College vs. University

I interviewed two students from the USA who are currently studying the Charles University here and are taken care by ISA. Bellow you’ll find also one opinion by my cooperative teacher and by BBC, the U.K. I hope you’ll read these findings interesting and help you clarify what is what.

Americans use the words „College“ or „University“ interchangeably. When Americans graduate high school, they usually say they will be enrolling in college for higher studies. Four year college’s (or Universities) offer bachelor degrees and graduate master degrees. However, there are also schools (that are not universities) but which are two year colleges that offer associate degrees, which are for particular trades i.e. electrical engineering or any technical job like this. I guess I see how this can be confusing, but there is more. On top of all that within a „University“ there are different colleges. For example, College of Education, College of Medicine, College of Music, and Honors College (Best of the best go here). I believe in Europe they use the word „Faculty“ to differentiate which school within the University you are attending. So in conclusion, Americans don’t really say we study at University. We usually just say we are in College. I don’t know why this is and I can see how it doesn’t make sense. That’s all I got on this! I hope I can help shed some light on this topic.

Michael Bouchillon, Tennessee, USA (Middle Tennessee State University)

In regard to the difference between „College“ and „University“, I can try to clear things up! A typical university is a large state school, like the one I attend at the University of Kentucky. There, you can study just about anything you can imagine. A university can also be a smaller, private, „liberal arts“ school that focuses more on majors in the fine arts, history, and social sciences. An example in my state would be Bellarmine University.  Within the university, there are smaller colleges that focus on a particular area of study. My university has the College of Medicine, College of Fine Arts, College of Business and Economics, etc. Then within each college, there are specific majors. For example, in my business college, we offer accounting, economics, finance, marketing, and management. There are also smaller, more inexpensive schools called community colleges that are less prestigious than universities, but they are a good option for working adults who want a degree, those who want to study in a more technical field, or students who want to get credit their general classes cheaply before transferring to a university.

Andrea Bomkamp, Ohio, USA (the University of Kentucky)

I studied in downtown of London. All of the universities are excellent.There is a wide selection of subjects you can study. And they are kept updated. If you chose a quality college they usually prepare for the English exams. You study hard but at the end of the day you are the one who has the key to a successful life with the language level certificate.
In UK, USA and Canada I studied English, Art, Archeology, Hebrew and Martial arts. I graduated only from English. But to be a ‚member‘ of this ‚uni‘ family you can benefit using its facilities to work and study. They have enormous amount of books. You can spend days in such a library. When you are tired of studying you can refresh in cafeteria. They have a selection of coffees, snacks, deserts and meals - they prepare only healthy meals by professionals! And you also get other benefits to sweeten your life - tickets to the reality radio or tv shows, theaters, meetings with famous people etc.

Vladimíra Starr Veselá, Londýn, UK (Princess College)

 The Oxford and the Cambridge University in England consist of several colleges that were established as individuals. Many students are accommodated in the colleges where the most of the classes take the same place. For example the individual colleges are as big as one London university. But the university itself holds exams and grants degrees. Colleges can be regarded also as the basic schools. The most famous one is Eton College in U.K. attended by Prince William or Harrow School (College) attended by Winston Churchill.

BBC News