Whats the different between College & University?

Question

I came from a country that have polytechnic, instead of college, thus am alittle confused with the above about which is offering diploma, degree, or etc.
Pls enlighten me. Thank you in advanced (^_^)

Answer 1

In the United States, a college offers primarily undergraduate degrees and a university usually offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees.

There are many degrees but the ones most often given are associate's (AA, AS), bachelor's (BA, BS) and master's (MA, MS)

If the second letter is A, that is a liberal arts degree. If the second letter is S, that is a more likely to be a scientific or mathematical degree.

Answer 2

In the US, they can be almost interchangeable. A University is *usually* made up of individual colleges (College of Engineering, College of Arts and Sciences). It usually grants degrees up to Doctorate. It's usually bigger than a college. Example: Penn State University. Colleges not associated with a university generally grant up to Master's degree, but might have some PhD programs. Usually smaller than a university, but doesn't have to be. Shippensburg University is only about 8,000 students, Boston College is 14,000 students. Harvard College is the undergraduate part of Harvard University. But Boston College and Boston University are two completely separate places. Added: Some people here are confusing Community Colleges (generally 2-year, associate degree institutions) with Colleges. Some of the most prestigious schools in the US are colleges without a University affiliation. Amherst, Wellesley, Vassar, Oberlin, Bates, and Holy Cross are all very tough to get into, have renowned faculties, and are as well-respected as are major universities.

Answer 3

Community Colleges offer a two year degree (Associates Degree) and the Universities offer a 4 year degree (Bachelors) and even a Masters and PHD

Answer 4

In a US context, typically a college is a subset of a university. U university has many departments...graduate schools for the likes of Business, Medicine, Law, Engineering etc and undergraduate schools often called college.

e.g. Columbia University in New York has two undergarduate colleges: Columbia College and Barnard College, and a number of Graduate schools.

In other countries, 'colleges' can mean different things. For instance in India a college is affiliated to a University. You apply for admission to a college which is where you undertake your entire eductation. The examinations, however are conducted by the university and the university gives awards the grades and degrees etc.

In Australia colleges are basically gorified residential dormitories within a university, though they do try and provide a bit of academic support for their students.

The UK (particularly Oxbridge) colleges are a combination of the Indian and Australian models (though they clearly pre-date both by hundreds of years.

Answer 5

A college only offers, at the most, a 4 year bachelors degree. A university offers this as well as graduate degrees (either masters degrees or masters and doctorate degrees).

Answer 6

The difference is college nowadays stands for the junior college meaning that you can get an Associate Degree or study hard to obtain a high GPA to transfer to an University.
University is where you can obtain a Bachelor. Then if you want to continue, you can obtain a Master and a PhD.

Answer 7

Most universities are larger than most colleges. Also, most colleges offer only bachelor's degrees, whereas most universities also offer graduate degrees: master's degrees and doctorates.

Universities are divided into colleges, such the College of Medicine, the College of Engineering, the College of Performing Arts, etc.

Colleges may have similar divisions, but they are called departments. e.g., Science Department, Math Department, Music Department, etc.

Answer 8

hellou! well, mostly colleges refer to junior/community colleges, also known as two years. That's where people get associate's degrees, and from there they can choose to transfer to a 4 year university, where you get your bachelor's degree. So generally university means a 4-year. But I've seen 4-years that are called Something College instead of University of Something or Something University. So it depends, I guess LOL

Answer 9

normally a college is undergraduate only, but a university has a graduate program associated with it.

Answer 10

There is no major difference. But a university is usually larger.