French universitiesIn France, students can also attend grandes écoles, which are very prestigious and elite schools, with small student bodies—usually a couple of hundred students—and very selective and competitive entrance exams. There are grandes écoles for literature, business, and engineering. Formation provided in these schools is usually of a better level than the corresponding one in French universities. The system of the grandes écoles is particular to the French education system.
See also
- Education in France
- University
- British universities
- Dutch universities
- Italian universities
- Spanish universities
- US universities
Grandes écoles
The grandes écoles (French: great schools) of France are higher education establishments outside the mainstream framework of the public universities. They are generally focused on a single subject area, such as engineering, have a moderate size, and are often quite selective in their admission of students. They are highly prestigious, and traditionally have produced most of France's managing directors and executives.
Preparatory classes
In most cases, grandes écoles recruit students not after the end of their high school, but after two or more years of initial higher education. For the most part, this education takes place in special preparatory classes, known as classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles (CPGE) or prépas, that dispense undergraduate university-level education at an accelerated pace. Prépas are located in a number of select high schools throughout the country; some of them, such as Louis-le-Grand and Henri IV in Paris, are famous in their own name.
There are four main categories of prépas:
- mathematics and physics (plus computer science and engineering as minors) known as mathématiques supérieures (1st year; familiarly called hypotaupe) and mathématiques spéciales (2nd year; familiarly called taupe);
- biology, geology and mathematics (agro);
- humanities (hypokhâgne and khâgne);
- mathematics and economics known as prépa HEC or épice (2 years preparatory class for business schools).
There is some specific jargon in these classes. For instance, the students in mathématiques spéciales are called taupins (which could be roughly translated as the "moles hole") because, according to stereotypes, they wear glasses and never go out. Hence, the year of mathématiques spéciales is called the taupe, which could be translated in the context as the "mole". One integrates a school when one succeeds in passing the competitive exam to that school. If you are admitted to a school after two years of prépa, you are 3/2; if you repeat a year, you are 5/2. Indeed, the most prestigious engineering school in France is the École Polytechnique, often dubbed X, as the unknown variable in mathematics. The integral of X between 1 and 2 (the numbers representing years of study) is 3/2, and the integral between 2 and 3 is 5/2.
Categories
Grandes écoles can be classified into several broad categories:
Écoles normales supérieures
They train researchers, professors and may also be a starting point for high administrative careers. There are four of them:
- the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, rue d'Ulm (sciences and humanities);
- the École Normale Supérieure de Cachan in Cachan, a suburb of Paris (applied sciences, engineering, foreign languages);
- the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon in Lyon (sciences);
- the École Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines in Lyon (humanities).
Their competitive entrance exams are about the most selective. They recruit mostly from taupes, biology prépas and khâgnes.
The normaliens, as the students of the several ENS are known, keep a level of excellence in the various disciplines in which they are trained. Normaliens from France and other European Union countries are considered civil servants in training, and as such paid a monthly salary, in exchange for an agreement to serve France for 10 years, including those of studies.
Engineering schools
There is a broad spectrum of engineering schools, many recruiting after taupes. Things may be a bit confusing since many schools have a lengthy official name (often beginning with École Nationale Supérieure), a shortened name, an acronym and, for the most famous, a nickname (and often a nickname for their students).
The engineering schools include :
- the École Polytechnique, nicknamed X, which trains engineers and prepares its students (the polytechniciens) for high-level graduate studies or high-level administrative careers;
- the École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris (ESPCI), nicknamed PC or physique-chimie Paris
- the École nationale supérieure des Mines de Paris (ENSMP or the Mines de Paris);
- the École Centrale Paris (ECP or Centrale or Piston), whose graduates are centraliens;
- the École Supérieure d'Électricité (Supélec or ESE);
- the École Nationale Supérieure de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace (SUPAERO), the first air and space engineering school ever in the world;
- the École nationale supérieure de Techniques Avancées (ENSTA);
- the Institut Supérieur d'Electronique du Numérique (ISEN);
- the École Supérieure d'Informatique Électronique Automatique (ESIEA), whose graduates are "Esiarques", headquarter in Paris, other site in Laval (France) and Morocco;
- the École supérieure d'optique (ESO or SupOptique) whose graduates are "SupOpticiens";
- the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (National School of Bridges and Roads, ENPC or the Ponts);
- the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Métiers (ENSAM) whose graduates are Gadz'art;
- the École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications (ENST Paris or Télécom Paris);
- the École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications de Bretagne (ENST Bretagne or Télécom Bretagne);
- the Institut d'Informatique d'Entreprise (IIE)
- the Institut National des Télécommunications (INT);
- the Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble (INPG);
- the École nationale supérieure des Mines de Nancy (ENSMN or the Mines de Nancy);
- the École nationale supérieure en Génie des Systèmes Industriels (ENSGSI);
- the École des Mines de Douai (ENSTIMD or the Mines de Douai);
- the École des Mines de Nantes (ENSTIMN or EMN or the Mines de Nantes);
- the École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Economique (ENSAE);
- the École Supérieure de Chimie Physique Électronique de Lyon (CPE Lyon);
- the École Nationale Supérieure d'Électronique, d'Électrotechnique, d'Informatique, d'Hydraulique, et de Télécommunications (ENSEEIHT);
- the École Nationale Supérieure d'ingénieurs en Informatique Automatique Mécanique Énergétique Electronique (ENSIAME);
- the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA Rennes, INSA Rouen, INSA Lyon, INSA Strasbourg, INSA Toulouse);
- the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Physique de Strasbourg (ENSPS);
- the Université de Technologie (UTC - UTBM - UTT);
- the Ecole d'Ingénieurs des Technologies de l'Information et du Management (EFREI).
- the Institut Supérieur d'Electronique de Paris (ISEP);
- the École Supérieure d'Ingénieurs en Électronique et Électrotechnique or ESIEE
- the École Centrale de Lille (ECLi);
- the École Centrale de Lyon (ECL);
- the École Centrale de Nantes (ECN);
- the École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Montpellier (ENSCM), member of the Fédération Gay-Lussac.
The École Nationale de l'Aviation Civile (civilian air academy) also recruits taupins.
Biological and agricultural engineering
- Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon (INA-PG or the Agro Paris);
- École Nationale Supérieure des Industries Agricoles et Alimentaires (ENSIA).
- École Nationale Supérieure d'Agronomie et des Industries Alimentaires (ENSAIA).
- École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Montpellier (ENSAM or Agro Montpellier)
Business schools (Écoles de commerce)
French business schools are privately run, often by the regional chambers of commerce. The most prestigious are:
- the École des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC);
- the École Supérieure des Sciences Économiques et Commerciales (ESSEC);
- the École Supérieure de Commerce de Paris, école Européenne des Affaires de Paris (ESCP-EAP);
- the Ecole de Management de Lyon] (EM Lyon)
- the [[Ecole de hautes études commerciales du nord]] ( EDHEC )
- the [[Audencia Nantes Ecole de Management ( Audencia ).
Then, several others are noteworthy, which include:
- the École Supérieure de Commerce de Rouen (ESC Rouen);
- the Grenoble École de Management (Grenoble-EM);
- the ICN Graduate Business School (ICN GBS);
- the École Supérieure de Commerce de Pau (ESC Pau);
- the Institut Européen d'Etudes Commerciales Supérieures de Strasbourg (IECS).
Military officer academies
While École Polytechnique is run by the Ministry of Defence and its French students are reserve officers in training, it is no longer a military academy and few of its students embrace a military career afterwards.
- The École Spéciale Militaire de St Cyr (it used to be located in Saint-Cyr l'École but is now in Coëtquidan in Brittany) is the Army Academy;
- the École Navale is the Naval Academy;
- the École de l'Air is the Air Force Academy.
Political and administrative schools
These schools train students for certain civil service and other public-sector positions. However, many students who undertake studies in these schools do end up working in the private sector. It should be noted that some of the above engineering schools have special curricula for civil service training.
- École nationale d'administration (ENA), whose alumni are known as énarques and generally take up high-level positions in government;
- Institut d'études politiques de Paris or “Sciences Po” offering a broad and rigorous education for students destined to careers in many fields, but most prominently international public affairs (international relations, economics, political philosophy, sociology, and many others). Most students who enter the École nationale d'administration first completed up to 5 years of education at Sciences Po, whose students and alumni are referred to as sciences-potistes. The other Instituts d'études politiques in France offer similar studies and are said to have developped different strong field of studies:
- Institut d'études politiques de Strasbourg has developped a strong curriculum focused on International Relations due to the proximity of the European Union Parlement and offices
- Institut d'études politiques de Grenoble is considered particularly strong in pure Political Science. This institute hosts different laboratories that are part of the CNRS (Centre de la Recherche Scientifique) and the FNSP (Fondation Nationale de Sciences Politiques)
- Institut d'études politiques de Bordeaux is strong in the public law field.
- Institut d'études politiques d'Aix-en-Provence
- Institut d'études politiques de Lille,
- Institut d'études politiques de Lyon,
- Institut d'études politiques de Rennes,
- Institut d'études politiques de Toulouse.
See also
- Education in France
- List of universities in France
- Grands établissements
External links
- [http://www.recherche.gouv.fr/organism/ Research and higher education institutions in France]
- [http://www.internationalgraduate.net/grandes.htm Graduate Schools]
ja:グランゼコール
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Category:Universities and colleges in France
Education in France
The French educational system is highly centralized, organized, and ramified. It is divided into three stages:
- primary education (enseignement primaire);
- secondary education (enseignement secondaire);
- tertiary or college education (enseignement supérieur)
Primary and secondary education is predominantly public (private schools also exist, in particular a strong nationwide network of primary and secondary Catholic education), while tertiary education has both public and private elements.
History
Catholic education
While the French trace the development of their educational system to Charlemagne, the modern era of French education begins at the end of the nineteenth century. Jules Ferry, a lawyer holding the office of Minister of Public Instruction in the 1880s, is widely credited for creating the modern Republican school (l'école républicaine) by requiring all children under the age of 15 -- boys and girls -- to attend. He also made public instruction free of charge and secular (laïc).
Organisation
All educational programs in France are regulated by the Ministry of National Education (officially called Ministère de l'éducation nationale, de l'enseignement supérieur et de la recherche). The head of the ministry is the Minister of National Education, one of the highest-ranking officials in the cabinet. As of August 2005, the Minister is Gilles de Robien.
The teachers in public primary and secondary schools are all state civil servants, making the ministère the largest employer in the country. Professors and researchers in France's universities are also employed by the state.
At the primary and secondary levels, the curricula is the same for all French students in a given grade, in public and semi-public (or subsidized) institutions. However, there exist specialized sections and a variety of options that students can choose. The reference for all French educators is the Bulletin officiel de l'éducation nationale, de l'enseignement supérieur et de la recherche (B.O.) which lists all current programs and teaching directives. It is amended many times every year.
[http://www.education.gouv.fr/bo/default.htm Find B.O. archives on the Ministry's official website]
Académie system
curricula
The French territory is divided into 35 académies, 26 of which are located in mainland France and 9 in French overseas territories. One académie often spans a few départements, the most commonly used administrative unit in France. Académies also cover French schools located abroad so that the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in London, for example, falls under the jurisdiction of the Lille académie.
The académie headquarters (termed rectorat) is usually located in the largest city in the concerned territory. It is headed by a recteur. The main responsibility of the académie is to manage personnel and state budgets pertaining to the education system. It serves as a link between regional specificities and the centralized governing body in Paris. It ensures the implementation of the official educational programs produced by the Ministry.
At one level down in the national education hierarchy, each département also has its own inspection académique, headed by an inspecteur d'académie.
Note that the académie, as an education-based territorial unit, has no relation with l'Académie française, the authoritative body concerning the French language.
School calendar
In the Metropolitan territory, the school year extends from early-September to early-July. Most students have finished their year by Bastille Day, 14 July. The school calendar is standardized throughout the country, and is the sole domain of the ministry.
For the 2005-2006 school year, the first day of classes across the country is 2 September. The year ends on 4 July.
In French overseas departments and territories, the school calendar is set by the local recteur.
Major holiday breaks are as follows:
- All Saints (la Toussaint), one and a half weeks around the end of October and the beginning of November;
- Christmas (Noël), two weeks around Christmas Day and New Year's Day;
- winter (hiver), two weeks starting in mid-February;
- spring (printemps), two weeks starting in mid-April;
- summer (été), two months starting in early-July.
All Saints, Christmas and summer vacations occur simultaneously across the country. For the winter and spring breaks, the country is divided into three zones (A, B, and C) and each zone's vacation dates are shifted by one or two weeks to prevent families from crowding up in popular destinations such as ski and seashore resorts.
[http://www.education.gouv.fr/prat/calendrier/calendrier.php Obtain the official school calendar]
Primary education
Schooling in France is mandatory as of age 6, the first year of primary school. Many parents start sending their children earlier though, around age 3 as kindergarten classes (maternelle) are usually affiliated to a borough's primary school. Some even start earlier at age 2 in pré-maternelle classes, which are essentially daycare centres. The last year of maternelle, grande section is an important step in the educational process as it is the year in which pupils are introduced to reading.
After kindergarten, the young students move on to primary school. It is in the first year (cours préparatoire) that they will learn to write and perfect their reading skills. Much akin to other educational systems, French primary school students usually have a single teacher (or perhaps two) who instructs in many different disciplines, such as French, mathematics, natural sciences, history and geography to name a few (the latter two are seldom separated). Note that the French word for a teacher at the primary school level is instituteur, or its feminine form institutrice.
Religious instruction is not supplied by public schools. Laïcité (a term referring to the separation of church and state) is one of the main precepts of the French republic. Pupils therefore have civics courses to teach them about la République, its function, its organization, and its famous motto Liberté, égalité, fraternité (Freedom, equality, brotherhood).
In a March 2004 ruling, the French government banned all "conspicuous religious symbols" from schools and other public institutions with the intent of preventing proselitization and to foster a sense of tolerance among ethnic groups. The law was not welcomed by all though, and some religious and libertarian groups showed their opposition saying the law hindered the freedom of religion, as protected by the French constitution.
Secondary education
French secondary education is divided into two schools:
- the collège (somewhat comparable to U.S. junior high school) for the first four years directly following primary school;
- the lycée (comparable to a U.S. high school) for the next three years.
The completion of secondary studies leads to the baccalauréat.
Baccalauréat
The baccalauréat (also known as bac) is the end-of-lycée diploma students sit for in order to enter university, a classe préparatoire, or professional life. The term baccalauréat refers to the diploma and the examinations themselves. It is comparable to British A-Levels, American SATs, the Irish Leaving Certificate and German Abitur.
Most students sit for the baccalauréat général which is divided into 3 streams of study, called séries. The série scientifique (S) is concerned with the natural sciences, the série économique et sociale (ES) with economics and social sciences, and the série littéraire (L) focuses on French and foreign languages and philosophy.
There is also the baccalauréat technologique and baccalauréat professionel.
Tertiary education
Peculiarities
A striking trait of higher education in France, compared to other countries such as the United States, is the small size and multiplicity of establishments, each specialized in a more or less broad spectrum of disciplines. A middle-sized French city, such as Grenoble or Nancy, may have 2 or 3 universities (for instance: science / humanities), and also a number of engineering and other specialized higher education establishments. For instance, in Paris and suburbs, there are 13 universities, most of which are specialized on one area or the other, and a large number of smaller institutions.
It is not uncommon for graduate teaching programs (masters degrees, the course part of PhD programs etc.) to be operated in common by several institutions, allowing the institutions to present a large variety of courses.
In engineering schools such as École polytechnique, it is not uncommon that a large share of the teaching staff is not made up of permanent professors, but of part-time professors hired to do teaching only. These part-time professors are generally hired from neighbouring universities, research institutes, or industry.
Another originality of the French higher education system is that a large share of the scientific research is not done by universities, but by research establishments such as CNRS or INSERM. In many cases, the research units of those establishments are installed inside universities (or other higher education establishments), and jointly operated by the research establishment and the university. It is also fairly common that research staff teaches some graduate classes, for instance. However, this research staff will not be counted as part of the normal academic staff of the university.
These traits can cause international university rankings to underestimate French universities due to the criteria used.
Another characteristic is the low tuition costs. Since higher education is paid by the French taxpayers, the prices are very low: as of 2005, 160 euros (one hundred sixty) per year for undergrads, 200 euros (two hundred) per year for graduate students and 300 euros (three hundred) for Phd students... So theoretically, one can get a Masters degree (in 5 years) for about US$1,000.
However the price for tuition in an engineering school can reach 600 (six hundred) euros a year.
Health insurance for students is about the same price as the tuition, so only the living costs and books expenses have to be added. This can explain the very low rate of people under 25 years old who are on the job market in France.
Universities in France
Grandes écoles & classes préparatoires (CPGE)
The Grandes écoles of France are higher education establishments outside the mainstream framework of the public universities. They are generally focused on a single subject area, such as engineering, have a moderate size, and are often quite selective in their admission of students. They are widely regarded as prestigious, and traditionally have produced most of France's managing directors and executives.
The classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles (CPGE) is a post-secondary education system with the main goal of training students for enrollment in a grande école or an engineering school. Admission to the CPGE is very competitive and is usually based on performance during the last two years of high school, called Première and Terminale. Each CPGE receives the files of hundreds of applicants worldwide every year during April and May, and selects its new students under its own criteria (mostly excellency). A few CPGE programs, mainly the private CPGEs (which account for 10% of CPGEs), also have an interview process or look at a student's involvement in the community, although the latter has much less importance than in the United States. Of course, each student must have passed successfully his Baccalauréat (or equivalent) in June to be admitted in CPGE. CPGE programs have a duration of two to three years and are located within lycées.
Although there are CPGEs focused on literature or economics, the most prestigious and selective CPGEs are certainly the scientific ones, which can only be accessed by scientific Bacheliers (the Baccalauréat S being known himself as the most prestigious and selective one). Scientific CPGE are called either MP ("Mathematics and Physics") or PC ("Physics and Chemistry"), etc. First year CPGE students are called the 'Math Sups' (Sup for "Supérieur", Upper in French), and second years 'Math spés' (Spés standing for "Spéciales", special in French). Both the first and second year programs include as much as sixteen hours of mathematics teaching per week, ten hours of physics, two hours of philosophy, two to four hours of (one or two) foreign languages teaching and two to three hours of minor options: either S2I: Engineering Industrial Science or Theorical Informatic (including some programmation using the PASCAL or CAML programming languages, as a practical work). The amount of work required of the students is exceptionally high. In addition to class time, students spend several hours each week completing exams and 'colles' or 'khôlles'.
The so called 'colles' are unique to French academic education in CPGEs. They consist of oral examinations twice a week. The student spends one hour facing a professor alone in a room and has to answer as many questions correctly as possible, while the teacher regularly increases the difficulty of the questions to make ensure that the student is tested vigorously. 'Colles' are regarded as extremely stressful, particularly due to the high standards expected by the teachers, and the subsequent harshness that may be directed at students who do not perform adequately.
See also
- Minister of National Education (France)
- Agence pour l'Enseignement Français à l'Etranger
France
ko:프랑스의 교육제도
University
A university is an institution of higher education and of research, which grants academic degrees. A university provides both tertiary and quaternary education. University is derived from the Latin universitas, meaning corporation (since the first medieval European universities were simply groups of scholars).
medieval European universities]
History
Because of the above definition, the oldest universities in the world were all European, as the awarding of academic degrees was not a custom of older institutions of learning in Asia and Africa. However, institutions of higher learning considerably older than the most ancient European universities existed in countries such as China, Egypt and India.
The Academy, founded in 387 BC by the Greek philosopher Plato in the grove of Academos near Athens, taught its students philosophy, mathematics, and gymnastics, and is sometimes considered a forerunner of modern European universities. Other Greek cities with notable educational institutions include Kos (the home of Hippocrates), which had a medical school, and Rhodes, which had philosophical schools. Another famous classical university was the Museum and Library of Alexandria.
About a thousand years after Plato, institutions bearing a resemblance to the modern university existed in Persia and the Islamic world, notably the Academy of Gundishapur and later also al-Azhar University in Cairo.
In Asia, there were a number of institutions of higher learning that vaguely resembled universities in the Western sense of the word. In general, these are of considerable antiquity, predating western institutions of higher learning by centuries. In China, it's recorded that the education system had been established during the Yu period (2257 BC - 2208 BC) and the imperial central academy was named Shangyang (Shang means higher and Yang means school) at the time. The higher learning institution - imperial central academy, was called Piyong in Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC - 249 BC), Taixue in Han Dynasty (202 - 220) and Guozijian in Sui dynasty. For example, Nanjing University traces its source back to the imperial central academy at Nanking founded in 258 by the Kingdom of Wu. The early Chinese state depended upon literate, educated officials for operation of the empire, and an imperial examination was established in the Sui Dynasty (581 -618) for evaluating and selecting officials from the general populace. The ancient cities of Nalanda, Vikramasila, Kanchipura and Takshasila were greatly reputed centres of learning in the east, with students from all over Asia. In particular, Nalanda was a famous center of Buddhist scholarship, and as such it attracted a vast number of Buddhist scholars from China, central Asia and Southeast Asia.
In the Carolingian period, a famous academy was created by Charlemagne for the purpose of educating the children of aristocrats to help train the professionals needed to run an empire. It was a foreshadow of the rise of the University in the 11th century.
The first European medieval university was the University of Magnaura in Constantinople
(now Istanbul, Turkey), founded in 849 by the emperor Bardas, followed by the University of Salerno (9th century)University of Bologna (1088) in Bologna, Italy, and the University of Paris (c. 1100) in Paris, France. Many of the medieval universities in Western Europe were born under the aegis of the Catholic Church, usually as cathedral schools or by papal bull as Studia Generali. In the early medieval period, most new universities were founded from pre-existing schools, usually when these schools were deemed to have become primarly sites of higher education. Many historians state that universities and cathedral schools were a continuation of the interest in learning promoted by monasteries.
In Europe, young men proceeded to the university when they had completed the study of the trivium–the preparatory arts of grammar, rhetoric, and logic–and the quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. (See degrees of Oxford University for the history of how the trivium and quadrivium developed in relation to degrees, especially in anglophone universities).
Universities are generally established by statute or charter. In the United Kingdom, for instance, a university is instituted by Act of Parliament or Royal Charter; in either case generally with the approval of Privy Council, and only such recognized bodies can award degrees of any kind.
Universities around the world
The funding and organisation of Universities is very different in different countries around the world. In some countries Universities are predominantly funded by the state, while in others funding may come from donors or from fees which students attending the University must pay. In some countries the vast majority of students attend University in their local town, while in other countries Universities attract students from all over the world, and may provide University accommodation for their students.
Universities and student life in different countries
- British universities
- Dutch universities
- French universities
- Irish universities
- Italian universities
- Spanish universities
- US universities
- Egyptian universities
Selective admissions
Unlike community colleges, enrollment at a university is generally not available to all. However, admission systems vary widely around the world, as discussed in the article college admissions.
Colloquial usage
Colloquially, the term university is used around the world for a phase in one's life: "when I was at university…"; in the United States, college is often used: "when I was in college…". See college, §3, for further discussion. In the United Kingdom and Australia "University" is often contracted to simply "Uni".
The usual practice in the United States today is to call an institution made up of several faculties and granting a range of higher degrees a "university" while a smaller institution only granting bachelor's or associate's degrees is called a "college". (See liberal arts colleges, community college). Nevertheless, a few of America's oldest and most prestigious universities, such as Boston College, Dartmouth College and the College of William and Mary, have retained the term "college" in their names for historical reasons though they offer a wide range of higher degrees.
See also
- Corporate universities
- List of colleges and universities
- List of oldest universities in continuous operation
- List of academic disciplines
- Medieval universities, including list of
- Muslim educational institutions
- Private university
- Public university
- School and university in literature
- University ranking
- College applications
- Wikiportal/University
- [http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikiversity Wikiversity]
Related terms
: academia - academic rank - academy - admission - alumnus - aula - [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/brain_farm Brain farm ]-Bologna process - business schools - Grandes écoles - campus - college - college and university rankings - dean - degree - diploma - discipline - [http://wiktionary.org/wiki/Dissertation dissertation] - faculty - fraternities and sororities - graduate student - graduation - lecturer - medieval university - medieval university (Asia) - mega university - perpetual student - professor - provost - rector - research - scholar - senioritis - student - tenure - tuition - undergraduate - universal access - university administration
References
- Walter Ruegg (ed), A History of the University in Europe, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (3 vols) ISBN 0521361079 (vol 3 reviewed by Laurence Brockliss in the Times Literary Supplement, no 5332, 10 June 2005, pages 3-4).
Category:Educational stages
ko:대학교
ms:Universiti
ja:大学
simple:University
th:มหาวิทยาลัย
Dutch Universities: List of universities in the Netherlands
Italian universitiesMany of the world's oldest universities are located in Italy, in particular the University of Bologna (1088). Universities are supported by state funding so that students do not have to pay for tuition. Most Italian students frequent a local university, and will typically remain living with their parents while attending University.
See also
- Education in Italy
- University
- British universities
- Dutch universities
- French universities
- Spanish universities
- US universities
US universitiesUniversities in the US are generally either state funded or privately funded. At privately funded Universities students are generally expected to pay substantial fees for their education. Eight prestigious private US universities are members of the Ivy League of Universities. In the US, universities are usually treated by the law as a corporation like any other, although many states impose special responsibilities to safeguard the welfare of a university's students. Because the U.S. federal government does not directly organize or regulate universities, unofficial but formalized systems of accreditation have been developed by regional networks of academic institutions.
In the late 19th century, the U.S. Congress encouraged the creation of many land-grant universities. In the last decades of the 20th century, a number of "mega-universities" have been created, teaching with distance learning techniques.
The vast majority of American private and public universities are non-profit (meaning that excess tuition is put into providing more and better services), but starting in the 1970s, many for-profit colleges and universities were founded to take advantage of changes in the federal student assistance programs.
Education
See also Education in the United States
Undergraduate degrees at US universities are usually four years long. The four undergraduate grades are commonly called freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years (alternately called first year, second year, etc.). Students traditionally apply to receive admission into college, with varying difficulties of entrance. Schools differ in their competitiveness and reputation; generally, public schools are viewed as more lenient and less prestigious than the more expensive private schools. Admissions criteria involve test scores (like the SAT and ACT) and class ranking as well as extracurricular activities performed prior to the application date. Also, many colleges consider the rigor of previous courses taken along with the grades earned. Certain test scores, class rank, or other numerical factors hardly ever have absolute, required levels, but often have a threshold below which admission is unlikely.
Once admitted, students engage in undergraduate study, which consists of satisfying university and class requirements to achieve a bachelor's degree. The most common method consists of four years of study leading to a Bachelor of Arts (BA), a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree, or sometimes (but very rarely) another bachelor's degree such as Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA). Some students choose to attend a "community college" for two years prior to further study at another college or university. A community college is run by the local municipality, usually the county. Though rarely handing out actual degrees, community colleges may award an Associate of Arts (AA) degree after two years. Those seeking to continue their education may transfer to a four-year college or university (after applying through a similar admissions process as those applying directly to the four-year institution, see articulation). Some community colleges have automatic enrollment agreements with a local four-year college, where the community college provides the first two years of study and the university provides the remaining years of study, sometimes all on one campus.
University life
Many US Universities provide rented accommodation (typically rooms or dormatories in single or both-sex buildings, but rarely placing members of the oposite sex in the same room) with the majority of students living away from their parental homes, in marked contrast to Universities in Italy and Spain. This causes the social life of many students to be centred around the University.
Length
An American University typically grants a degree after four years of study, though graduating in three years or requiring five based on individual performance is not uncommon. By contrast, many modern European universities require only three years of study before a bachelor degree is granted.
See also
- University
- British universities
- Dutch universities
- French universities
- Italian universities
- Spanish universities
- List of colleges and universities in the United_States
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