College

College (Latin collegium) is a term most often used today to denote an educational institution. More broadly, it can be the name of any group of colleagues (see, for example electoral college, College of Arms, College of Cardinals). Originally, it meant a group of persons living together under a common set of rules (con- = "together" + leg- = "law" or lego = "I choose"); indeed, some colleges call their members "fellows". The precise usage of the term varies among English-speaking countries.

King's College, a constituent college of the University of Cambridge

United Kingdom

British usage of the word "college" remains the loosest, encompassing a range of institutions:

• Colleges of further education and adult education.
• "Sixth form colleges", where students study for A Levels, and some specialist schools
• The constituent parts of collegiate universities, especially referring to the independent colleges of that make up the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, St Andrews,Durham and London.
• The non-independent constituenct parts of collegiate universities such as Kent, Lancaster and York.
• Universities, such as Imperial College London (officially a university) and University College London and King's College London (which are universities de facto).
• A name given to large groupings of faculties or departments, notably in the University of Edinburgh, and possibly the University of Birmingham under restructuring plans.
• University colleges — independent higher education institutions that have been granted degree-awarding powers but not university status.
• Certain private schools (also known as "Public" schools in England) for children such as Eton and Winchester.
• Professional associations such as the Royal College of Organists, the Royal College of Surgeons and other various Royal Colleges.
• The College of Justice or Court of Session of Scotland

In general use, a "college" is an institution between secondary school and university, a college of further education and adult education. These institutions were usually called technical colleges, or tech. Recently, however, with the differences in functionality between universities and colleges becoming less clear-cut, and with the phasing out of polytechnical colleges, many people are starting to call such institutions "universities". Many types of institutions have "college" in their names but are not colleges in the general use of the word; Eton College, for example, would be called not a college, but a school, or by its full name.

In relation to universities, the term college normally refers to a part of the university which does not have degree-awarding powers in itself. Degrees are always awarded by universities, colleges are institutions or organisations which prepare students for the degree. In some cases, colleges prepare students for the degree of a university of which the college is a part (eg colleges of the University of London, University of Cambridge, etc.) and in some cases colleges are independent institutions which prepare students to sit as external candidates at other universities (e.g. many higher education colleges prepare students to sit for external examinations of universities). In the past, many of what are now universities with their own degree-awarding powers were colleges which had their degrees awarded by either a federal university (eg Cardiff University) or another university (e.g. many of the post-1992 universities).

United States

Agnes Scott College

Main article: Higher education in the United States

In American English, the word, in contrast to its many and varied British meanings, often refers to liberal arts colleges which provide education primarily at the undergraduate level. It can also refer to schools which offer a vocational, business, engineering, or technical curriculum. The term can either refer to both a self-contained institution that has no graduate studies or to the undergraduate school of a full university (i.e. that also has a graduate school).

Colleges vary in terms of size, degree, and length of stay. Two-year colleges offer the Associates degree (A.A.) and four-year colleges offer the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or Bachelor of Sciences (B.S.) degree. These are usually primarily undergraduate institutions, although some might have limited programs at the graduate level.

Four - year institutions in the U.S. which emphasize the liberal arts are liberal arts colleges. These colleges traditionally emphasize interactive instruction (although research is still a component of these institutions). If not associated with a university, they are often categorized as residential and generally have smaller enrollment, class size, and teacher-student ratios than universities. These colleges often encourage a high level of teacher-student interaction at the center of which are classes taught by full-time faculty rather than graduate student TAs (who sometimes teach the classes at Research I and other universities). The colleges are either coeducational, women's colleges, or men's colleges. Some are historically black colleges. Some are also secular (or not affiliated with a particular religion) while others are involved in religious education. Many are private. Some are public liberal arts colleges. In addition, colleges such as Hampshire College, Pitzer College, Sarah Lawrence College, Bennington College, New College of Florida, and Reed College offer experimental curriculums.

Boston College

On the other hand, public and private universities are research-oriented institutions which service both an undergraduate and graduate student body. Graduate programs grant a variety of Master's degrees including M.B.A.s or M.F.A.s. The doctorate is the highest academic degree, and the Ph.D. is given in most fields. Medical schools award M.D.s while law schools award the J.S.D. as the highest academic achievement. These institutions usually have a large student body. Introductory seminars can have a class size in the hundreds in some of the larger schools. The interaction between students and full-time faculty can be limited as compared to some liberal arts colleges. At some of the larger universities some undergraduate classes are taught by graduate student TAs.

At the same time, some American universities, such as Boston College, Dartmouth College, the College of Charleston and the College of William and Mary, have retained the term "college" in their names for historical reasons or because of an undergraduate focus, although they offer higher degrees. This problem led, in part, to the threatened lawsuit between Yale College Wrexham (equivalent to an American "high school") and Yale University, the latter claiming trademark infringement. As of 2003, there were 2,474 four-year colleges and universities in the United States.

Usage of the terms varies among the states, each of which operates its own institutions and licenses private ones. In 1996 for example, Georgia changed all of its four-year colleges to universities, and all of its vocational technology schools to technical colleges. (Previously, only the four-year research institutions were called universities.) Other states have changed the names of individual colleges, many having started as a teachers' college or vocational school (such as an A&M — an agricultural and mechanical school) that ended up as a full-fledged state university.

It should be noted, too, that "university" and "college" do not exhaust all possible titles for an American institution of higher education. Other options include "institute" (California Institute of Technology), "academy" (United States Military Academy), "union" (Cooper Union), "conservatory" (New England Conservatory), and "school" (Juilliard School), although these titles are only for their official names. In colloquial use, they are still referred to as "college" when referring to their undergraduate studies.

The term college is also, as in the United Kingdom, used for a constituent semi-autonomous part of a larger university but generally organized on academic rather than residential lines. For example, at many institutions, the undergraduate portion of the university can be briefly referred to as the college (such as The College at The University of Pennsylvania, Harvard College at Harvard, or Columbia College at Columbia) while at others each of the faculties may be called a "college" (the "college of engineering", the "college of nursing", and so forth). There exist other variants for historical reasons; for example, Duke University, which was called Trinity College until the 1920s, still calls its main undergraduate subdivision Trinity College of Arts and Sciences. Some American universities, such as Princeton, Rice, and Yale do have residential colleges along the lines of Oxford or Cambridge, but the name was clearly adopted in homage to the British system. Unlike the Oxbridge colleges, these residential colleges are not autonomous legal entities nor are they typically much involved in education itself, being primarily concerned with room, board, and social life. At the University of California, San Diego, however, each of the six residential colleges does teach its own core writing courses and has its own distinctive set of graduation requirements.

Finally, some institutions, such as the University of Chicago use the term "college" to distinguish their undergraduate program from their graduate and research programs.

Harvard Yard

The origin of the U.S. usage

The founders of the first institutions of higher education in the United States were graduates of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. The small institutions they founded would not have seemed to them like universities — they were tiny and did not offer the higher degrees in medicine and theology. Furthermore, they were not composed of several small colleges. Instead, the new institutions felt like the Oxford and Cambridge colleges they were used to — small communities, housing and feeding their students, with instruction from residential tutors (as in the United Kingdom, described above). When the first students came to be graduated, these "colleges" assumed the right to confer degrees upon them, usually with authority -- for example, the College of William and Mary has a Royal Charter from the British monarchy allowing it to confer degrees while Dartmouth College has a charter permitting it to award degrees "as are usually granted in either of the universities, or any other college in our realm of Great Britain."

Contrast this with Europe, where only universities could grant degrees. The leaders of Harvard College (which granted America's first degrees in 1642) might have thought of their college as the first of many residential colleges which would grow up into a New Cambridge university. However, over time, few new colleges were founded there, and Harvard grew and added higher faculties. Eventually, it changed its title to university, but the term "college" had stuck and "colleges" have arisen across the United States.

The rest of the English-speaking world

Influenced by their origins in the British Empire, by contact with and sometimes imitation of U.S. academia, and even by modern American pop culture, the rest of the English-speaking world seems to have adopted a mix of the U.S. and British practices.

Australia

In Australia, the term "college" can refer to an institution of tertiary education that is smaller than a university, run independently or as part of a university. Following a reform in the 1980s many of the formerly independent colleges now belong to a larger university. Many private high schools that provide secondary education are called "colleges" in Australia. The term can also be used to refer to residence halls, or dormitories, as in the United Kingdom, but compared to the UK their tutorial programs are relatively small-scale and they do no actual teaching towards academic degrees, with the exception of one or two that host theological colleges. In the state of Victoria, many public schools providing secondary education are known as secondary colleges, though most Victorians still refer to this level of education as "high school".

Additionally, in Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory, "college" refers to the final two years of high school (years eleven and twelve), and the institutions which provide this. In this context, "college" is a system independent of the other years of high school. Here, the expression is a shorter version of matriculation college.

In the state of South Australia nearly all private schools, including those with year levels from Reception (5 year olds) through to year 12 and 13 are called Colleges.

Canada

Trinity College main building in Toronto, Canada.

In Canada, the term "college" usually refers to a community college or a technical, applied arts, or applied science school. These are post-secondary diploma-granting institutions, but they are not universities and typically do not grant degrees, except in British Columbia where some have university status. In Quebec, it can refer in particular to CEGEP (Collège d'enseignement général et professionnel, "college of general and professional education"), a form of post-secondary education specific to the Quebec education system that is required in order to continue onto university (unless one applies as a 'mature' student, meaning 21 years of age or over, and out of the educational system for at least 2 years), or to learn a trade. In Ontario there are also institutions which are designated university college as they only grant under-graduate degrees. This is to differentiate between universities which have both under-graduate and graduate programs and those that do not. There are very few university colleges in Ontario as most universities have graduate programs.

The Royal Military College of Canada, a full-fledged degree-granting university, does not follow the naming convention used by the rest of the country, nor did its (now defunct) sister schools, Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean and Royal Roads Military College.

The term "college" also applies to distinct entities within a university (usually referred to as "federated colleges" or "affiliated colleges"), akin to the residential colleges in the United Kingdom. These colleges act independently, but in affiliation or federation with the university that actually grants the degrees. For example, Trinity College was once an independent institution, but later became federated with the University of Toronto, and is now one of its residential colleges. In the case of Memorial University of Newfoundland, located in St. John's, the Corner Brook campus is called Sir Wilfred Grenfell College. Occasionally, "college" refers to a subject specific faculty within a university that, while distinct, are neither federated nor affiliated—College of Education, College of Medicine, College of Dentistry, among others.

There are also universities referred to as art colleges, empowered to grant academic degrees of BFA, Bdes, MFA, Mdes and sometimes collaborative PhD degrees. Some of them have "university" in their name (Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University) and others do not (Ontario College of Art & Design and Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design).

It should be noted that, unlike in the United States, there is a strong distinction between "college" and "university" in Canada. In conversation, one specifically would say either "I'm going to university" (i.e., studying for a three- or four-year degree at a university) or "I'm going to college" (suggesting a technical or career college). Due to this distinction, the cultural phenomenon known as college radio in the United States is more properly called "campus radio" in Canada.

In a number of Canadian cities, many government-run secondary schools are called "collegiates" or "collegiate institutes" (C.I.), a complicated form of the word "college" which avoids the usual "post-secondary" connotation. This is because these secondary schools have traditionally focused on academic, rather than vocational, subjects and ability levels (for example, collegiates offered Latin while vocational schools offered technical courses). Some private secondary schools in Toronto (such as Upper Canada College) choose to use the word "college" in their names nevertheless. Some secondary schools elsewhere in the country, particularly ones within the separate school system, may also use the word "college" or "collegiate" in their names.

A small number of the oldest professional associations use "college" in the name in the British sense, such as the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

Ireland

Parliament Square, Trinity College, Dublin.

See also: List of universities in the Republic of Ireland

In the Republic of Ireland, the term "college" is usually limited to an institution of tertiary education, but the term is quite generic within this field. University students often say they attend "college" rather than "university", with the term college being more popular in wider society. This is possibly due to the fact that, until 1989, no university provided teaching or research directly. Instead, these were offered by a constituent college of the university, in the case of the National University of Ireland and University of Dublin — or at least in strict legal terms. There are many secondary education institutions that use the word college. Many secondary schools formerly known as technical colleges, were renamed as community colleges. These are secondary institutions in contrast to the American community college.

The state's only ancient university, the University of Dublin, is really English in its origins and, until recently, its outlook. Created during the reign of Elizabeth I, it is modelled on the universities of Cambridge and Oxford. However, only one constituent college was ever founded, hence the curious position of Trinity College, Dublin today. For a time, degrees in Dublin Institute of Technology were also conferred by the university. However, that institution now has its own degree awarding powers and is considering applying for full university status.

Among more modern foundations, the National University of Ireland, founded in 1908, consisted of constituent colleges and recognised colleges until 1997. The former are now referred to as constituent universities — institutions that are essentially universities in their own right. The National University can trace its existence back to 1850 and the creation of the Queen's University of Ireland and the creation of the Catholic University of Ireland in 1854. From 1880, the degree awarding roles of these two universities was taken over by the Royal University of Ireland, which remained until the creation of the National University in 1908 and the Queen's University of Belfast.

The state's two new universities Dublin City University and University of Limerick were initially National Institute for Higher Education institutions. These institutions offered university level academic degrees and research from the start of their existence and were awarded university status in 1989 in recognition of this. These two universities now follow the general trend of universities having associated colleges offering their degrees.

Third level technical education in the state has been carried out in the Regional Technical College network since 1970. These institutions are now referred to as Institutes of Technology, and some have delegated authority that entitles them to give degrees and diplomas in their own name. Initially these institutions offered only National Certificate and National Diploma courses. Now they also offer academic degrees at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

A number of Private Colleges exist such as Griffith College, providing undergraduate and postgraduate courses validated by HETAC and in some cases by other Universities.

Other types of college include Colleges of Education, such as National College of Ireland. These are specialist institutions, often linked to a university, which provide both undergraduate and postgraduate academic degrees for people who want to train as teachers.

Hong Kong

See also: Education in Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, the term "college" has a range of meanings, as in the British case. In the first case it can refer to a secondary school. It is also used by tertiary institutions as either part of their names or to refer to a constituent part of the university, such as the colleges in the collegiate Chinese University of Hong Kong; or to a residence hall of a university, such as St. John's College, University of Hong Kong.

India

See also: Colleges and institutes in India, Indian Institute of Management, and Indian Statistical Institute

The term university is more common than college in India. Generally, colleges are located in different parts of a state and all of them are affiliated to a regional university. The colleges offer programmes under that university. Examinations are conducted by the university at the same time for all colleges under its affiliation. There are several hundred universities and each university has affiliated colleges.

The first liberal arts and sciences college in India was the Presidency College, Kolkata (estd. 1817) (initially known as Hindu College). The first Missionary institution to impart Western style education in India was the Scottish Church College, Calcutta (estd. 1830). The first modern university in India was the University of Calcutta (est. January 1857). The first research institution for the study of the social sciences and ushering the spirit of Oriental research was the Asiatic Society, (est. 1784). The first college for the study of Christian theology and ecumenical enquiry has been the Serampore College (est. 1818).

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are specialized institutions that award their own degrees. They are premier institutes in India. There are only seven of them at present.

Singapore

The term "college" in Singapore is generally only used for pre-university educational institutions called "Junior Colleges", which provide the final two years of secondary education (equivalent to sixth form in British terms or grades 11-12 in the American system). Since 1 January 2005, the term also refers to the three campuses of the Institute of Technical Education with the introduction of the "collegiate system", in which the three institutions are called ITE College East, ITE College Central, and ITE College West respectively.

The term "university" is used to describe higher-education institutions offering locally-conferred degrees. Institutions offering diplomas are called "polytechnics", while other institutions are often referred to as "institutes" and so forth.

New Zealand

The University of Otago.

In New Zealand the word "college" normally refers to a secondary school for ages 13 to 17. In contrast, most older schools of the same type are "high schools". Also, single-sex schools are more likely to be "Someplace Boys/Girls High School", but there are also very many coeducational "high schools". The difference between "high schools" and "colleges" is usually only one of terminology. However, many private or integrated schools are known as "such and such college" There does seem to be a geographical difference in terminology: "colleges" most frequently appear in the North Island, whereas "high schools" are more common in the South Island.

The constituent colleges of the former University of New Zealand (such as Canterbury University College) have become independent universities. Some halls of residence associated with New Zealand universities retain the name of "college", particularly at the University of Otago (which although brought under the umbrella of the University of New Zealand, already possessed university status and degree awarding powers). The institutions formerly known as "Teacher-training colleges" now style themselves "College of education".

Some universities, such as the University of Canterbury, have divided their University into constituent administrative "Colleges" - the College of Arts containing departments that teach Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Science containing Science departments, and so on. This is largely modelled on the Cambridge model, discussed above.

Like the United Kingdom some professional bodies in New Zealand style themselves as "colleges", for example, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, the R.A.C. of Physicians etc.

South Africa

St. John's College, Johannesburg

Similar to New Zealand, in South Africa the word "college" normally refers to a secondary school. Nevertheless, most secondary schools are called "Someplace High (School)". The word "college" in South Africa generally implies that the school is private. In many cases the high school is exclusive and follows the English public school model. Thus no less than six of South Africa's Elite Seven high schools call themselves "college" and fit this description. A typical example of this category would be St John's College.

Another category of private high schools also use the "college" term. However, these schools do not follow the English public school model, but rather are more informal in character and specialize in improving children's marks through intensive focus on examination needs. These "colleges" are thus often nick-named "cram-colleges"

Although the term "college" is hardly used in any context at any university in South Africa, some non-university tertiary institutions call themselves colleges. These include teacher training colleges, business colleges and wildlife management colleges to name a few.

The non-English-speaking world

Some languages beyond English use words similar to "college". (French, for example, has the Collège de France.) However, in other languages, confusion is most likely to arise when an American is reading something translated by someone using British conventions, or vice versa.

Belgium

In Belgium, the term college is used for some catholic secondary schools (public secondary schools are often called atheneum). For higher education, there are two types of institutions: the Hogeschool (Dutch) / Haute Ecole (French) (which literally means high school but can be translated as university college or as vocational university) and the university. With the current reform of higher education under the Bologna process, the Hogescholen / Hautes Ecoles offer professional bachelor's degrees (3 years study in one cycle) or academic bachelor's degrees (first cycle of 3 years study) and master's degrees (second cycle of 1 or 2 years in addition to the academic bachelor's degree). Universities offer academic bachelor's degrees, master's degrees and doctorate's degrees (minimum 3 years). More information about the higher education system can be found in the Higher Education Registers

Brazil

In Brazil the term colégio (college) is normally used to refer to primary and secondary education schools, being rarely used to refer to tertiary education institutions, which are normally called either universidade (university) or faculdade (faculty).

East Asia

In the People's Republic of China, Japan, South Korea and other East Asian states, colleges and universities are collectively named 大學 or in simplified writing 大学, which is a word originally introduced by Confucius with his influential book of the same name. The original word and subsequently the book's title is most frequently translated to "The Great Learning". Today's pronunciation of this word is country- and sometimes region- specific and includes daxue (Chinese), daigaku (Japanese), and daehak (Korean). In Japan, daigaku is usually considered distinct from senmon gakkou (専門学校), which is more of a post-secondary vocational school. In the People's Republic of China, the college students are selected through the annual National College Entrance Examination. The meaning of 大學 is clear, but in the case of smaller institutions, the term 學院 ("xueyuan" in Chinese) is often used and, like "college" in English, can refer to either an institution of tertiary or secondary education.

Denmark

In Denmark the term kollegium means dormitory. A university is called a universitet. Some institutes of higher education call themselves højskole which literally means "high school" e.g. Handelshøjskolen i København (Copenhagen Business School) .

Finland

In Finland the term college has no single counterpart. A general university is called yliopisto (in Swedish, universitet). A university on a specific field of study is korkeakoulu (literally, high school). The Swedish term is högskola. In translation they use "university", "school", or "academy". An institute of the more practically oriented branch of tertiary education is ammattikorkeakoulu, in Swedish yrkeshögskola. Some of them translate their name as "polytechnic", some as "university of applied science".

France

In France, collège generally refers to a middle school or junior high school. However, it can also be used in a manner more similar to that of English, such as in the term electoral college or the Collège de France. The latter use, though, is not as common.

Courtyard of the Collège de France.

Germany

In Germany a Hochschule or Universität is an institute of tertiary education. "College" is a more proper term to use than a direct translation: Hochschule literally means "high school". German secondary education often takes place in an institution called in German an Oberschule, with its specific forms Hauptschule, Realschule, Gymnasium, and in some states also Gesamtschule, together with vocational secondary education in Berufsschule (in North Rhine-Westphalia called Berufskolleg). The term Kolleg (literally: college) is used in some states for institutions of adult education where graduates of a Berufsschule can graduate with an Abitur. A Graduiertenkolleg is a German Graduate school and a Studienkolleg is a special university-preparatory school for foreign students whose foreign high school diploma is not recognised to be equivalent to a German Abitur.

Greece

In Greece the term college is mainly used to refer to private secondary education institutions (high schools and junior high schools), while Πανεπιστήμιο (University) is the term utilized for Higher Education.

Hungary

In Hungary the term kollégium refers to a dormitory that may or may not be independent from an educational institution; it can also refer to a university's autonomous student organisation, dedicated to the advanced study of a certain science, topic etc, for example the "College for Social Theory".

Indonesia

In Indonesia the term kolese refers to a school that be organized by Jesuits. For example, Kolese Kanisius, Jakarta.

Italy

In Republican Rome, a collegium could be a voluntary association of men who met at a particular tavern at an major crossroads. A crossroads college was a social club, not a school. Business deals and even assassinations could be planned there, quietly, over a carafe of wine. (Source: Colleen McCullough, "The First Man in Rome,"1990.)

In Italy the term collegio, in school contest, refers to a particular school (with elite, alternative or stricter education; a collegio offered by the State to the children of some of its civil employee, or a collegio related to a military education, is more commonly called convitto), with possibility of passing here the night or most of the day.

Netherlands

In the Netherlands the term college is used for institutes of secondary education. The term college is also used for classes or lectures at university.

Norway

In Norway the term "university college" is used as an official English translation for høgskole (alternatively spelt høyskole and høgskule), a term used for independent educational institutions providing tertiary, but not quaternary education. Similarly to the situation in Germany and Sweden, the Norwegian term høgskole literally means "high school".

Portugal

In Portugal the term college (colégio) is mainly used to refer to private secondary education institutions, while Universidade (University), Instituto or Escola Superior are the terms generally used for several kind of higher education institutions.

Spain, Spanish-speaking countries

In Spain and the Spanish speaking countries of Latin America the term colegio (school) refers to either institutions for primary and secondary education or some homogeneous grouping of people who refer to themselves as a colegio inasmuch as they are colleagues. For example, in Peru the professional organizations that group the lawyers of Lima or the biologists of Peru are called "Colegio de Abogados de Lima" (or College of Lawyers of Lima) and Colegio de Biologos del Peru. An exception is Puerto Rico. On the island the word colegio usually refers to elementary to secondary private schools. While the word escuela is used to refer to elementary to secondary public schools. A unit of the University of Puerto Rico system is called El Colegio ( The University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez ) for traditional reasons. The University of Puerto Rico was founded during the American sovereignty. Therefore, the graduates of this unit even at the Ph.D. level are Colegiales.

Sweden

In Sweden the term "university college" is used as an official English translation for högskola, a term used for independent educational institutions providing tertiary, but not quaternary education. Similarly to the situation in Norway, the Swedish term högskola literally means "high school". The same term is also used for a number of institutions which function as specialized universities rather than university colleges, providing quaternary education and conducting research. Before studying at a "högskola" or university (universitet), you must have fulfilled the Gymnasium (school), being the grades from 10 to 12. That means that the common högskola/university student is 19 years old and above.

Examples of Swedish universities are found at List of universities in Sweden

Switzerland

In some cantons of the French speaking part of Switzerland and also on the border to the Swiss German speaking part (i.e. in Fribourg) the French term “Collège” (German: Kollegium) is used for the Gymnasium (10th to 13th grade) which lends to the matura. It is also used as a name for the physical building in which obligatory education takes place (e.g., Le Collège de La Planta).

Romania

In Romania, college is a middle or superior educational institution. Usually it refers to universities.

Russia

In Russia, upon finishing 9th grade students can choose to either continue attending high school and then go on to universities, or go to college. Colleges provide high school and technical education. After graduating from college students can continue their education in universities.

Turkey

In Turkey, the term college (kolej in Turkish) refers to private high schools. The name originates from Robert College, the first American educational institution founded outside the United States. Though founded as a college, the school also had middle and secondary sections over the years after its foundation in 1863. Since 1971, Robert College operates as a private high school; however, the term kolej (college) is widely used by the private high schools that flourished over the last few decades, as an imitation of foreign schools, like Robert College, in Turkey. According to the Turkish education system, official name for a private high school is the direct translation, özel lise, not kolej.

See also

• Career college
• Collegiate church
• Community college
• Historically black colleges
• Junior college
• Residential college
• Sixth form college
• University college
• University
• List of colleges and universities
• Electoral college
• College of Cardinals
• House system
• Colleges within UK Universities
• College of Dracology
• List of Art Colleges in Europe