Letters after your name, titles etc.

The Minstrel

I recently received a mail from an old colleague whose signature had about 20 letters after his name, denoting academic qualifications etc. Got me thinking about the titles associated with doing a masters. If you do a masters in whatever, can you refered to as Mr X, Master of whatever. How come some masters course are titled, for example, Master of Accounting, whereas others are entitled the subject name, e.g. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MSc)...instead of Master of Magnetic blah blah

Ostrom

It is slowly becoming more common amongst PhD's - the EdD and DPsych for example. Generally, the discarding of the 'MA' or 'PhD' is to acknowledge the specificity of the training provided. The above doctorates are vocational, as would be the masters degrees with the discipline in the title. The series of capital letters you see are usually professional body membership shorthands, like MIEI, for members of the Institute of Engineers of Ireland.