College: Tertiary Level Of Education

In Latin it is called “collegium,” but in English it is referred to as “college.”  College is a term used to denote a learning or educational institution.  But in broader sense, the name can be used to indicate any group of colleagues such as Electoral College, College of Cardinals, or College of Arms.  Originally, college meant persons or group of persons following the same set of rules.  In fact, there are existing colleges who call their members as “fellow.”  In truth, the precise use of the word varies greatly among English-speaking nations.

American English refers to college as liberal arts colleges, in which it primarily provides education at the undergraduate levels.  It may also be used to distinguish schools that offer technical, engineering, business or vocational curriculum.  In addition, the word “college” may also refer to an institution with no graduate studies or an undergraduate school of a university, in which graduate school is also present. 

Americans, on the other hand, commonly addressed the word as a generic term for a post-secondary undergrad education.  College simply means the next level of education following right after high school.  Colleges differ with regards to degree, length of a particular school period and size.  A two-year college course is labeled as an Associate degree or A.A, while the four-year colleges are called B.A. or Bachelor of Arts or B.S. as Bachelor of Sciences degrees.  Usually, there are undergraduate institutions wherein some are offering bounded programs for graduate level.

Furthermore, private and public universities are generally research-oriented organizations which serve both undergraduates and graduates student bodies.  The Graduate programs bequest variations of Master’s degrees for students to choose from, including M.F.A.’s or M.B.A.’s.  M.F.A. refers to Master of Fine Arts while M.B.A. stands for Master of Business Administration.  The doctorat

e or Ph.D. is considered as the highest academic degree one can attain.  And it is given in almost all fields of education. 

On the other hand, M.D.’s are awarded as the highest academic achievement in medical schools, while the law schools grant J.S.D’s.  These two institutions usually hold the largest student population among the other fields.  Introductory seminars are usually done in a class size of hundreds by the larger schools, and interactions between faculty members and students may be limited as compared to other liberal art colleges.  In some of the even larger universities or colleges, graduate student teaching assistants handle undergraduate classes.

Meanwhile, other American universities like Dartmouth College, Boston College, College of William and Mary and College of Charleston, have similarly retain “college” for undergraduate focus though they also have higher degrees, or due to historical reasons.  In 2003, survey showed a total of 2,474 four-year course universities and colleges within United States.

Each of the states in the US used “college” in different manners according to how each operates.  For example, in 1996, Georgia State altered all its four-year college schools to universities, and all its vocational technology institutions to technical colleges.  However, in previous years, only four-year research institutions were given the name, universities.  Also, more other states changed the names of their individual colleges, like those that opened as vocational school or teachers’ college and ended up as a state university.

It is important to note as well, that “college” or “university” do not at all apply to every American institution of higher learning.  Other options are “institute” as that of California Institute of Technology, “union” like Cooper Union, “academy” as in United States Military Academy, “school” such as Juilliard School, and “conservatory” like the New England Conservatory.  Albeit, these titles are just official names of these equally prestigious institutions, still, these names are still “colleges” in the real sense particularly in reference to their undergraduate studies.