate school 修了 instead of 卒業?


I noticed that on Japanese 履歴書s, graduating from graduate school is marked
with 修了 instead of 卒業 like for undergraduate and primary/secondary education.
I'm curious as to the reason this difference exists and in particular why the
distinction was made in the first place.




There's a post (in Japanese) about this at: <http://wonder-
trend.com/archives/3651.html>

As I understand it, the reason basically is because in the context of a CV you
use 卒業 to indicate graduating (completing studies) from a specific school and
you use 修了 to indicate completing a specific program/course of study. See
also: [this goo dictionary comparison of 卒業 and
修了](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/thsrs/9715/meaning/m0u/%E4%BF%AE%E4%BA%86/)

For instance, you may write:

> 〇年〇月 ▲▲大学大学院××学研究科□□学専攻修士課程入学
>
> 〇年〇月 ▲▲大学大学院××学研究科□□学専攻修士課程修了

to say that at Time A you entered into a master's degree program at a certain
department in a certain college in a certain graduate school, and at Time B
you completed the master's degree program.

If you want to use 卒業, you could say something like 大学院を卒業した but without
context it's not clear if you mean you got a master's or a PhD then, or what
the subject was, and of course you want to be precise and pro forma on a 履歴書.

It's really not that different from English: You _graduate_ from a school, but
you _complete_ a degree or program. One often talks about graduating from
college without too much concern about the precise degree (BS, BA, etc) or
major. And in casual spoken conversation among fellow math PhDs I may say I
graduated (from grad school) in 2004. However, on my CV or to someone who
doesn't know what degree I have, I write "PhD, 2004" or say "I got my PhD in
2004."




There's a post (in Japanese) about this at: <http://wonder-
trend.com/archives/3651.html>

As I understand it, the reason basically is because in the context of a CV you
use 卒業 to indicate graduating (completing studies) from a specific school and
you use 修了 to indicate completing a specific program/course of study. See
also: [this goo dictionary comparison of 卒業 and
修了](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/thsrs/9715/meaning/m0u/%E4%BF%AE%E4%BA%86/)

For instance, you may write:

> 〇年〇月 ▲▲大学大学院××学研究科□□学専攻修士課程入学
>
> 〇年〇月 ▲▲大学大学院××学研究科□□学専攻修士課程修了

to say that at Time A you entered into a master's degree program at a certain
department in a certain college in a certain graduate school, and at Time B
you completed the master's degree program.

If you want to use 卒業, you could say something like 大学院を卒業した but without
context it's not clear if you mean you got a master's or a PhD then, or what
the subject was, and of course you want to be precise and pro forma on a 履歴書.

It's really not that different from English: You _graduate_ from a school, but
you _complete_ a degree or program. One often talks about graduating from
college without too much concern about the precise degree (BS, BA, etc) or
major. And in casual spoken conversation among fellow math PhDs I may say I
graduated (from grad school) in 2004. However, on my CV or to someone who
doesn't know what degree I have, I write "PhD, 2004" or say "I got my PhD in
2004."

