The process of qualifying or making someone fit for a position; in academics, the highest qualification after a PhD in some European universities.
From Latin habilitatio, from habilitatus (made fit). This word came into English through academic and formal professional use, especially strong in Germanic and Romance language university traditions.
Habilitation was created as a way to ensure that people teaching at universities had not just studied knowledge but had proven they could create it—they had to write original research. In some German universities today, you still can't become a full professor without habilitation, making it the ultimate academic gatekeeper.
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