Is it true, that there are associate professors, full professors and University provosts without a doctorate in the Western Continental Europe?

Question

There is legislative proposal in our small country (Republic of Latvia, Baltic Country, European Union) that proposes to allow elected associate professors, full professors and provosts of the research universities to be without doctorate (e.g. PhD or MD or other doctorate). The authors of proposal are saying that anglo-saxon and Western European countries have tradition (even Stanford University) to have such positions filled with persons not having doctorate.

I can not believe this. Doctorate degree is so common in academia, I can understand that only junior lecturers and assistant professors can be without doctorate (with mandatory master degree). But starting from associate professors - degree should be a must in science and medical studies.

Is there clarification available under which circumstances the Continental Western European research universities allow associate, full professors and provosts to be without doctorate (e.g. PhD or MD) (I mean specifically doctorate in medicine, and no just the professional qualification).

My question applies specifically to the Continental Western Europe starting from Germany and Austria and going to the West. My question applies to the research and technical universities, not the Tertiary Art education (in which it is fair to have professional degrees). The previous version of this question applied to Anglo-Saxon countries as well but I was reminded about similar US specific question, as well as there were comments about distinct UK traditions. So - there are a lot of information on Academia site about US and UK, so, I narrowed this question to the laws and practices of Continental Western Europe. I edited question once more - I replaced wording "PhD/MD" with "doctorate". Of course, my question is about doctorate generally, not about particular type of doctorate as PhD or MD.

If this question gathers enough proof that such legislative proposal is contrary to the traditions of the Western Universities, then I can bring this proof to the authors of the proposed legislation to question their true intentions.

Answer 1

It's pretty rare, but it looks like the University of Cambridge recently appointed someone without a doctorate to the Rouse Ball Professorship of English Law, and I've seen advertisements for associate-professor level vacancies in Engineering (in the UK) that call for either a Ph.D. or Chartered Engineer status, but not necessarily both.

The "Order of seniority of graduates" of the University of Cambridge (which primarily decides who's at the front and who's at the back in ceremonial processions) contains a special category for Professors who are not Doctors, which kind of implies that such people must exist.

ETA: I see the question has now been edited in such a way that this is no longer an answer to it.

Answer 2

In France, in order to be allowed to apply for a "Maître de Conférences" position (~=Associate Professor), one must either have a PhD or have 3 years of professional activity (excluding teaching and research) during the last 6 years. See this link (in french) for more details. There is a similar rule for Professor positions (habilitation or 5 years of professional activity during the last 8 years).

Therefore, in France, there may be Associate Professors or Professors who do not have a doctorate. Note that, however, most of them do.

Answer 3

In certain regions of Germany, you need a habilitation (above a PhD) to get a top-level W3 professorship, though there is wiggle room for "equivalent qualifications". See for example https://inspirehep.net/jobs/1854066.

In the UK, Cambridge is recruiting the Stephen W. Hawking Professor of Cosmology, who must hold "a PhD or equivalent postgraduate qualification": https://inspirehep.net/jobs/1849843.

So it looks like the answer to your question is that it is possible to get such a job without a PhD. In practice, I think it is quite rare.

Answer 4

Academia has turned into a meat grinder and generally people who have a PhD will try to keep people without a PhD out purely because they didn't go through the same process.

There continues to be an inflation of qualifications for every area, classically a PhD was not needed not valued- Newton didn't have a doctorate nor did many important scientists in the past that worked at universities.