Test Your Knowledge of Colleges and Universities Around the World!

Overview of Higher Education Institutions

A college can refer to an educational institution or a constituent part of one.
It can be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering vocational education, or a secondary school.
The term "college" is from the Latin verb lego, legere, legi, lectum, "to collect, gather together, pick", plus the preposition cum, "with", thus meaning "selected together".
In most of the world, a college may be a high school or secondary school, a college of further education, a training institution that awards trade qualifications, or a higher-education provider that does not have university status.
In the United States, a college may offer undergraduate programs – either as an independent institution or as the undergraduate program of a university – or it may be a residential college of a university or a community college.
In Australia, the term "college" is applied to any private or independent (non-government) primary and, especially, secondary school as distinct from a state school.
In Canada, the term "college" usually refers to a trades school, applied arts/science/technology/business/health school or community college.
In Chile, the term "college" is usually used in the name of some bilingual schools.
In the US, a "college" can refer to a constituent part of a university, an independent institution offering bachelor's-level courses, or an institution offering instruction in a particular professional, technical or vocational field.
Students in the US must pay for college before taking classes, and colleges vary in terms of size, degree, and length of stay.
Four-year institutions in the US that emphasize a liberal arts curriculum are known as liberal arts colleges.
Until the 20th century, liberal arts, law, medicine, theology, and divinity were about the only form of higher education available in the US.Overview of Colleges and Universities in the United States and Asia
The term "university" in the United States primarily refers to institutions that provide undergraduate and graduate education, with one or more graduate schools engaged in teaching graduate classes and research.
Some institutions have retained the term "college" in their names for historical reasons, while some colleges offer programs up to PhD level.
The term "college" also embodies the general concept of higher education when it is not necessary to specify a school.
U.S. universities have established residential colleges along the lines of Oxford or Cambridge, which are concerned mainly with room, board, and social life.
The founders of the first institutions of higher education in the United States were graduates of Oxford and Cambridge, and their small institutions would not have seemed like universities to them.
The U.S. also has a system of government-funded public universities, which were established under the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act of 1862 to make higher education more accessible to the general public.
Selection of a four-year college as compared to a two-year junior college increases the probability of graduation and confers substantial economic and social benefits.
In Bangladesh, educational institutions offering higher secondary education are known as colleges.
In Hong Kong, the term "college" is used by tertiary institutions as either part of their names or to refer to a residence hall of a university.
In India, the term "college" is commonly reserved for institutions that offer high school diplomas at year 12 and those that offer the bachelor's degree. Autonomous colleges are empowered to establish their own syllabus and conduct their own examinations.
In Israel, any non-university higher-learning facility is called a college. Institutions accredited by the Council for Higher Education in Israel to confer a bachelor's degree are called "Academic Colleges."
In the Philippines, colleges usually refer to institutions of learning that grant degrees but whose scholastic fields are not as diverse as that of a university, or to component units within universities that do not grant degrees but rather facilitate the instruction of a particular field.
In Singapore, the term "college" is generally only used for pre-university educational institutions called "Junior Colleges," which provide the final two years of secondary education.
In Turkey, the term "kolej" (college) refers to a private high school, typically preceded by one year of preparatory language education.Overview of Colleges Around the World
South Africa has non-university tertiary institutions that call themselves colleges, including teacher training colleges, business colleges, and wildlife management colleges.
In Zimbabwe, the term college is mainly used by private or independent secondary schools with advanced level and polytechnic colleges that confer diplomas only.
In Greece, Kollegio refers to the centers of post-Lyceum education, which are principally private and belong to the Greek post-secondary education system.
In Ireland, the term college is normally used to describe an institution of tertiary education, and there are several secondary education institutions that traditionally used the word college in their names. The country's only ancient university is the University of Dublin.
In the Netherlands, there are three main educational routes after high school, and HBO graduates can be awarded two titles, which are Baccalaureus and Ingenieur.
In Portugal, the term colégio (college) is normally used as a generic reference to a private school that provides from basic to secondary education.
In the United Kingdom, further education (FE) colleges and sixth form colleges are institutions providing further education to students over 16. Many private providers are also called colleges. In higher education, a college is normally a provider that does not hold university status, although it can also refer to a constituent part of a collegiate or federal university or a grouping of academic faculties or departments within a university.
In Australia, a college may be an institution of tertiary education that is smaller than a university, run independently or as part of a university. Referring to parts of a university, there are residential colleges which provide residence for students, both undergraduate and postgraduate, called university colleges.
In New Zealand, the constituent colleges of the former University of New Zealand have become independent universities. Some halls of residence associated with New Zealand universities retain the name of "college," and the institutions formerly known as "teacher-training colleges" now style themselves "college of education."