College (Latin: collegium ) is a term most often used today to denote a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution. More broadly, it can be the name of any group of colleagues, for example, an electoral college, a College of Arms or the College of Cardinals. Originally, it meant a group of persons living together, under a common set of rules ( con- = "together" + leg- = "law" or lego = "I choose"); indeed, some colleges call their members "fellows". The precise usage of the term varies among the English-speaking countries. In the United States and Ireland, for example, the terms "college" and "university" may be regarded as loosely interchangeable, whereas in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and other Commonwealth countries, a "college" is usually an institution between school and university level (although constituent schools within universities are sometimes known as "colleges").
History
See also: History of educationEducational institutions in the form of a school or academy have existed in many civilizations. The earliest were in Mesopotamia during the 3rd millennium BC. In Sparta, the Agoge was the name for an educational institution. Its origins are thought to be between the 7th and 6th century BC, for both men and women. Rome followed around the 3rd century BC with their rhetoric schools. Ancient China also had Shuyuan academies, while ancient India had Gurukul schools.
The origin of the college, as distinct from a school or academy, arose with the madrasah of the medieval Islamic world. The madrasah was an Islamic college of law and theology, usually affiliated with a mosque, and is funded by a charitable trust known as Waqf , the origin of the trust law. The internal organization of the first European colleges was borrowed from the earlier madrasahs, being funded by trusts and featuring a system of fellows and scholars, with the Latin term for fellow, socius , being a direct translation of the Arabic term for fellow, sahib .
While philosophy and the rational sciences were often excluded from a madrasah's curriculum, this varied among different institutions, with some only choosing to teach the "religious sciences", and others teaching both the religious and the "rational sciences", usually logic, mathematics and philosophy. Some madrasahs further extended their curriculum to history, politics, ethics, music, metaphysics, medicine, astronomy and chemistry.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, usage of the word "college" remains the loosest, encompassing a range of institutions:
Primary and secondary schools
- Certain public schools for children, such as Eton College and Malvern College.
- In Cambridgeshire, there are certain secondary schools called Village Colleges, which aim to be a centre for the community as well as for their students.
- Some high-achieving secondary schools, such as Wright Robinson College, may use the term ‘college’ to show that they have current specialist status.
- Some secondary schools that have sixth-form colleges attached refer to themselves as a ‘collegiate’, such as Riddlesdown Collegiate in Croydon.
- Specialist Colleges.
Further education
In general use, a college is an institution between secondary school and university, either a sixth form college or a college of further education and adult education, which were usually called technical colleges . Recently, however, with the phasing out of poly technical colleges, the term has become less clear-cut.
- Colleges of further education and mature education.
- Sixth form colleges, where students study for A Levels.
Higher education
Main article: Colleges within universities in the United KingdomIn 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 whereas colleges are institutions or organizations 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 (e.g. colleges of the University of London, University of Cambridge, etc.) In other cases, colleges are independent institutions which prepare students to sit as external candidates at other universities or have authority to run courses that lead to the degrees of those universities (e.g. many higher education colleges and university colleges).
- The constituent parts of collegiate universities, especially referring to the independent colleges that make up the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and London.
- The constituent parts of collegiate universities which provide accommodation and pastoral services at St Andrews and Durham.
- The constituent parts of collegiate universities, such as Lancaster, York and Kent.
- Some universities, such as Imperial College London, which is a university in its own right. Also London School of Economics, University College London and King's College London, which are federal colleges of the University of London, but are also de facto universities in their own right, as they can award their own degrees.
- A name given to large groupings of faculties or departments, notably in the University of Edinburgh, and after recent restructuring, the University of Birmingham.
- University colleges — independent higher education institutions that have the power to award degrees, but are not actually universities.
Professional bodies
- Professional associations like the Royal College of Organists, the Royal College of Surgeons and other various Royal Colleges.
Law courts
- The College of Justice or Court of Session of Scotland
United States
Main article: Higher education in the United StatesIn American English, the word, in contrast to its many and varied British meanings, usually refers to liberal arts colleges that provide education primarily at the undergraduate level. But it can also refer to schools which offer a vocational, business, engineering, or technical curriculum. The term can either refer to a self-contained institution that has no graduate studies or to the undergraduate school of a full university (i.e., that also has a separate graduate faculty).
In popular usage, the word "college" is the generic term for any post-secondary undergraduate education. Americans go to "college" after high school, regardless of whether the specific institution is formally a college or a university, and the word and its derivatives are the standard terms used to describe the institutions and experiences associated with American post-secondary undergraduate education.
Colleges vary in terms of size, degree, and length of stay. Two-year colleges, also known as junior or community colleges, usually offer an associate's degree, and four-year colleges usually offer a bachelor's degree. Often, these are entirely undergraduate institutions, although some have limited graduate school programs.
Four-year institutions in the U.S. that emphasize a liberal arts curriculum are known as liberal arts colleges. These schools have traditionally emphasized instruction at the undergraduate level, although advanced research may still occur at these institutions.
While there is no national standard in the United States, the term "university" primarily designates institutions that provide undergraduate and graduate education. A university typically has as its core and its largest internal division an undergraduate college teaching a liberal arts curriculum, also culminating in a bachelor's degree. What often distinguishes a university is having, in addition, one or more Graduate schools engaged in both teaching graduate classes and engaged in research. Often these would be called a School of Law or School of Medicine, (but may also be called a college of law, or a faculty of law, etc.).
On the other hand, public and private universities are typically more research-oriented institutions which service both an undergraduate and graduate student body. Graduate programs may grant a Master of Arts or a variety of Master's degrees, including MBAs and MFAs. The doctorate is the highest academic degree in the United States, and the PhD is given in many fields. Medical schools award MDs or DOs while law schools award the JD. The extent to which graduate programs are integrated with undergraduate studies varies by university and by program. These institutions usually have a large student body. Introductory seminars on the undergraduate level can have a class size in the hundreds in some of the larger schools. Compared to liberal arts colleges, the interaction between students and full-time faculty can be limited
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