At both college and university students are working hard for their education. I feel that having two words for pretty much the same concept is repetitive. It also devides people for no reason making university students feel like they worked harder and are smarter than the college students.
Yes, I completely agree! I always thought the college was for more hands on jobs (nurses, tradespeople) and university is more preparing for more desk type jobs. Not neccessarily one being harder or easier than the other, but to prepare for two different kinds of jobs.
From what I have noticed with colleges and universities, it is not so much the work load but the size of the school that determines if it is a college or university. The larger the school, the more likely it is to be a university, where as the smaller it is, the more likely it is to be a college. I attended an 800 some person college for my Undergraduate education and 25,000+ university for my Graduate level education. I have also noticed that private schools are more likely to be colleges and public schools are more likely to be universities. There are of course community colleges and that just throws everything off. I do not know if that is how it is in Canada, but that is what I have noticed here in the states.
The thing I've noticed a lot on here is that college is more used in the US, and university is more used internationally. People here say things like, "I'm going to college after high school" and "what college do you go to?" Where as international people usually say things like "I'm going to university" or whatever. I've notice people from other countries say that stuf on here and it sounds awkward to me because no one from the US says that really. I don't think there is too much of a difference between universities and colleges here in the US. Universities tend to be bigger but that's all I've heard of. And even if you go to a university like UCLA, or Umass, etc, in general conversation it would be referred to as college Edit: Just looked up the difference online: In general, a college offers education in one specific area, while a university is a collection of colleges. When you go to a university you attend one of their colleges, such as the business college or college of engineering.
A college usually focuses on undergraduate studies. They are usually small and more "liberal arts" types. Universities deal with both undergraduates and graduate programs. And the course selections offered are much larger at universities. I went to both a college then the same university for two masters. As someone who is well educated and has paid out the wazoo, let me say as long as you go to a real school and not like east pickle state online, your degree is valuable. Don't let someone from Harvard tell you otherwise. (I didn't go to Harvard but I did go to a prestigious college and pretty good university.)
My understanding is that the terms are used in different contexts in the US vs. Canada. As far as I understand, in canada, a "college" is what in the is called a "community college" or a "junior college"... a two-year institution that offers technical and associates degrees. In the US, "college" can be a two or four year program, though I think the majority of them are four-year colleges that offer bachelors degrees and usually not technical or associates degrees. "University" is a term that historically implied multiple colleges under one umbrella, and included graduate programs, so you might have, for example "University of Ohio, College of Liberal Arts", "University of Ohio, College of Engineering", and a dozen other things. But the lines have blurred over the years. In the US, there are lots of small liberal arts colleges that are extremely rigorous, where the academic standards are really high and students work their asses off, even though the schools aren't "universities." And there are also a bunch of crappy, substandard, for-profit "universities" that have little-to-no academic rigor and one can skate through pretty easily. Finally, community colleges tend to be not terribly rigorous, for the simple reason that they generally accept anyone who applies, while the colleges and universities (at least the good ones) are a lot more selective. So if you're accepting everyone who applies, you have to teach to the lowest common denominator, or students won't pass classes, and that, in turn, makes the programs less challenging for those with appropriate preparation. Hope that helps!
Where I am, a college is either a combined school (from very young until what's generally called college) or the last two years of pre-tertiary education. Universities (though I only know anything about the Group of 8) tend to offer undergrad, post-grad and doctorates. The technical training places are called insitutes of technology or TAFEs (technical and further education). They serve different purposes, and there's snobbery with universities in Australia (basically anything but the Group of 8 is considered awful). There are also arts colleges which are for drama and that sort of thing. At least at the ANU, the unversity isn't split into colleges, but some others are. I think there needs to be an international agreement on defining terminology of education and splitting "college," "university," "institute," etc. into uniform meaning.
People in my area say that they are going to college or applying to college, but it is usually the "University of ______" because people have this idea that universities are more prestigious around me. Unless its the College of William of Mary, in the state of VA, you will get a sideways look if you're going to a "College of _____" or "_____ College". This could just be that my school system is really condescending.
In general, "college" and "university" are synonymous. Without getting to the prestige levels between educational institutions in the same category, the prestige levels (in my humble opinion) go from "for-profit"/technical colleges to regionally-accredited "for-profit" colleges and universities to non-profit junior colleges and community colleges to non-profit, regionally-accredited colleges and universities that offer bachelors degrees (and/or higher). The term "college" and "university" can also further confused by the fact that many universities are made of constituent colleges. My university, who granted me my bachelors degree, did so on the recommendation of the faculty of the "College of Business." Where I live, most people say "going to college" even if they go to a "full-fledged" university. Most of the guys who say "university" tend to be from out-of-state or international students. Just my observations.
The technical distinction, at least in the US, is that a college is a collection of departments that serve some common theme, whereas a university is a collection of colleges. Therefore, within a single university, one might find a: College of Liberal Arts and Humanities College of Sciences Business School College of Medical Studies Law School ...lots of other possibilities. If a school does not have at least 2 colleges, it should not call itself a university (I'm not sure it can, actually). Most community colleges (in my understanding) put their arts and sciences departments together into a single college, whose purpose is to prep students for education at a more comprehensive school (and in some cases grant Associate degrees). ---------- Post added 12th Mar 2014 at 07:45 PM ---------- Oh, and as for "going to college", anyone who goes to a university *is* "going to college", since they have to enroll in one of the university's college programs. But not everyone who goes to a college is necessarily attending a university. As for the "prestige" of attending a university rather than a college, that's just silly public perception...there are colleges that are outstanding; there are universities that suck; there are universities that have within them some colleges that are outstanding and some colleges that suck.
I believe that biAnnika offered the most thorough explanation. It is inaccurate to believe that using the terms lends to the level or category of education that is being taught there. Likewise, with rigor and prestige. Additionally, in the US and areas of Canada the difference in comparison to other international areas lies in the distinction between proper and common nouns. For example: Common "I am going to college." Proper "I am going to Harvard University" It is simply that the vast majority of people on this side of the world do not use university as a common noun. Welcome to the English language.
People kinda use college and university interchangeably but like most of my friends who went to college did so cause they were rejected from university.
As described to me by UCF personnel (in regards to universities at least), "school" is the most specific term for individual programs, "college" is for a related group of schools, and "university" is the umbrella term for the entire organization. Outside of that though, I think of "college" as the general idea of post-secondary education, and "university" as a particular one. This is opposite of Europeans, who might use the latter for the general concept. Oh well.
Further to Chips's explanation, in Canada anyway, one other big difference is there is little research going on in community colleges whereas part of university profs' job is to work on research projects (which could range from a study of the way certain topics are represented in contemporary literature to developing new surgical techniques or computer programming languages, depending on the faculty/school), this research is often conducted with the assistance of graduate students and being able to work on these kinds of projects under the mentorship of established professors is one of the big perks of post-graduate (masters, doctorate) education. So while college and university are commonly interchangeable because that's how they're called in most American movies and TV shows, there's a big difference.
Whereas in the UK, when you hear 'college' it'd be referring to the final two years of school 90% of the time. Although my uni is divided into different faculties for each broad group of subjects called 'colleges', but that's mainly used administratively, and some unis are divided into numerous colleges in other, more significant ways. And whilst (a UK term again, sorry) we're at it, if we're going to uni we can't interchange that with going 'to school' - that's reserved for primary school/secondary school (=elementary school, high school). It's no surprise that the terminology is so different given that the education systems mainly developed in the last few centuries, whilst the US and the UK have been separate countries. It's the same stories with railways and cars.
Basically, college = community college, and uni/university = four year school, though it's a lot easier to just say "college" for either, at least in the States. Since I went to both, I'll differentiate if we're getting into specifics, otherwise "school" seems to give most people a general idea. :dry:
College has different meanings in Canada than it does in other places. University is studying for a undergraduate degree, graduate degree, Ph.D, basically all degrees. They're certificates of knowledge. College is studying towards a job, so though you are gaining knowledge it's more applicable towards the real world therefore it's considered job prep. So you get a diploma, that basically certifies you are trained in whatever career you were training for. That is the main difference where you live, since you are from Canada. University degrees can get you jobs, but aren't as successful at getting one as a college diploma. Depending on what you do in university, a college diploma can be much more valuable since you can be trained in highly skilled in demand jobs that pay for that demand and labour required. However, you are almost capped at what you can make for many college diploma's, and sometimes coupling that with a university degree can make you more eligible for management or higher up jobs in the field you are trained in. As well many high paying salary jobs require university degrees....etc. And on the other hand a college diploma graduate that starts his own trades company has the potential to make more than someone with a Ph.D It's really all dependent on what you choose to do, what you choose to do with what degree or diploma you have, and how well you can apply it in the real world.
I do believe that Colby College in Maine (for instance) would be very upset to learn this. They are one of the top-recognized liberal arts colleges in the US and are far from a "community college". But they are not a university...just a single college. (See my explanation of the difference above.)
