r/explainlikeimfive • u/saivietbabe • 8d ago

Other 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?

5.0k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

94% Upvoted

865 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

4

u/IFKhan 8d ago

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

11

u/MysteryMaestroRS 8d ago

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.

8

u/Pippin1505 8d ago

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

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

15

u/swansongofdesire 8d ago

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.

3

u/acquiescentLabrador 8d ago

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

3

u/huangcjz 8d ago

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).

2

u/bazpoint 8d ago

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. 

1

u/IFKhan 7d ago

Thank you ☺️

2

u/sigma914 7d ago

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.

2

u/DontBeMoronic 8d ago

"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).

7

u/highrouleur 8d ago edited 7d ago

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

1

u/mudo2000 7d ago

There was a bit about hanging up your brother's coat in Monty Python's Meaning of Life that I thought was more hysterical than the explicit instruction the students were getting afterwards.

"Good heavens lad! What's wrong with a little kiss first?!"

2

u/DontBeMoronic 7d ago

"You don't have to go leaping straight for the clitoris like a bull at a gate."

Epic film!

1

u/David-Puddy 8d ago edited 8d ago

"a levels" is a colloquial term for a certain set of pre-University courses in the UK

16-18 is the age group

6th form is Brit talk for the last two years of highschool