On 17th June 2009, WingTsun Grandmaster Keith R. Kernspecht (63) successfully passed the examination for a doctorate in science (Dr.sc). 

The examination took place at the National Sports University (NSA) in Sofia, and was conducted by a state examination board consisting of 17 professors from various Bulgarian universities.

This public examination covered a number of different academic disciplines such as history, education theory, psychology, anthropology, biomechanics, games theory etc., and took the form of an oral defence ("disputation") of his doctoral thesis (approx. 300 pages plus Appendix) in a plenary session (in which outsiders were also able to ask questions) in the Bulgarian language aided by an accredited interpreter.
The professors also asked questions on a wide variety of academic subjects (this is referred to as a "rigorosum" in Germany).

As this oral examination was the second defence of the doctoral thesis, this title is also known as a "major doctorate" in Bulgaria. This is comparable to a "habilitation" under the German system, and is a prerequisite for recognition as a "full" professor.

This examination in Sofia was preceded by the first oral defence at the Hilendarksi State University in Plodiv, which Grandmaster Kernspecht passed in early 2009.

Having already been awarded an honorary doctorate in the martial arts in 1999, followed by an honorary professorship in 2006, Grandmaster Kernspecht has now achieved yet another first: he is the first master in the martial arts to have achieved "habilitation" in his discipline.

A detailed report will follow in the July edition of WingTsun World online