Deepening Your Knowledge

Why earn Master of Arts degree in Ayurveda today in USA?

How does Mount Madonna Institute Master of Arts degree in Ayurveda fit between NAMA’s current conception of Ayurvedic Practitioner and Ayurvedic Doctor? This question needs to be addressed and the answer recognized by all of those devoted to integrating Ayurveda into the US.

NAMA has been developing and changing its standards for AHC, AP and now most recently has introduced the AD. NAMA’s progress in articulating standards and scope of practice is welcome and MMI strictly adheres to them. As a Member School, MMI supports NAMA’s initiatives toward eventual licensure and wants the profession to gain broad trust and acceptance.

The Master of Arts degree in Ayurveda is the best vehicle for that legitimization and recognition as it confers “mastery, training, and excellence” validated by the American educational system, which certifies “mastery, training, and excellence” for all of US health providers and professionals. The AP can train those with or without a BA or BS, indicating that those “professionals” have not earned a post-secondary degree and may not even be eligible for graduate training and degrees. The MA indicates an already earned competency at both an academic and a professional level and that builds on that competency through additional demanding graduate level assignments, coursework, examinations, capstone project, and clinical experiences and supervision. Now that the AD is introduced by NAMA, the successful MA graduate need only increase clinical encounters in order to earn the NAMA AD.

MMI wants to urge NAMA to recognize the Master’s degree as advanced professional training with a greater scope of practice than the AP and as a legitimate and appropriate pathway to the AD. MMI does not object if NAMA wishes to confer AD on those who take a different pathway or who do not meet the stringent qualifications for the MA. However, the Master of Arts or Science in Ayurveda, conferring validated graduate level professional training at recognized colleges, will be the most compelling to bring about the broad acceptance, recognition and trust that is needed before licensure.

The Master of Arts degree in Ayurveda fits squarely and appropriately between the loosely accepted certificate programs and the even-more-rigorous American training for Doctoral and Medical degrees. Diplomas, certificates, and conferring the designation of “doctor” increases visibility. Practitioners’ success with clients will spread acceptance. The valuable research being conducted by important institutions and labs in the US will build trust and respect. The Master’s degree, with its depth of study, supervision, investigation and training that is the hallmark of graduate education in the US, will bring acknowledgment and validity of this “new-to-America” field that has so much to offer for community wellness and personal transformation.