What's the Difference between a College and University?

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And to add a little more to the confusion we have community colleges that usually offer an associate degree which is a two year program.

And I hold a Certificate in Hardware Technology from a University. The credits received also count toward my BS. I guess my Network Administrator Certificate from Novell would fall under technical/trade school.

We also have Jr. High Schools-7th thru 9th. Then on to Sr. High School.

 

As people has mentioned the confusion stems from the wide variety of school systems all different countries have and ignorance of foreign school systems.

In Sweden we have basic 1-9 compulsory education which everyone has to attend. You graduate from this the year you turn 16. After you have the so called choice of attending three years of what is called "gymnasie" and which proper translation I have been taught is "upper secondary school" (I say so called choice because in reality there is no choice involved, if you dont go you have very slim chances to do anything). This level of education has to main paths, one which is university prepatory and one which grants you some kind of professional degree in more practical lines of work like cook, mechanic, electrician and so forth. Lines of work where no real academic study is needed. That said, as our system is now if you have finished any "gymnasie" program you are eligible for University although you might lack some preparation if you studied to be a cook.

The confusion at least for me is that the American high school ends sooner than the Swedish gymnasium and from what I have understood you have compulsory classes in all American colleges and universities at least in your first year or two. This gave me the impression that the Swedish gymnasium was a mix between the American high school and college. I then drew my own conclusion, mostly based on the fact that compulsory courses exist that college was kinda like a pre-education before University. That you first went to college and then went for further studies at a university. In Sweden there are no compulsory courses after you finish the "gymnasium" when you move on to University you pick your line of study and study that and nothing else. I spent four and a half year at Universty (or college) not studying a single bit of math or science for example.

To further add to the confusion the higher education in Sweden is also labelled in two different ways, we have universities that are named as universities (same word) and we have högskolor (exact translation: high school) which offer the exact same thing as the universities but just arent named as one. I still dnot know what the official distinction is between the two but I think it has something to do with whether research is done at the place or not or it could just be a matter of size or history I just dont know but I think the distinction between them is the same as the between university and college in the US.

This is complicated stuff.

 

I agree with joacqin on the confusing bits about the Swedish system... The distinction between universities and högskolor is confusing. I'm quite sure they perform research in both though. To make it even more confusing, the english name of (at least some) högskolor doesn't say anything at all. Like the "Royal Institute of Technology", what does that really mean? Then there's of course "folkhögskolor", but I don't think you can count those as higher education.

I always thought universities and colleges had the same status. Well, you learn something new everyday.

 

The Finnish system is about the same. I'm not sure if Sweden have these but I think you forgot "yrkesskolor" (Professional school being the exact transelation and equivalent to to gymnasium but it trains to a proffession, like a car mechanic) and "yrkeshögskolor" (Professional high school, which comes after professional school or gymnasium and also trains to a professionl like some kind of a engineer) from that explanation too, which only serve to complicate the situation further.

 

Most colleges and universities are considered "liberal arts" institutions, and thus they attempt to give you a wide array of subject to study, so that you know more than just what you intend to make your career out of. All classes are more difficult that what you got in high school. That having been said, there really aren't that many compulsary classes that all students take. For example, at the university I attended, the only classes that everyone had to take were public speaking, physical education, a couple of english and history classes, and because I attended a Jesuit University, Religion 101 and 102 (which were studies of the Old and New Testament, respectively).

However, depending on the major you take there are additional compulsory classes. For example, for science majors like me, since science also requires use of mathematics, I was required to take Calculus I and II. It was compulsory for me, but you wouldn't have to take those classes if you were, for example, a history major. Similarly, I only had to take two measly history classes, but I'm sure the history major probably enrolled in 8 or more history classes during his college days (presumably (s)he took at least one history class each semester).

I guess the bottom line is that when you go to a university, there are compulsory classes for all majors, but exactly what those compulsory classes are varies between majors, with the exception of the few that I listed above.

 

Here's an image of finnish education system.

Starting from the bottom: pre-school education and elementary (grades 1-9). Then it's a branch: either you go to a upper secondary, called "lukio" or "lyseo", or professional school. The first one gives you good chances to continue to a university or polytechnic while the latter basically moves you to work-life sooner. The red box at the right is for some special, narrowed-down education programs.

In my eyes, college is something between polytechnic and university, where university represents the highest education one can get. Or perhaps it is the same as polytechnic, since polytechnics are nowdays called "universities of applied sciences." The more I think about it, colleges = polytechnics (lower degrees) and universities (higher degrees).

 

Some more examples of wat MBO studies teach you: car mechanic, plumber, etc.. This seems roughly equivalent to what you call technical/trade schools, Aldeth.

Mesmero's description of HBO is pretty much spot on. This is also equivalent to the german Fachhochschule.

Universities are more theoretical than HBO studies, and grant you a Master's degree. The studies that take 5 years are generally the harder studies, usually science stuff (engineering studies, physics, chemistry, etc.). 4 year studies are the generally easier subjects (history, languages, psychology, etc.).

Your assumption that all European systems are all the same is quite incorrect. Basically, every country in Europe has different school systems. In the Netherlands, for instance, we all go to the same school until 8th grade, and then it already splits up into VMBO, HAVO and VWO, each roughly preparing you for the MBO, HBO and University, respectively.

The lengths of the education also differs. VMBO is only 4 years, HAVO 5 years and VWO is 6 years. I believe VWO roughly corresponds to A'level education in England.

 

in denmark, we think of collage equal to a "gymnasium" it lasts for 3 years, and you can take either a general course, wich offers math, bi/tri/quad(?)-lingual education, such as russain, chinese, spanish, deutch, latin, french, italian, and maybe more, along with music classes, and classes of general understandig of society and politics.

and then you can go to business school, where you have some of the the same classes as the "gymnasium" but with such classes as international eceonomics, commercial, IT & computer tech, business law, book-keeping, and so on and so forth.

and then there is the university, wich is basicly and advanced 3-6 year course in mostly all of your previous classes, with majors in 3-5 classes i think.


and if you don't feel like doing all of that, you can go to technichal school, where you can become, a carpenter, chef, coder, car mechanich, or basically anything, "craftsmanship" related

 

This is very true. Each country has its own traditions and system. Though the so-called Bologna Process ( ) is standardizing higher education systems to a certain extent.