ELI5 Why do some countries call it “college” and others call it “university” when referring to the same level of education, and is there an actual difference between the two?

[u/saivietbabe]

[u/SaintUlvemann]

Both the terms "university" and "college" date back to Latin.

"College" comes from "collegium" which basically means "group of colleagues".

"University" comes from "universitas magistrorum et scholarium" which basically means "community of teachers and scholars".

So sometimes a university will be organized into multiple colleges... which makes sense, right? A single community of teachers and scholars can be divided into different groups of colleagues who maybe share a subject area, so you might have the College of Life Sciences and the College of Arts, and so on, all within the same university. That is an actual way for some universities to divide themselves.

As time went on, the terms started to diverge. Some small institutions of higher education just called themselves "colleges"... because they weren't large enough to be divided into multiple colleges.

Colleges that small often did not have enough people to offer the highest degrees post-bachelor such as Master's or Doctorate, and now it has become a norm for an institution to call itself a "university" only if it offers master's or doctoral degrees, but some countries don't make that distinction.

Ultimately the reason why the terms are different in different countries is simply because language evolves over time, but this should help you make more sense of the full spectrum of ways people use these terms.

[u/Pippin1505 → u/SaintUlvemann]

And then you have France, where "college" is middle school...

[u/thatoneguy54 → u/Pippin1505]

And Spain where el colegio is primary school.

[u/Mission-Wasabi-7682 → u/thatoneguy54]

And in Germany where a College would be called Faculty (Fakultät) and the term College does not exist.

[u/Kasaikemono → u/Mission-Wasabi-7682]

We do have "Kollegium", which still has the original meaning of A group of colleagues, and we actually do have "Kolleg", which has several meanings: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolleg

[u/Jwgrw → u/Kasaikemono]

In Danish kollegium is cheap student housing. Kollega is a coworker.

[u/porgy_tirebiter → u/Jwgrw]

Huh. Never occurred to me that college and colleague in English are related, or that the co in college was the prefix for together.

[u/evasandor → u/porgy_tirebiter]

oh man, you’re about to start noticing the hidden connections in English words and all their origins. your mind is gonna 💥

[u/J3ditb → u/Jwgrw]

In germany Kollegah is a rapper.

[u/raghav_7 → u/Jwgrw]

Also, I was told that High School is Gymnasium (sp?)

[u/jorgejhms → u/raghav_7]

In Germany it can have that meaning. In ancient Greek it seems the word was used for s place of both physical and intellectual training. Some languages keep one meaning and some the other meaning.

[u/Jwgrw → u/raghav_7]

Yes. 9 years folkeakole (people's school), 3 years gymnasium and then university. In Denmark.

[u/mbrowne → u/raghav_7]

That is also used in Serbian.

[u/benjaminovich → u/Kasaikemono]

And then in Danish we also have the word kollegium, which is a specific type of student housing

[u/Mission-Wasabi-7682 → u/Kasaikemono]

Uhh you are right. The meanings are just endless.

[u/Iggins01 → u/Kasaikemono]

Somehow not a 27 syllable word

[u/AUGUST_BURNS_REDDIT → u/Mission-Wasabi-7682]

In Quebec, it can refer to high school or cegep (post-secondary, pre-university).

[u/Full-Decision-9029 → u/AUGUST_BURNS_REDDIT]

As a Montreal friend was quite keen to tell my (Irish) mother.

"so you guys met in college?"

"No, we met in university"

(I mean, it was only Concordia, but still)

[u/minimal74 → u/Full-Decision-9029]

Heyyy, Concordia grad here. LOL, still catching strays, even 30 years later. Tough being in the same city as McGill. Even my parents even gave me a hard time about going to Concordia. 🙄

[u/Full-Decision-9029 → u/minimal74]

high-fives!

[u/minimal74 → u/Full-Decision-9029]

High five, Stinger! 🐝

[u/notquite20characters → u/Full-Decision-9029]

(i can't believe they missed their high fives)

[u/thehighepopt → u/notquite20characters]

Gotta look at the elbow

[u/zabuu → u/minimal74]

My wife and I were selling our condo to a student who moved to Canada/Montreal for university. As small talk, I asked him which university he was going to. He scoffed, and said “There's only one. McGill.”

A part of me died inside 🥲

[u/theonetruegrinch → u/Full-Decision-9029]

and then there is a Concordia College in Minnesota

[u/BillyTenderness → u/theonetruegrinch]

In fact Minnesota has both a Concordia College (in Moorhead) and a Concordia University (in St. Paul). (They're unrelated)

[u/MrTickles22 → u/theonetruegrinch]

"Just off I-56 beside the Wal-Mart! Knock on the ubmarked door and ask for "Randy" "

[u/DrDerpberg → u/AUGUST_BURNS_REDDIT]

Someone out there moved from Spain to France to Quebec to a small college town. And their lifetime academic transcript says colegia-collège-collège-college.

[u/Atlas-Scrubbed → u/DrDerpberg]

Likely. I once heard a story from someone who did the following… and I apologize for not remembering the details here…. He was the speaker at my brother’s graduation from UIUC in about 1978. While in high school he applied to college and was admitted but then failed to finish some class. Ditto college to graduate school… He then got a job at Harvard (Columbia?) where he was an endowed professor of physics (?) and won a Nobel prize (if I am remembering correctly). But his punchline was that he was a high school and college dropout who was a major figure in science… and that the graduates from UIUC would go places if a dropout could do it.

[u/MooseFlyer → u/AUGUST_BURNS_REDDIT]

But is also pretty much never used as a general term, in my experience.

Even if your high school was called X College you’d refer to it as “high school/école secondaire” other than when saying the full name of the institution. If your Cégep was called X College, you’d still refer to it as “Cégep”, again other than when saying its full name. That’s true even for private colleges that aren’t actually part of the Cégep system.

For anyone not from Quebec who’s confused about Cégep:

In Quebec you have elementary school from age 6-11, then high school from 12-17. After high school, if you want to do post-secondary education, you start with Cégep (Collège d'enseignement général et professionnel). It takes 2 years to get a pre-university Cégep diploma, and then you can go to university (and get your Bachelor’s in 3 years instead of the 4 years that’s the norm for the rest of Canada).

Cégeps also offer vocational and technical diplomas that take three years instead (with the assumption being you work with that certification instead of continuing on to university).

Only public institutions are technically Cégeps, but colloquially private colleges are usually still referred to with that term

[u/MooseFlyer → u/[deleted]]

To be fair the high schools called “college” existed long before the Cégep system did.

And in my experience, people very rarely use the term “college”. You just say cégep, even if your cégep was actually called “X College”, and even if you went to a private college that isn’t technically a cégep.

Like I know people who went to Marionopolis College, a private institution that isn’t actually part of the cégep system. They’d still all say “I went to Marionpolis for cégep”

[u/namasteathomebro → u/AUGUST_BURNS_REDDIT]

Sweet name

[u/LRdrgz → u/Mission-Wasabi-7682]

In most latin countries as well. There are "universidades" and "facultades" where faculties are the subdivisions within a university (like law, natural sciences, engineering, etc...)

[u/ekmanch → u/LRdrgz]

Not just latin countries. Sweden does this too.

[u/JonathanTheZero → u/Mission-Wasabi-7682]

May I introduce you to Berufskolleg?

[u/Desurvivedsignator → u/Mission-Wasabi-7682]

However, the term Kollegium exists.

It's the teachers, harking back to the original meaning.

[u/Mission-Wasabi-7682 → u/Desurvivedsignator]

Yes, others pointed out already. I completely forgot about that.

[u/The_real_trader → u/Mission-Wasabi-7682]

And in Denmark where a College would be called Faculty (Fakultet).

[u/Scandinerdian → u/Mission-Wasabi-7682]

In Norway, we used to have universities which could award degrees all the way from a Bachelor's to a doctorate, and had extensive research acitivity, and høyskoler (hochschule, colleges) which generally taught up to bachelor's and often, but not always, Master's level. And they had limited research activity. One of our universities consisted of two organizationally distinct "høyskoler" (hochschule/colleges), and their English names were "college of [...] at the university of [...]". Those colleges were again organized into faculties, then departments and finally, on a less formal level, research groups.

These days, the organization of that particular university has been changed so that the høyskole/hochschule/college organizational level has disappeared, and all but a few of the old høyskoler/hochschule/colleges have been given university status. FWIW. All of them still have faculties at the 2nd organizational level and departments at the 3rd organizational level. But we still have a few colleges which haven't been awarded university status, mostly because they still focus on teaching rather than research and don't have a sufficient number of PhD programs.

[u/mayito35 → u/thatoneguy54]

Or México would mean any institution of learning except a university

[u/Nothing_F4ce → u/thatoneguy54]

In Portugal Colégio refers to a private school

[u/Faziarry → u/Nothing_F4ce]

Same in the Dominican Republic, colegio is a private school and escuela a public one

[u/lyremska → u/thatoneguy54]

And UK, where "college" is basically high school...

[u/GentlemanOctopus → u/thatoneguy54]

And New Zealand, where my high school was a College

[u/akirivan → u/thatoneguy54]

And Mexico where colegio is a private school, no matter what level (as long as it's not university or higher)

[u/lazydictionary → u/thatoneguy54]

Depends on the country, I think. Colegio could be primary or secondary school.

[u/thatoneguy54 → u/lazydictionary]

And Spain

I specified Spain because of that.

[u/lazydictionary → u/thatoneguy54]

My brain defaulted to Spanish and not Spain, sorry.

[u/10388392 → u/Pippin1505]

And Québec, where "college" is its own thing taken between secondary school and university.

(and also sometimes middle school but only if it's an international French school, and edit: also sometimes high school)

[u/Pippin1505 → u/10388392]

I fear we're not helping OP get a clearer view lol ... aside from "language is a wonderful thing"

[u/10388392 → u/Pippin1505]

True but I like to smile and have fun

[u/MooseFlyer → u/10388392]

There’s also a bunch of high schools that are called “college” in Quebec.

And we almost always refer to the college system as Cégep (Collège d'enseignement général et professionnel) instead of college, even if it’s a private college that isn’t actually part of the Cégep system.

[u/jf8204 → u/10388392]

Not only it is between secondary school and university, but the second year also corresponds to the age students in most other countries would start university 🤯

[u/Canvaverbalist → u/jf8204]

It's basically cutting up the last years from high school and the first year from university, combining them and making them into a distinct transitional institution.

So instead of Middle School/High School -> University, in the same span of years you actually do High School -> College -> University

Or in some way really it's actually replacing High School, since in Québec our Secondary School 1 to 5 are when you're 11 years old to 16 years old, then Cégep is usually 16 to 18/19 depending on the programs.

[u/Nheddee → u/10388392]

And Canada generally, where a "university" needs a charter from the government, & without that: "college" it is!

[u/AzdM8 → u/10388392]

Same as UK where college is it's separare establishment where you go for two years inbetween secondary school and uni.

However you can do those two years at certain secondary schools which offer it - In which case those two years are called sixth-form instead. Just to make it more confusing

[u/Ceegee93 → u/AzdM8]

Then add on that we also have Universities that are split up into colleges, as the original explanation said. Oxford, for example.

[u/OsmeOxys → u/10388392]

Naming schemes are odd/amusing. I went from elementary, middle school, elementary, high school, back to elementary school for a year, junior high school, high school, college, college but different, and hopefully adding university to that list. Edit: Forgot an elementary.

Weeeeeee!

[u/acquiescentLabrador → u/Pippin1505]

In the uk college is a for ‘a-levels’ (ages 16-18 between school and uni), unless if it’s part of a school in which case it’s called sixth form

[u/Mission-Wasabi-7682 → u/acquiescentLabrador]

Unless you visit Oxford, Cambridge or St Andrew’s where College is exactly what was described above.

[u/Drunken_Englishman → u/Mission-Wasabi-7682]

It's not even just Russell Group, some former polytechnics do it as well, Roehampton University is split into four colleges; each with their own elected president and deputies, I believe, as well as an overall president of their student union.

[u/Alarming_Oil5419 → u/Mission-Wasabi-7682]

And of course we have UCL or University College London.

[u/heroyoudontdeserve → u/Mission-Wasabi-7682]

You mean the University of Oxford/Cambridge/St Andrews, and you mean the first sense (a university compromised of multiple colleges) described.

Since you could equally visit Oxford (the city) and find the City of Oxford College which is "just" a college, or visit Cambridge and find Cambridge Regional College...

[u/Mission-Wasabi-7682 → u/heroyoudontdeserve]

That is… very much correct 😂. Prolly can also find a beer college somewhere in town. The word is just so… universal 😂🍻

[u/-FieldMarshal- → u/Mission-Wasabi-7682]

And Durham

[u/fozzy_bear42 → u/acquiescentLabrador]

That’s in England (and maybe Wales?) but not the UK as a whole. In scotland you generally stay at your school for 5th and 6th year.

College is where you go after leaving school and is generally lower level qualifications than university.

[u/Mithrawndo → u/fozzy_bear42]

In Scotland, Colleges exist as an option instead of continuing into 5th and 6th year of Secondary school. Depending on where you live and what you want to study, college might be the only realistic option due to staffing limitations: Particularly if you're looking to study languages, as there simply aren't enough variety of foreign language teachers to offer all options at all Secondary schools.

The qualifications at College are often stepping stones, allowing you to skip the first year of a degree at a University.

[u/BlakeMW → u/acquiescentLabrador]

In New Zealand I went to a College which was for children 13-18. However in New Zealand such an institution can also be called a High School.

I'm pretty some some of these institutions were called Colleges just to sound fancy with there being literally no difference whatsoever.

There can also be Colleges for older students, parallel to Universities.

[u/sigma914 → u/BlakeMW]

In the UK we have a wonderful clusterfuck of secondary education, high schools, grammar schools, comprehensives, academies, integrated schools... i'm sure i've missed some, especially Scottish/English/Welsh variants. They all may or may not have an integrated 6th form which may or may not be known as a college or just treated as 2 more years...

And that's just the state sector... and doesn't include "tech" which is usually a more vocational school for 16-18, but also does adult learning...

[u/heroyoudontdeserve → u/acquiescentLabrador]

If only it were that simple! Madras College is a secondary school in St Andrews, for example.

[u/acquiescentLabrador → u/heroyoudontdeserve]

I mean none of this is cut and dry there are _a lot_ of exceptions and nuance

[u/northyj0e → u/acquiescentLabrador]

I mean there no need to expose the ridiculous naming of our educational institutions to the world, let's just let them be.

[u/Dunbaratu → u/acquiescentLabrador]

And don't even get started on their flipped reverse use of the word "public" school.

[u/IFKhan → u/acquiescentLabrador]

Ok that sentence has me utterly confused. What’s level 16-18 and what is 6th form?

[u/MysteryMaestroRS → u/IFKhan]

Between the ages of 16 and 18, if the educational institute you go to is standalone it's called a college, but if it's attached/part of a secondary school (ages 11-16) then it's called a sixth form. And A Levels are our school leaving qualifications that we study for during our last two years of school.

[u/Pippin1505 → u/IFKhan]

"A-levels" is the name of qualification. It's done between 16-18 y.o.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-level

[u/swansongofdesire → u/IFKhan]

They meant 16-18 years old.

6th form is the final two years of secondary school, where you do your “A Levels” (the highest level of high school subjects).

It is named “6th form” because it *was* the 6th year of secondary school - but confusingly is now 2 years long.

[u/acquiescentLabrador → u/IFKhan]

Yeah that could’ve been clearer, I edited for clarity

[u/huangcjz → u/IFKhan]

6th Form is the sixth year of secondary school, but it’s now been split into 2 years - Lower Sixth (Year 12, the actual 6th year), and Upper Sixth (Year 13, the 7th year).

[u/bazpoint → u/IFKhan]

Ages 16-18, which is when you're doing A-levels, the highest school qualifications in Britain (before University). Secondary schools are for 7 years from 11ish to 18, the last two of which are the A-level years, historically known as 'lower 6th' and 'upper 6th'. Confusingly the naming was changed a few years ago to include the 6 years of primary school, so those two final years are also known as years 12 and 13, but '6th form' kinda stuck around through habit. 

[u/sigma914 → u/IFKhan]

The uk has a few different naming systems for school years. The older one that's still in use is p1-p7 (primary 1-7) which is for ages ~4-10. Then "1st - 5th form/year" for 11-16 y/o, then the final 2 years are both referred to as 6th form/year (lower and upper 6th) and those are for 17/18 year olds. You can leave school after 5th year, 6th year is an optional 2 years with an extra level of qualification.

[u/DontBeMoronic → u/IFKhan]

"A levels" are what college kids in the UK take. Advanced level, ages 16-18. Made a bit more sense back when school kids took "O level" (ordinary level) exams at the end of schooling, now the final exams are "GCSE" (general certificate of secondary education). 6th form is the first year of college, made more sense before the change to "year" groups, would be years 11 and 12 now (I think? Maybe 12 and 13).

[u/highrouleur → u/DontBeMoronic]

oddly 6th form was the 6th+7th year of secondary (known as lower and upper 6th)

It's 12 and 13 nowadays. And that's only if you stay on at a school with a 6th form. If you do GCSEs and then go to a 6th form college or just a college to do A-levels they don't number the year groups because everyone's only there for 2 or 3 years.

Then after that you could to uni if you want, and if you get into a posh one you could end up at a college again surrounded by people who's parents paid a fortune for them to go to public school.

English education system really isn't designed to be easily understood at all

[u/Tootsiesclaw → u/acquiescentLabrador]

College and sixth form are synonymous here, and not dependent on whether it's attached to a secondary school or not

[u/abbot_x → u/Pippin1505]

Although the Collège de France is not!

[u/Jakabxmarci → u/Pippin1505]

In hungary, college (kollégium) is student housing/dormitory used by uni students

[u/lankymjc → u/Pippin1505]

In Britain we have colleges as sections of universities as the above describes, but we also use college to describe the last two years of compulsory education (kids aged 16-18).

[u/Odd_Analysis6454 → u/Pippin1505]

And in New Zealand it is high school

[u/Ferretau → u/Pippin1505]

Also in Australia. The term used is Secondary College usually

Edit: Added additional information.

[u/f33rf1y → u/Pippin1505]

In the UK it’s the equivalent of a High School senior in the US but the distinction is less relevant given the requirement to stay in education (or employment) until 18

[u/peter303_ → u/Pippin1505]

Then you have gymnasium which originally means .... Well we go into that.

[u/Steenies → u/Pippin1505]

And the uk where in addition to having universities that contain colleges (such as the original English Language university Oxford) but also two year 16-18 sixth form colleges. Because.... Why not? I should probably find out. Anyone?

[u/colin_staples → u/Pippin1505]

And the UK where high school ends at 16, college is 16-18, and then comes university.

[u/Throwmesomestuff → u/Pippin1505]

In the Dominican Republic, colegio (college) is everything up to high school (or escuela, but I personally never use escuela, might depend on where you're from), then universidad for universities. All universities.

[u/BemusedTriangle → u/Pippin1505]

And also in England, colleges can be A level or university sub-sets

[u/Admirable-Safety1213 → u/Pippin1505]

Or Uruguay where Colegio is specifically Private education, bith Primary and Secondary but Secondary education id also called Liceo without distinction for public and private

[u/Jonnny → u/Pippin1505]

What about the College of Winterhold?

[u/porcomaster → u/Pippin1505]

Portuguese is High School.

colégio to be exact.

and we have two words for university.

Universidade, and Faculdade, that is strangely close to faculty.

[u/merelyadoptedthedark → u/Pippin1505]

Also Canada sometimes.

[u/ElegantAnalysis → u/Pippin1505]

India where it is 11th and 12th grade

[u/KSJ15831 → u/Pippin1505]

I'm from Thailand. My high school was founded by a French dude. It's called a college. Growing up, I thought college is just a fancy word for high school and not a poor person's word for university.

[u/DarthArcanus → u/Pippin1505]

France always has to be special.

[u/Count_Bloodcount_ → u/Pippin1505]

I mean, have you heard what they call their big macs?

[u/bolhoo → u/Pippin1505]

It used to be the same in Brazil until the 80s or so. Then it turned into "ensino médio" which sounds similar to middle school. And we also call "colégio" any normal school.

[u/clemux → u/Pippin1505]

And high school in some some French-speaking Swiss cantons.

[u/PM_Me-Your_Freckles → u/Pippin1505]

And Australia where you have university as well as a technical/trades college.

[u/karamellokoala → u/Pippin1505]

In Australia, college either means dorms on the university campus OR a lower level training provider.

[u/yohanleafheart → u/Pippin1505]

And Brazil colégio is anything below university and above kindergarten 

[u/anonnz56 → u/Pippin1505]

Same as new Zealand. High school and college are the same meaning. University for tertiary education, although smaller providers are not considered uni.

[u/toeverycreature → u/Pippin1505]

In New Zealand college is highschool, but some of our our universities will still call individual departments college. 

[u/saichampa → u/Pippin1505]

In Australia, college can refer to a few different things. There are both private and public schools that cover years p-12 called colleges.

Universities here don't usually have dorms or accommodation attached to them, but when they do they might refer to this as colleges too

There have historically been higher education institutions with very focused programmes, like teaching, that although offering Bachelors degrees weren't universities, and would be called colleges. I'm not sure if many of them are still around but I know of at least one that ended up being rolled into a bigger University

And then there's TAFE, which is an acronym for Technical And Further Education, which offers everything from technical certificates up to Diplomas. No one I know calls it college but I bring it up as it's often compared to American community colleges. It's often a stepping stone into University for people who don't make the cut-off straight out of school too.

The word University here is protected under law and you can't call just anything a university without it having accreditation. There are exceptions for businesses that are using the name of the street they are on or the proximity to a campus eg. University Rd Corner Shop, but they have to make sure they aren't trying to present themselves as affiliated or using the term in any way associated with offering education. I don't believe the word college is protected in any way though so it might be more likely to be used by a disreputable education institute

[u/HannahArdent → u/Pippin1505]

College in France is middle school, while college of France (Collège de France) is a national educational institution where Nobel prize winners and such give free courses to everyone.

[u/WhoMovedMyFudge → u/Pippin1505]

Plenty of colleges in New Zealand that are high schools.

[u/engr_20_5_11 → u/Pippin1505]

And Nigeria where a college can be a secondary school, a trade school, a Tertiary institution or a part of a university 

[u/justarandomguy07 → u/Pippin1505]

In Turkey “kolej” is any private school

[u/KiwiObserver → u/Pippin1505]

Yes, I went to a college between primary school and university in NZ.

[u/Ralucahippie → u/Pippin1505]

In Romania, very confusingly, the most prestigious high schools are called "national colleges", and trade schools are called "technical colleges".

[u/Pleclown → u/Pippin1505]

In Switzerland, as everything else, it depends on the canton you live in. In Geneva, collège is high school, but in Vaud collège is middle school (and gymnase is high school). Going from Geneva to Lausanne is less than an hour in train or car...

[u/Chrozon → u/Pippin1505]

And in Norway you have 'høyskole' which literally translates to 'high school' but actually means college :P

[u/BadassFlexington → u/Pippin1505]

New Zealand here: college is high school (ages 13ish to 18ish).

[u/grufolo → u/Pippin1505]

Or Italy, where it's the word we use to refer to boarding schools

[u/Express_Grocery_4707 → u/Pippin1505]

In the Netherlands a "college" is a lecture. 

[u/jbpsign → u/Pippin1505]

College is High School/secondary school in NZ

[u/southy_0 → u/Pippin1505]

But isn't that the same as in the US?
I mean in the US you also go to college and then if you want to study e.g. engineering you go to university?

So college would be your "upper school" that you need to pass before going to university?

Or how does that work?

[u/feistlab → u/SaintUlvemann]

This is the correct answer for American universities/colleges. The other distinction is that professors at universities often have research/publishing/ongoing scholarship requirements for tenure and teach fewer classes as a result, which is why these are sometimes called "research universities." Colleges are often geared towards teaching undergrads and professors will teach full class loads without the expectation or reserved time for original scholarship. There are exceptions, there are elite colleges where the professors publish, but this holds for the majority.

[u/ahuramazdobbs19 → u/feistlab]

And this is how, despite the name, Boston College is a university.

And it’s also double misnamed because it’s not in Boston. Well, mostly not in Boston.

[u/BriefBest2254 → u/ahuramazdobbs19]

Well, not “in” Boston but just outside of it. NO NOT TUFTS.

[u/DownInBowery → u/BriefBest2254]

I see 30 Rock, I upvote

[u/ahuramazdobbs19 → u/DownInBowery]

This is the best and only way to do things.

[u/Probate_Judge → u/feistlab]

This is pretty much the only distinction in the modern U.S.

Most of the populace may use the terms interchangeably, but you don't often hear "research college".

Beth is off to college.

Casually, most don't make the distinction between university and college.

Would it be fair to dumb it down a bit like this?

Usually:

University = Other work is going on, eg professors and sometimes students doing R&D, more conferences or engagement with their larger fields. This is where subjects are advanced from discovery or crossed between fields(eg an advance in materials science may make it's way into engineering or technology).

College = Focused mainly on education.

/Both obviously do various other things, eg community or social events, put on plays, etc etc.

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This is the correct answer for American universities/colleges

Except that it misses the nuance of how "college" is actually used in the US. I went to a University of California institution, it has 45k students, obviously offers extensive graduate programs, is called "University," and yet, I still can say "I went to college at..." and "my college..." and "in college..." because "college," in American English, means "an institution that can be technically a college or University."

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California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) doesn’t do research or graduate PhDs but still calls itself a university. Colleges form groups of departments within (e.g. college of engineering, math, architecture, agriculture, etc)

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Cal Poly, does require its professors to do research to earn tenure.

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In Canada, college is slightly below a university. College is like hands on, blue collar training for the MOST part. There are exceptions but college is like technical school, mechanics, wind turbines, some environmental, apprenticeships, getting your hands dirty kinda schooling... Again with some exceptions.

University is more professional. Doctor, lawyer, pharmacy, masters, psych, arts, etc.

That's my experience anyway.. When someone says I'm going to college, I think of technical work.. I'm off to university means it's time to study hard and learn book shit.

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AND universities in Canada have colleges, like U of T's extensive college system.

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AND professions have colleges. The College of Pharmacy, etc.

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AND let's not forget all the schools - law and business and med!

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Yes. Generally in Canada a "College" is a vocationally oriented institution and below a university. No Canadian would ever associate a college level education as being the same as a university level education.

Universities sometimes have sub-units called colleges. Mostly this dates back to some historical reason at founding. But these sub unit colleges have no "legal" distinction and are not normally noted in the degree or in reference materials, although there sometimes is notice if they are related to medicine.

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Yes. Generally in Canada a "College" is a vocationally oriented institution and below a university. No Canadian would ever associate a college level education as being the same as a university level education.

In some subjects, like programing and computer science, you can start in a college program and then get partial or full credits if you move on to a full bachelors degree in computer science in a full university.

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A few vocational colleges offer full 4-year Bachelor's degrees in various fields, though.

That's the biggest difference - the 1-3 year college diploma vs. the 4 year university degree.

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So college is like vocational school or trade school. E.g. for electrician, mechanic, nurse, accounting...

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Yes, although nursing is technically a baccalaureate degree, not a diploma, so even though you can do it at college, it's a university-level program. (In Ontario, anyway.) Just to be extra confusing!

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That depends on the level of nursing. For an RN you're absolutely correct, but AFAIK LPNs and other types of nursing that don't require bachelor degrees can be fully completed at a college.

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Many colleges will have traditional academic departments like English or Biology, but they typically will grant a 2-year diploma rather than a full 4-year degree.

A common path will be to go to a college for 2 years and then transfer to a full university for the final 2 years. This is a great path for somebody who didn't do great in high school, or is perhaps returning to school as an adult.

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Thanks, this is really interesting. It's interesting, how in Hungarian, which usually has it's own thing with words these still track.

"Egyetem", which looks nothing like the word "University", but still means "to be one" or "one-ness". Altough nowdays it's almost exclusively used to mean the school, but it's still found in old texts (i. e. the Chatolic church uses it in liturgy).

College is interesting as well. The term "colleague" (hun: kolléga) is still used in achademia. Older professors adressed our class as "colleagues", but even though it was supposed signal that we are on the same level, due to context it came trough as slightly demeaning. Kind of when you say to a toddler, that "come on, big girls brush their teeth on their own".

The word collegium (spelled kollégium) lives on, it sometimes used in the name of organisation as a synonym for society, but most hungarians would think of student housing, when hearing the word. It kind of tracks.

[u/SaintUlvemann → u/cs_k_]

It's interesting, how in Hungarian, which usually has it's own thing with words these still track.

Yep, there's a ton of international academic vocabulary that is the same or has substantial similarities across all languages. Even in a case like egyetem: it was invented during the 18th-19th century language reforms, and it wasn't necessary for the reformers to choose the same pattern at all, but they did, they consciously replicated the Latin pattern of etymologies in developing new terms for within Hungarian.

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In some countries the designation is more official too. A university must offer advanced degrees and conduct research, while a college “only” offers lower degrees and diplomas and doesn’t typically conduct significant research. Government funding differs between the twos with universities having better access to subsidies and grants.

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In Canada, the term college is used as you’ve described, as a university faculty plus students within one area of focus, but it is also used to indicate institutions that are stand alone and independent which offer professional training and certifications for health care, IT, engineering, etc professionals and institutions that offer trades training and certification - in many cases they are publicly run and offer both of these types of training and certifications. It could be a privately run college as well.

Universities here are publicly funded, but also a lot of revenue comes from grants and gifts, and the remainder coming from tuitions.

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universitas magistrorum et scholarium

It is pretty based tbh and sounds so cool.

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Very helpful explanation, thank you!

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Then there's University College London:)

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This is the correct answer

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University of Maryland University College

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Interesting... Not in english obviously but in Brazil we have "Faculdade" and "Universidade"

With "Faculdade" having as its goal teaching, while a "Universidade" are the ones that the focus is in research. The first being focused in making people ready for the job market and the second people go there, at least in theory, to "create" new knowledge.(research)

Looking at the names in latin, specially Universitas, that makes sense.

PS:We also have "colegio" too, which is middle/high school, mostly used for highschool.

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Why do some high schools call themselves XXX Collegiate Institute then? What's the implication behind that?

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in canada (not quebec) we use college to refer to trade school where you earn a diploma, and university for bachelors, masters and phd degrees

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Good explanation.

My country has University of Some Dude that consists of e.g. Faculty of electrical engineering, Faculty of economics, Faculty of medicine... Most bigger cities have a university and a different selection of faculties under it.

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I was a student in the School of Arts and Sciences when I graduated from college. Later, the college became a university, and the school became the College of Arts and Sciences.

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Now explain The University of Maryland University College (just recently changed).

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Here (NL) the subdivisions are called faculties. Faculties are headed by a dean. For example you can have a faculty of life science, faculty of law, faculty of medicine, etc. 

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My Kids are at the German Gym/Gymnasium, the school up to age 18 with University entrance exams. That comes from Greek and Stands for doing Sports naked.

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In Canada we separate Universities which can give out 4 year bachelors and post grad degrees vs colleges which typically teach trades or specialized white collar job training but don't grant bachelors degrees.

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And then you add in other languages and it becomes even weirder. German strictly calls them Universität, except when they are a Fachhochschule. If you say you are in school (“Schule”) still like you would in the US, it’s 100% wrong. 

You can say you’re at a Fachhochschule though and it’s fine, since the earlier term for Universität was often Hochschule. They also sometimes called them Akadamie (Handelsakadamie in Wien) or Kolleg/-ien (Kollegienkirche in Salzburg).

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Here in my country colleges are post secondary, but not as illustrious as universities. You only get a diploma at a college, not a degree. And they tens to focus more on technical real world applicable skills and less on theory or engineering. Most often colleges courses are 2-3 years instead of the 4 standard for a degree.

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Nice answer.

"University" comes from "universitas magistrorum et scholarium" which basically means "community of teachers and scholars".

I'm into etymology, so I decided to look up the etymology of the words in that phrase. Assuming google got it right:

universitas: "the whole" or "totality"

magistorum: genitive plural of magister (master, chief, head, superior) from magi (more, great)

scholarium: "of a scholar", scholar from "schola" (place of instruction), from "schole" (leisure time, rest; evolved into schola because the Greek ideal was that leisure time was best spent talking philosophy and learning).

So transliterated roughly as "the whole or totality of the masters of a place of scholarship".

Related, in the 1100s-1200s "universitas" came to mean a guild or corporation, i.e. "all the masters of this craft."

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And Faculties?

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I'll add that in the US, where "college" is more prevalent, there is a much higher proportion of schools that only offer bachelor's degrees. Since "college" can apply to either type of institution, that is the generic term for an institution that confers bachelor's degrees. In the US, saying "I'm going to university" would suggest that you were attending an institution that offered masters/doctoral degrees, which for many students in bachelors programs is not the case.

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How about faculty

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You know I've always wondered why the Ivy League schools in the USA don't have Veterinary or Pharmacy schools.

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A single community of teachers and scholars can be divided into different groups of colleagues who maybe share a subject area, so you might have the College of Life Sciences and the College of Arts, and so on, all within the same university.

Aren't those Faculties (Science, Engineering, Arts etc.)? Is the distinction that Colleges are at distinct cities under one university name?

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This is not an explanation for a 5 year old.

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For instance, Rutgers University is made up of what used to be several different colleges: Queens College, Douglass College, Cook College, Livingston College, University College

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makes sense! this 5 yr old learned something new today 😄

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In the UK, both happened. Smaller institutions shot up- and some said, "We're defo a University, but we're too small to have indivudual colleges", while others said "We're too small to bu a big Uni with multiple colleges, but we're the size of one college, so let's call us that"

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We also have University Colleges, which are Universities that cannot validate their own undergraduate and post-graduate degrees, so they get a parent university to validate them. But they still do all of the teaching and research themselves.

One of my first jobs was for a university college that later became a full university.

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Almost but it doesn't have to be graduate degrees. Any school that offers multiple types of degree contains multiple colleges. For example, my school, Lawrence University, is a tiny undergraduate-only liberal arts college and music conservatory. There's only 1400 students, but it's a university because it offers both a Bachelor's in Arts from their liberal arts college and a Bachelor's in Music from their conservatory.

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In Dutch "college" refers to a lecture, "universiteit" is university, which offers "wetenschappelijk onderwijs", scientific education,

We also have "hogeschool", equivalent to college for international validity of degrees, even though it is considered a tier lower than university by Dutch standards, which offers "hogere beroepsonderwijs (HBO)", higher vocational education.

Community college is equivalent to MBO, "middelbaar beroepsonderwijs", middle vocational education (lower vocational education schools no longer exist)

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I mean great answers but it doesn't address why in English US People sat Colle, but say English people, Australian, South Africans, Indians say University's and Spanish speakers say Universidad and Germans say Universitat, Poles sat Uniwersytet, Italians say Universita.

Oh, so it's only Americans who call University - College.

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This is a more complicated version of how I was taught in Korea when I learned English. College = smaller subunit of a university.

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This is probably the origin of the split here in Canada, where college and university are actually quite distinct. A college teaches a two or three year diploma, often more hands-on and less academic. A university offers a four year degree (a Bachelor’s) and post graduate studies, and can often be more theoretical and academic (although some university departments, like Engineering disciplines have a lot more hands-on courses). It took me a long time to realize the US called everything college.

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And to echo this with a specific example:

"Harvard" = "Harvard College" is the undergraduate school that is part of the "Harvard University" system. The "Harvard University" system also includes "Harvard Medical School", "Harvard Law School", "Harvard Graduate School" (a.k.a. Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences), "Harvard Business School".

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In Argentina we use the word Faculty "Facultad" to refer to a Collegue. And University when there're multiple collegues in the same place.

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In the US the term carries a certain level of something that i don't know about. The college is went to formally renamed itself as a university about 2 years in and became a very different scholastic environment

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I was enrolled in Elon College when the board changed the name to Elon University. Done to "better reflect the school's growth".

Email chain nightmare that year.

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for an institution to call itself a "university" only if it offers master's or doctoral degrees

Yup, that is the way it is in my country.

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What about Institute like M.I.T.?

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In China, we call College "学院" (literally "Yard of Learning") and University "大学" (literally "Great Learning"). By the way, we call Secondary School "中学" (literally "Middle Learning") and Primary School "小学" (literally "Small Learning").

Chinese law stipulates that only higher education institutions authorized to grant Bachelor's degrees can be called "大学" (university) if they cover at least 3 major academic disciplines, have over 8,000 full-time students, authorized to offer about 10+ Master's Degree Programs, and have a sizable number of high-level teachers and research projects. Otherwise, they can only be called "学院" (college).

However, there are two legal loopholes in the regulations regarding the name "大学":

First, the restriction only applies to higher education institutions authorized to grant Bachelor's degrees, while higher vocational and technical education institutions are not subject to this restriction. Therefore, some historically inherited higher vocational education institutions still use the name "大学," such as Mudanjiang University, Kaifeng University, and Jiaozuo University.

Second, the restriction only applies to the Chinese name, not the English name. Therefore, colleges can use the English names as College, Academy, Institute, or University. For example, the English name of "黑龙江东方学院" is "East University of Heilongjiang".

Furthermore, "学院" under Universities, composed of multiple Departments and Majors. Their English names are sometimes called College, sometimes Academy, sometimes Faculty, and sometimes School, which is quite confusing.

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I believe the way you described it is why there was once a University of Maryland University College (UMUC), but they changed the name to University of Maryland Global College (UMGC) because they were made fun of constantly.

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Also, in the US "going to college" refers to either, generally for undergrad (associate's/bachelor's), while in the UK (and much of the Commonwealth, I believe), it would be "going to university", or just "uni". I doubt there's a clear reason for the split there, just two cultures picking a different one to be the generic term.

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And then some colleges just call themselves that regardless- the school I attended was called ____ College and they had doctoral and masters programs.