Are COLLEGES and UNIVERSITIES the same?

"Yes, I study in this COLLEGE to be a dentist. How did you know?" 

Yes, they are, and no, they're not.
A COLLEGE is by definition a UNIVERSITY, but a UNIVERSITY is not a COLLEGE. 
COLLEGES are small universities that commonly receive fewer students and offer undergraduate degrees, that are the very first degrees you can obtain after finishing high school. COLLEGES also tend to be more "focused" and have fewer degree programs that are often related. Typically they do not offer graduate programs or programs leading to master's degrees or Ph D's. Places specialized in training or giving knowledge in one area are also called COLLEGES. There are secretarial colleges or law colleges, for example.
UNIVERSITIES are larger institutions, with a lot more students and a more diverse offer of degree programs that can grant you undergraduate and graduate degrees. Because UNIVERSITIES tend to be large and diverse they are divided into faculties, but there are universities where these smaller units are called COLLEGES such as Oxford university that contains Exeter college for example.  
For Spanish speakers who are English learners, the word UNIVERSITY does not cause any trouble, but the word COLLEGE often leads to confusion because of the similar spelling of COLLEGE and Colegio which in most cases means High School. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How do you say MIRADOR in English?

Image
"Hmm, why do I have this nagging feeling that someone is watching me watching?" In Spanish, a MIRADOR is any place that allows a privileged view of the surroundings. In English, a MIRADOR is a VIEWPOINT or a LOOKOUT. Another possible translation is VANTAGE POINT, though in a tourist context this term is a bit less common.
Read more

The Maps of Ship-Trap Island

Image
Once I had my high school students read The Most Dangerous Game, a short story by Richard Connell. Rainsford, the main character, is a professional hunter traveling by ship to his next hunting area, accidentally ends up in an island called Ship- Trap island. When he goes into the island he finds there are two men living in a palace in the island. One of them is a Cossack general and the other, his brutish servant.  The Cossack is called general Zaroff who is also  a game hunter but has become bored of hunting regular game and now uses the island's unique position to capture sailors from shipwrecks. He lets them go first and next after some time he hunts them down. Rainford's arrival who is worldwide famous presents Zaroff with a rare opportunity to find excitement in hunting again by hunting another hunter. Little does Zaroff know that Rainsford is The Most Dangerous Game in the World and hunting him will not be easy at all. My students enjoyed themselves at reading...
Read more

How do you say EXAMEN SUPLETORIO in English?

Image
Darn! I wonder if there's a Make Up exam for this Make up exam! I remember that long ago I asked my distinguished and knowledgeable colleagues of that time to enlighten me and tell me the right English word for what we know in Ecuador as EXAMEN SUPLETORIO or EXAMEN DE RECUPERACION.  After hearing Recovery exam or Supplemenary test and even Supletory exam, I was not convinced so I decided to go to a higher authority and looked up one of those encyclopedic dictionaries from Oxford or Cambridge university (these were the pre-browser times) and found the right expression is MAKE UP EXAM which is taken when an exam has been missed or when a student needs to change one score with a more favorable one. The British say RECUPERATION EXAM which is perhaps more practical since to some people the term Make Up is confusing. Make-up is the word for the wearing of cosmetics. There are Make-up tests which are oriented to future Make-up artists.
Read more