When is a college classified as a university?

Question

Are there criteria that have to be met for a college to meet the definition of a university, or can any college make that declaration and change its name.

Answer 1

The college where I teach (a state college in New England) is considering changing it's name from College to University.

A college typically offers only undergraduate degrees (bachelor's degrees, unless it's specifically a community college) and maybe some master's degrees, but typically not a wide range of them.

A university offers master's and usually doctorate degrees, although a school can call itself a university if it offers just master's and no doctorates.

Answer 2

The accrediting agency needs to approve the name change and usually it goes along with a school that has a Master's level degree offering. Universities will also have colleges within the school below them so while you attend the university you are enrolled in a specific college based on your major or degree. Like Colorado State University has the College of Liberal Arts, College of Natural Resources, College of Natural Sciences, etc.

Answer 3

Colleges are single institutions of learning, while universities are a collection of them.

If the school you attend only has an undergraduate school, you're probably attending a college. A university will also have other colleges or schools, such as a law school or medical school.

Contrary to what has been posted, in the US, most colleges do not just offer an associate's degree. You will mainly find associate's degrees in community college settings and in two-year programs. For example, if you go to Harvard College (the undergraduate portion of Harvard University), you will obtain a bachelor's degree.

Answer 4

It's hard to say since everywhere is different.

In Canada you go to either college or university. University is more your teachers, laywers, psychologist, high end jobs.

college is for people who want to get into working day cares, hair stylists, etc. the jobs that take only a little training compared to 4+ years.

In the states though a college is just a smaller university.

in Canada a college and university almost never offer the same programs.

Answer 5

The major difference between college and university is that you will be expected to rely less on the teaching staff and more on yourself. This means you must take full responsibility for your study. Although tutors and lecturers are there to help you, the emphasis is on them getting you to understand a subject for yourself. This means that you'll have to become very good at managing your time. While it's likely that you will have fewer classes and lectures to attend than you do at FE or sixth form, this does NOT mean you'll have less work. There is an expectation at university that you will be undertaking a lot of individual study and background reading in the time when you are not in classes or lectures, and it's important that you take this on board from the start. At university you'll often be given long periods of time to complete assignments, sometimes as much as 12 weeks.

Answer 6

An university offers Bachelor, Master, and Doctorate programs while a college is considered to be an organization that prepares one for an university. Colleges offer Associate degree programs only, in preparation for a later Bachelor or beyond.

Answer 7

community colleges offer 2-year degrees

both colleges and universities offer 4-year degrees

universities also offer graduate programs, whereas most colleges don't (of course, that's not true of all schools -- some colleges also offer masters degrees)

Answer 8

When they want it to be