[pjmlp]

That is what I have been told from German friends, hence my assertion.

Looking at the contents of 3 years bachelor + 2 years MS, versus the contents of old Licentiate 5 years duration in Portugal, they are clearly equivalent in content.

Hence why after Bologna many universities basically renamed their Licentiate degree into something called Integrated MS, which means the students get a BS + MS paper at the end of those 5 years.

Also the reason why former Licentiates are allowed to basically acquire their MS title, by paying bureaucratic fees and in some cases presenting some kind of career report as thesis.