Encyclopedia
College is a term most often used today to denote an
educational institution. More broadly, it can be the name of any group of colleagues . Originally it meant a group of people living together under a common set of
rules ; indeed, some colleges call their members "fellows". The precise usage of the term varies among
English-speaking countries.
United Kingdom
British usage of the word "college" remains the loosest, encompassing a range of institutions:
- colleges of further education and adult education.
- "sixth form colleges", where students finish their secondary education, and some specialist schools
- the constituent parts of some universities such as Pentworth College
- university colleges — independent higher education institutions that have been granted degree-awarding powers but not university status.
- certain public schools for children such as Eton and Winchester
- professional associations such as the Royal College of Organists, the Royal College of Surgeons and other various Royal Colleges.
- the College of Justice or Court of Session of Scotland
In general use, a "college" refers to; institutions between secondary school and university, colleges of further education and adult education. Many types of institutions have "college" in its name but are not "colleges" in the general use of the word. For example
Eton College would not be referred to as a college, but as a school or by its full name .
Universities and colleges
- For notable examples of the college system inside UK universities see Colleges within UK Universities
In relation to universities, the term
college normally refers to a part of the university which does not have degree-awarding powers in itself. Degrees are always awarded by
universities,
colleges are institutions or organisations which prepare students for the degree. In some cases, colleges prepare students for the degree of a university of which the college is a part and in some cases colleges are independent institutions which prepare students to sit as external candidates at other universities . In the past, many of what are now universities with their own degree-awarding powers were colleges which had their degrees awarded by either a federal university or another university .
United States of America
In
American English, the word, in contrast to its many and varied British meanings, almost always refers to undergraduate university studies or to a school providing professional or technical training on a comparable level. It can therefore refer to both a self-contained institution that has no graduate studies and to the undergraduate school of a full university . The usual practice in the United States today is to use "
university" in the official names of institutions made up of several faculties or "schools" and granting a range of higher degrees while "college" is used in the official names of smaller institutions only granting bachelor's or associate's degrees. . Nevertheless, several prominent American universities, including
Boston College,
Dartmouth College,
College of Charleston, and
College of William and Mary, have retained the term "college" in their names for historical reasons though they offer a wide range of higher degrees. This problem led, in part, to the threatened lawsuit between
Yale College Wrexham and
Yale University, the latter claiming trademark infringement. As of 2005, there were 2,416 degree-granting colleges in the United States.
Usage of the terms varies among the
states, each of which operates its own institutions and licenses private ones. In 1996 for example,
Georgia changed all of its four-year colleges to universities, and all of its vocational
technology schools to
technical colleges. Other states have changed the names of individual colleges, many having started as a
teachers' college or vocational school that ended up as a full-fledged state university.
It should be noted, too, that "university" and "college" do not exhaust all possible titles for an American institution of higher education. Other options include "institute", "academy", "union", "conservitory", and "school" as in the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
United States Military Academy at
West Point, New York,
Cooper Union, or the
Juilliard School.
The term
college is also, as in Britain, used for a constituent semi-autonomous part of a larger university but generally organized on academic rather than residential lines. For example, at many institutions, the undergraduate portion of the university can be briefly referred to as
the college while at others each of the faculties may be called a "college" . There exist other variants for historical reasons; for example,
Duke University, which was called Trinity College until the 1920s, still calls its main undergraduate subdivision
Trinity College of Arts and Sciences. Some American universities, such as
Princeton,
Rice, and
Yale do have residential colleges along the lines of Oxford or Cambridge, but the name was clearly adopted in homage to the British system. Unlike the Oxbridge colleges, these residential colleges are not autonomous legal entities nor are they typically much involved in education itself, being primarily concerned with room, board, and social life. At the
University of California, San Diego, however, each of the six residential colleges does teach its own core writing courses and has its own distinctive set of graduation requirements.
Aspects of the U.S. system
Two features of the American system are universality and breadth.
Nearly half of all Americans attend at least one year of "college" and American universities award a great many degrees for professional training which might be accomplished on-the-job elsewhere.
At the more academic end of the scale, on the other hand, many American college students see "college" as a time of intellectual exploration which can be accomplished free from any need to prepare for the future, believing graduate school to be the time for that. The American system, by permitting students to spend some of their time in classes entirely removed from their major field of study, forces much less specialization and focus than is common in the rest of the world. Furthermore, a great many students in American universities and colleges live either in institution-run
dormitories or in neighborhoods dominated by student apartments. Hence the college years often involve a distinct kind of living arrangement between the family home and the first adult apartment.
The origin of the U.S. usage
The founders of the first institutions of higher education in the United States were graduates of
Oxford University and
Cambridge University. The small institutions they founded would not have seemed to them like universities — they were tiny and did not offer the higher degrees in medicine and theology. Furthermore, they were not composed of several small colleges. Instead, the new institutions felt like the Oxbridge colleges they were used to — small communities, housing and feeding their students, with instruction from residential tutors . When the first students came to be graduated, these "colleges" assumed the right to confer degrees upon them, usually with authority -- for example, Dartmouth's charter permits it to award degrees "as are usually granted in either of the universities, or any other college in our realm of Great Britain." Contrast this with
Europe, where only universities could grant degrees. The leaders of
Harvard College might have thought of their college as the first of many residential colleges which would grow up into a New Cambridge university. However, over time, few new colleges were founded there, and Harvard grew and added higher faculties. Eventually, it changed its title to university, but the term "college" had stuck and "colleges" had sprung up all over the United States.
British and American usage contrasted
The aspect of the American use of the word "college" that seems the most confusing to British people is that it refers to both institutions using "college" in their name and to the undergraduate portions of institutions using "university" in their names. This use is not colloquial, and it is in fact not even confusing as long as one realizes that the same level of education is always meant. In British usage, in contrast, "college" can refer to different levels of education and different kinds of institutions , as a result of which even many British people are confused by the many different British uses of the word.
Where a British person would say "go to university", Americans instead say "go to college", even when referring to an institution officially called a "university", as long as they are not referring to graduate or first-professional studies in the same school. In Britain, aside from usage in reference to collegiate universities as detailed above, to attend "college" would usually be accepted as meaning one attends a
technical college or a specific sixth form institution. .
However, in the U.S., students at Universities still refer to them as "college", but only when referring to their undergraduate studies and students. The institution that administers many standardized admissions tests in the U.S. is known as the
College Board because it originally only provided tests for undergraduate admissions. So, to Americans, the word "college" refers to an undergraduate education, while "university" is a much less common catch-all term for both undergraduate and graduate studies.
The rest of the English-speaking world
Influenced by their origins in the
British Empire, by contact with and sometimes imitation of U.S. academia, and even by modern American pop culture, the rest of the English-speaking world seems to have adopted a mix of the U.S. and British practices.
Australia
In
Australia, the term "college" can refer to an institution of
tertiary education that is smaller than a university, run independently or as part of a university. Following a reform in the
1980s many of the formerly independent colleges now belong to a larger university. Many private
high schools that provide
secondary education are called "colleges" in Australia. The term can also be used to refer to residence halls, as in the United Kingdom, but compared to the UK their tutorial programs are relatively small-scale and they do no actual teaching towards academic degrees .
Additionally, in
Tasmania and the
Australian Capital Territory, "college" refers to the final two years of high school , and the institutions which provide this. In this context, "college" is a system independent of the other years of high school. All college courses in the ACT are sanctioned by the Board of Senior Secondary Studies, or BSSS.
In
Australia, "college" can also refer to the several dormitaries located at
universities around the country. Examples are
St John's College at the
University of Sydney and Emmanuel College at the
University of Queensland.
Canada
In
Canada, the term "college" usually refers to a community college or a technical, applied arts, or applied science school. These are
post-secondary diploma-granting institutions, but they are not universities and typically do not grant degrees, except in
British Columbia where some have university status. In
Quebec, it can refer in particular to CEGEP , a form of post-secondary education specific to the Quebec education system that is required in order to continue onto university, or to learn a trade.
The
Royal Military College of Canada, a full-fledged degree-granting university, does not follow the naming convention used by the rest of the country.
The term "college" also applies to distinct entities within a university , akin to the residential colleges in the United Kingdom. These colleges act independently, but in affiliation or federation with the university that actually grants the degrees. For example,
Trinity College was once an independent institution, but later became federated with the
University of Toronto, and is now one of its residential colleges. Occasionally, "college" refers to a subject specific faculty within a university that, while distinct, are neither
federated nor
affiliated—College of Education, College of Medicine, College of Dentistry, among others.
There are also universities referred to as art colleges, empowered to grant academic degrees of BFA, Bdes, MFA, Mdes and sometimes collaborative PhD degrees. Some of them have "university" in their name and others do not .
It should be noted that, unlike in the United States, there is a strong distinction between "college" and "university" in Canada. In conversation, one specifically would say either "I'm going to university" or "I'm going to college" . Due to this distinction, the cultural phenomenon known as college radio in the United States is more properly called "campus radio" in Canada.
In a number of Canadian cities, many government-run secondary schools are called “collegiate institutes” , a complicated form of the word “college” which avoids the usual “post-secondary” connotation. This is because these secondary schools have traditionally focused on academic, rather than vocational, subjects and ability levels . Some private secondary schools in Toronto choose to use the word “college” in their names nevertheless. Some secondary schools elsewhere in the country, particularly ones within the separate school system, may also use the word "college" or "collegiate" in their names.
Ireland
In the
Republic of Ireland, the term "college" is usually limited to an institution of
tertiary education, but the term is quite generic within this field. University students often say they attend "college" rather than "university", with the term college being more popular in wider society. This is possibly due to the fact that, until 1989, no university provided teaching or research directly. Instead, these were offered by a constituent college of the university, in the case of the
National University of Ireland and
University of Dublin — or at least in strict legal terms. A limited number of
secondary education institutions use the word college to describe or name themselves, but this tends to be the exception.
The state's only ancient university, the
University of Dublin, is really English in its origins and, until recently, its outlook. Created during the reign of
Elizabeth I, it is modeled on the universities of
Cambridge and
Oxford. However, only one
constituent college was ever founded, hence the curious position of
Trinity College, Dublin today. For a time, degrees in
Dublin Institute of Technology were also conferred by the university. However, that institution now has its own degree awarding powers and is considering applying for full university status.
Among more modern foundations, the
National University of Ireland, founded in 1908, consisted of constituent colleges and recognised colleges until 1997. The former are now referred to as
constituent universities — institutions that are essentially universities in their own right. The National University can trace its existence back to 1850 and the creation of the
Queen's University of Ireland and the creation of the
Catholic University of Ireland in 1854. From 1880, the degree awarding roles of these two universities was taken over by the
Royal University of Ireland, which remained until the creation of the National University in 1908 and the
Queen's University of Belfast.
The state's two new universities
Dublin City University and
University of Limerick were initially National Institute for Higher Education institutions. These institutions offered university level academic degrees and research from the start of their existence and were awarded university status in 1989 in recognition of this. These two universities now follow the general trend of universities having associated colleges offering their degrees.
Third level technical education in the state has been carried out in the Regional Technical College network since 1970. These institutions are now referred to as
Institutes of Technology, and some have
delegated authority that entitles them to give degrees and diplomas in their own name. Initially these institutions offered only National Certificate and National Diploma courses. Now they also offer academic degrees at undergraduate and
postgraduate level.
Other types of college include
Colleges of Education. These are specialist institutions, often linked to a university, which provide both undergraduate and
postgraduate academic degrees for people who want to train as teachers.
Hong Kong
In
Hong Kong, the term "college" has a range of meanings, as in the British case. In the first case it can refer to a
secondary school. It is also used by tertiary institutions as either part of their names, such as Shue Yan College; to refer to a constituent part of the university, such as the colleges in the collegiate
Chinese University of Hong Kong; or to a residence hall of a university, such as St. John's College, University of Hong Kong.
India
The term university is more common than college in
India. Generally, colleges are located in different parts of a state and all of them are affiliated to a regional university. The colleges offer programmes under that university. Examinations are conducted by the university at the same time for all colleges under its affiliation. There are several hundred universities and each university has affiliated colleges.
The first liberal arts and sciences college in India was the
Presidency College, Kolkata . The first Missionary institution to impart Western style education in India was the
Scottish Church College, Calcutta . The first modern university in India was the
University of Calcutta . The first research institution for the study of the social sciences and ushering the spirit of Oriental research was the Asiatic Society, . The first college for the study of Christian theology and ecumenical enquiry has been the
Serampore College .
The
Indian Institutes of Technology are specialized institutions that award their own degrees. They are premier institutes in India. There are only seven of them at present.
Of late the government has been establishing Indian Institutes of Information Technology as specialized centres of excellence in the rapidly emerging field of Information Technology. They have been setup to educate professionals for the booming technology oriented market.
Singapore
The term "college" in
Singapore is generally only used for pre-university educational institutions called "Junior Colleges", which provide the final two years of
secondary education . Since 1 January 2005, the term also refers to the three campuses of the
Institute of Technical Education with the introduction of the "collegiate system", in which the three institutions are called ITE College East, ITE College Central, and ITE College West respectively.
The term "
university" is used to describe higher-education institutions offering locally-conferred degrees. Institutions offering diplomas are called "
polytechnics", while other institutions are often referred to as "institutes" and so forth.
New Zealand
In
New Zealand the word "college" normally refers to a
secondary school for ages 13 to 17. In contrast, most older schools of the same type are "high schools". Also, single-sex schools are more likely to be "Someplace Boys/Girls High School", but there are also very many coeducational "high schools". The difference between "high schools" and "colleges" is only one of terminology. There does seem to be a geographical difference in terminology: "colleges" most frequently appear in the North Island, whereas "high schools" are more common in the South Island.
The constituent colleges of the former
University of New Zealand have become independent universities. Some halls of residence associated with New Zealand universities retain the name of "college", particularly at the
University of Otago . The institutions formerly known as "Teacher-training colleges" now style themselves "College of education".
Some universities, such as the
University of Canterbury, have divided their University into constituent administrative "Colleges" - the College of Arts containing departments that teach Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Science containing Science departments, and so on. This is largely modelled on the Cambridge model, discussed above.
Like the United Kingdom some professional bodies in New Zealand style themselves as "colleges", for example, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, the R.A.C. of Physicians etc.
The non-English-speaking world
Some languages beyond English use words similar to "college". However, in other languages, confusion is most likely to arise when an American is reading something translated by someone using British conventions, or
vice versa.
- In Belgium, the term college is used for institutes of secondary education, more in particular for Catholic schools . For tertiary education, the difference is made between hogeschool and university. With the current reform of higher education under the Bologna process, the hogeschool institutions now offer professional bachelor's degrees as well as professional master's degrees . Universities offer academic bachelor's degrees and academic master's degrees . Recent government measures have brought the hogeschool institutions to associate with an university in order to academize their curriculum and to get involved in applied research projects.
- In China, Japan, Korea
One of the world's oldest civilization [i]s, Korea began with the founding of Gojoseon [i] in 2333 ...
and other East Asian nations, colleges and universities are collectively named ?? or in simplified writing ??, which is a word originally introduced by
Confucius with his influential book of the same name. The original word and subsequently the book's title is most frequently translated to "The Great Learning". Today's pronunciation of this word is country- and sometimes region- specific and includes
daxue and
daigaku . In Japan,
daigaku is usually considered distinct from
senmon gakkou , which is more of a
post-secondary vocational school. In
China, the college students are selected through the annual National College Entrance Examination. The meaning of ?? is clear, but in the case of smaller institutions, the term ?? is often used and, like "college" in English, can refer to either an institution of tertiary or secondary education.
- In Denmark the term kollegium means dormitory. A University are called a Universitet. Some institutes of higher education call themselves højskole which literally means "high school" e.g. Handelshøjskolen i København .
- In Finland the term college has no single counterpart. A general university is called yliopisto . A university on a specific field of study is korkeakoulu . The Swedish term is högskola. In translation they use "university", "school", or "academy". One of them even uses college: Maanpuolustuskorkeakoulu is in English "The National Defence College". An institute of the more practically oriented branch of tertiary education is ammattikorkeakoulu, in Swedish yrkeshögskola. Some of them translate their name as "polytechnic", some as "university of applied science".
- In France, collège generally refers to a middle school or junior high school. However, it can also be used in a manner more similar to that of English, such as in the term electoral college or the Collège de France. The latter use, though, is not as common.
- In Germany a Hochschule or Universität is an institute of tertiary education. "College" is a more proper term to use than a direct translation: Hochschule literally means "high school". German secondary education often takes place in an institution called in German an Oberschule, with its specific forms Hauptschule, Realschule, Gymnasium, and in some states also Gesamtschule, together with vocational secondary education in Berufsschule . The term Kolleg is used in some states for institutions of adult education where graduates of a Berufsschule can graduate with an Abitur. A Graduiertenkolleg is a German Graduate school.
- In Greece
Greece lies at the juncture of Europe [i], Asia [i], and Africa [i]. ...
the term college is mainly used to refer to private secondary education institutions , while ?a?ep?st?µ?? is the term utilized for Higher Education.
- In Hungary the term kollégium refers to a dormitory that may or may not be independent from an educational institution; it can also refer to a university's autonomous student organisation, dedicated to the advanced study of a certain science, topic etc, for example the College for Social Theory.
- In the Netherlands the term college is used for institutes of secondary education. The term college is also used for classes or lectures at university.
- In Norway
...
the term "university college" is used as an official English translation for
høgskole, a term used for independent educational institutions providing
tertiary, but not
quaternary education. Similarly to the situation in Germany and Sweden, the Norwegian term
høgskole literally means "high school".
- In Portugal the term college is mainly used to refer to private secondary education institutions, while Universidade , Instituto or Escola Superior are the terms generally used for several kind of higher education institutions.
- In Spain and the other Spanish
- Things relating to Spain [i], a country in Europe
...
speaking countries the term
colegio refers to either to institutes of primary and secondary education or some grouping of people who refer to themselves as a
colegio.
- In Sweden the term "university college" is used as an official English translation for högskola, a term used for independent educational institutions providing tertiary, but not quaternary education. Similarly to the situation in Germany, the Swedish term högskola literally means "high school". The same term is also used for a number of institutions which function as specialized universities rather than as university colleges, providing quaternary education and conducting research .
- In some cantons of the French speaking part of Switzerland and also on the border to the Swiss German speaking part the French term “Collège” is used for the Gymnasium which lends to the matura. It is also used as a name for the physical building in which obligatory education takes place .
See also
College Searches
References
