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College admissionsCollege admissions is the process through which students enter undergraduate colleges. The system varies widely from country to country.
In many countries, prospective university students apply for admission during their last year of high school or community college. In some countries, there are independent organizations or government agencies to centralize the administration of standardized admission exams and the processing of applications.
United States
Students apply to one or more colleges or universities by submitting an application which each college evaluates by its own criteria. The college then decides whether to extend an offer of admission (and possibly financial aid) to the student. In general, students are admitted to the college as a whole, and not to a particular academic major, which is chosen later. The system is decentralized: each college has its own criteria for admission, even when using a common application form.
Admissions criteria may be completely mechanical, especially at large public colleges: a threshold for grade point average and/or standardized test scores, or even simply a high-school diploma ('open admissions'). They may be completely subjective at some small colleges: a perceived motivational and intellectual 'fit' based on essays, interviews, and personal recommendations. Most colleges combine the two.
The application form typically asks applicants to provide details about their academic preparation, their extracurricular activities, and special talents. Additionally, the majority of schools require applicants to write one or more essays related to their personal backgrounds, obtain recommendations from one or more teachers and a representative of their school such as a guidance counselor or principal. The Common Application is a standardized admissions application used by over 200 colleges and universities, including many of the most elite schools in the U.S. It can be submitted online and is a good way for students to minimize the paperwork associated with applying to colleges.
The prestige, ranking, and presumably the quality of a college is roughly in inverse proportion to its acceptance rate; 10-20% of applicants at elite institutions are accepted, so admission is very competitive. Many students base their entire high school education on gaining entry into the college of their choice.
Factors in admissions
Considerations that go into admissions are: scores on standardized tests, typically the SAT or ACT; grade point average (GPA) in high school; teacher recommendations; an admissions essay or personal statement; a personal interview at the college or with an alumnus/a; special skills or talents which could contribute to the college (especially sports, but also music); service to the community; and other extracurricular activities.
High SAT scores and GPAs are not enough at the most selective institutions, which look for that 'something extra' that differentiates one high-achieving applicant from another. This may include a unique passion, or dedication to extracurricular activities.
Additionally, many schools look closely at student essays and recommendations from teachers and school personnel. Interviews can also be considered at some colleges.
Many colleges also actively seek to increase racial, economic, cultural, and geographic diversity among their students both by making special efforts to recruit diverse students, and by taking their background into consideration in admissions. Thus, disadvantaged and underrepresented minorities, including Native Americans, Blacks, and Latinos, often receive a boost in their applications due to their comparatively low representation among elite schools, a process known as affirmative action.
Another select group of students receiving a comparable boost are known as legacy preferences. These are children of alumni, who are often preferred because the college wishes to maintain strong alumni ties--especially with those who contribute towards the college financially. Race preferences in admissions is a controversial practice contended by opponents who object to white and Asian students being displaced by the process. An affirmative action study by Princeton researchers in 2005 attempted to quantify the effect on applicants. According to the study, if preferential admissions were eliminated, black and Hispanic acceptance rates would dramatically fall and four out of five admissions spots that would have been offered to those students would instead be turned over to Asian students. The effect on admission rates for white students would not be pronounced. [http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S11/80/77I23/index.xml Study] [http://opr.princeton.edu/faculty/tje/espenshadessqptii.pdf PDF of study]
For students striving for the most elite institutions, a balance of good SAT I and SAT II scores (or ACT scores, which many schools accept and which is a more common test in parts of the country), good recommendations, good essays, a high GPA with a high class rank along with good awards and good extra curricular activities are the key to acceptance. Although this balance will help in admissions, sometimes they can be viewed as prerequisites to truly succeed in an elite institution of higher learning.
Occasionally the applicant may not get into a college due to factors outside of his or her immediate control. This pertains to the concept of need-blind admissions and yield protection.
Need-blind, Need-Aware admission and Guaranteeing to Meet Full Need
In need-blind admission, applicants are evaluated without regard to their ability to pay. However, need-blind admission does not necessarily mean that the financial need of an admitted student will be met. Only a handful of schools in the U.S. guarantee to meet 100% of the demonstrated financial need of all admitted students. It is therefore important to always ask colleges and universities, even those that are "need-blind" whether they guarantee to meet full need. If a school does not guarantee to meet full need, other important questions to ask include the percentage of students who apply for aid and have their full need met, the amount of an average financial aid package, and how the typical financial aid package is broken down (i.e., loans, grants, work study, etc.) Other schools practice what is called "need aware" admissions. In other words, they do consider the ability of students to pay in deciding who to admit.
Less well-endowed universities such as Tufts University and Washington University in St. Louis have need-based admissions policies, where some high-achieving applicants may be waitlisted or even rejected because the school cannot provide enough aid for the applicant's education. This is known as "admit-deny." Some of these schools will still meet the full financial needs, however dire, of the not-so-well-off students they accept. However, without the huge, mature endowments of universities such as Harvard and Yale, schools such as Tufts and Washington University must factor financial need in the admissions process in order to maintain their programs.
Extremely few schools in the U.S. are need-blind for international applicants. For the most part, these are the most selective schools in the U.S. Additionally, very few U.S. schools offer any form of financial aid for international applicants. Some schools do offer merit scholarships, based on academic achievement, to international students even though they may not offer financial aid. "Full rides" to U.S. colleges and universities are extremely rare for international students. The few colleges that do set aside financial aid for international students often offer it only to the best qualified applicants. Therefore, international undergraduate students who need substantial financial aid to study in the United States must have exceptional grades and test scores to maximize their chances of receiving it.
All students applying for financial aid must complete the Free Application for Financial Student Aid (FAFSA). International students have additional forms to complete before they can enroll, including a statement of finances required by the U.S. government.
Yield protection
Yield protection often occurs with the strongest applicants at schools that are yield-conscious. Yield refers to the proportion of students who matriculate (i.e. accept an admissions offer and attend the college) after acceptance to a college. If the yield rate is too low, some may view the school as undesirable. Yield-conscious schools who wish to inflate their yield or otherwise protect their yield from lowering employ such methods as waitlists and guaranteed transfer options to promising applicants who may appear to have numerous other college choices. Through waitlists, the applicant is not technically accepted and may never be unless the applicant shows active signs of interest in attending thereby not harming the school's acceptance rate or yield. Although the applicant has no real control over such policies, they can apply to other schools without such policies so as to not limit their options. The term "Tufts Syndrome" is sometimes used on college admissions message boards to refer to such practices of forced yield-protection, as schools like Tufts are perceived to waitlist and reject overqualified candidates for fear that they will choose other schools.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has a centralized system of admissions to higher education, UCAS. In general, students are not admitted to colleges as a whole, but to particular courses of study.
As Australia uses a Federal system of government, responsibility for education, and admission to Technical and Further Education colleges and undergraduate degrees at universities for domestic students, are in the domain of state and territory government (see Education in Australia). All states except Tasmania have centralised processing units for admission to undergraduate degrees for citizens of Australia and New Zealand, and for Australian permanent residents; however applications for international and postgraduate students are usually accepted by individual universities. The Australian government operates the Higher Education Contribution Scheme for undergraduate students, so admission is rarely limited by prospective students' ability to pay up-front. All states use a system that awards the recipient with an Equivalent National Tertiary Entrance Rank, or ENTER, and the award of an International Baccalaureate meets the minimum requirements for admission in every state. The Special Tertiary Admissions Test is the standard test for non-school-leavers nationwide.
In all cases, applicants must be proficient in the English language to be considered and meet the course requirements listed by the admitting institution.
The [http://www.uac.edu.au/ Universities Admission Centre] accepts applications for all NSW and ACT tertiary institutions. Applications usually comprise of standardised test results, adherence to the university's selection criteria for the applicable course, and a suitable application. The standard test for school-leavers is the Higher School Certificate in NSW, and the Year 12 Certificate in the ACT, resulting in a University Admission Index score.
The [http://www.satac.edu.au/ South Australian Tertiary Admissions Centre] accepts applications for Northern Territory tertiary institutions. Year 12 students are awarded the Northern Territory Certificate of Education and must meet course requirements.
The [http://www.qtac.edu.au/ Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre] accepts applications for Queensland tertiary institutions. Year 12 students are awarded an Overall Position, based on their performance in class subjects and their result in the Queensland Core Skills Test, as well as meeting course requirements.
The [http://www.satac.edu.au/ South Australian Tertiary Admissions Centre] accepts applications for South Australian tertiary institutions. Year 12 students are awarded the South Australian Certificate of Education, and must meet course requirements.
Tasmanian school leavers applying for entrance at the University of Tasmania need to apply directly to the university. Tasmanian school students receive a Tertiary Entrance Rank on successful completion of the Tasmanian Certificate of Education. Students from interstate wishing to study at UTas may apply through either the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre, or directly through the University.
The [http://www.vtac.edu.au/ Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre] accepts applications for Victorian tertiary institutions. Applications comprise of standardised test results and meeting institutional requirements. The standard certification for school-leavers is the Victorian Certificate of Education.
The [http://www.tisc.edu.au/ Tertiary Institutions Service Centre] accepts applications for Western Australian tertiary institutions. The standardised test for school-leavers is the Tertiary Entrance Examination.
Post-Secondary Application Service of British Columbia (British Columbia), Ontario Universities' Application Centre (Ontario).
Joint University Programmes Admissions System, using HKALE (developed and administrated by Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority).
National Center for Examinations and Evaluation
National Center for University Entrance Examinations
Entrance is done after perfomring well in examinations which are a local version equivalent to the General Certificate of Education
Student Selection and Placement Center ÖSYM, prepares ÖSS
Prospective students who have passed the Abitur may decide freely what subjects to enroll in. However, in some popular subject fields such as medicine or business administration, students have to pass a certain numerus clausus — that is, they cannot enroll unless they have scored a minimum grade point average on their Abitur.
These countries probably have the most liberal system of university admission anywhere in the world, since anyone who has passed the Matura may enroll in any subject field (or even several at no additional cost) at a public university. In Belgium as well, the only prerequisite for enrolling in university studies is to have obtained a high-school diploma. In both Switzerland and Belgium, medical studies are an exception, which have a numerus clausus system due to overcrowding. This liberal admission practice led to overcrowding and high dropout rates in the more popular fields of study like psychology and journalism, as well as high failure rates on exams which are unofficially used to filter out the less-capable students. Following a ruling by the European Court of Justice issued on July 7, 2005, which forces Austria to accept nationals of other EU Member States under the same conditions as students who took their Matura in Austria, a law was passed on June 8 allowing universities to impose measures to select students in those fields which are subject to numerus clausus in Germany. Starting in 2006, the three medical universities (in Vienna, Innsbruck and Graz) will introduce entrance exams. There are no intentions to introduce a numerus clausus in any subject field.
Prospective students have to choose, two years before graduation, for a graduation type (e.g. natural science graduation type). Subjects at Dutch universities freely accept all students who have chosen the correct graduation type (e.g. to enroll in physics, the graduation type 'natural sciences' is required). All other students have to pass an exam to be enroll (this is the exception). Popular subjects, such as medicine or dental medicine have a numerus fixus, meaning that a limited number of students may enroll for this subject at a particular university. To decide who is allowed, a lottery is held in which ones grades influence chances of being chosen (an indirect and incomplete numerus clausus).
External links
- [http://www.admissionsadvice.com AdmissionsAdvice.com]- Regularly updated news blog on college admissions topics. Hundreds of links to college admissions resources.
- [http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/index.php? College Confidential] - Popular forum for college admissions advice; geared towards applicants to elite colleges.
- [http://www.commonapp.org The Common Application]- Application form accepted by over 200 colleges and universities in the United States. Free to use, can submit applications online.
- [http://autoadmit.com AutoAdmit] - Often off-topic law and college admissions advice forum; geared towards elite applicants.
- [http://www.collegefair.tv CollegeFair.tv] - Admissions videos for colleges and universities across the U.S.
Category:Colleges and universities
UndergraduateIn some educational systems, an undergraduate is a post-secondary student pursuing a Bachelor's degree. Students of higher degrees are known as postgraduates (or often simply graduates).
In the United States, most undergraduate education takes place at four-year colleges or universities. Students in their first, second, third, and fourth years of study are often called, respectively, freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors (although some institutions, such as many women's colleges, substitute "first-year" for "freshman" in an attempt to remain more gender-neutral). Some institutions (e.g. liberal-arts colleges) offer primarily or exclusively undergraduate education, while most universities offer graduate study as well. Successful completion of undergraduate work generally requires the completion of many courses of varying subject and difficulty, and a concentration or "major" that focuses on a particular academic discipline.
In the United Kingdom, undergraduate refers to the first three or four years of study towards a Bachelor's degree.
In many other, particularly continental European systems, something like an "undergraduate" degree in the American sense does not exist. Other than in the US, where students engage in general studies during the first years of tertiary education and only specialize in a "major" during the last years of college, European students enroll in a specific course of studies they wish to pursue right from the beginning, as they are expected to have received a sound general education already on the secondary level, in a school such as a gymnasium or lycée. At university, which they can enter at an age as early as 18 in many countries, they specialize in a subject field which they pursue in a curriculum of, in most cases, four or five years of studies. The fields available include those which are only taught as graduate degrees in the US, such as law, medicine or business administration. After completing the first degree, students can move on to doctoral studies. In many countries, the English distinction between a bachelor's and master's degree is only now being introduced by the Bologna process, meaning that the old first degree would roughly correspond to a master's degree in the US or the UK.
See also
- Higher education
- Tertiary education
- Mature student
- Postgraduate
Category:Educational stages
CollegeThe term college (Latin collegium) is most often used today to denote an educational institution. The precise usage of the term varies among English-speaking countries. However, it can be the name of any group of colleagues; originally it meant a group of people living together under a common set of rules (con-, "together" + leg-, "law"). As a consequence members of colleges were originally styled "fellows" and still are in some places.
United Kingdom
British usage of the word "college" remains the loosest, encompassing a range of institutions:
- certain public schools for children such as Eton and Winchester
- certain secondary schools, particularly "sixth form colleges", where students (ages 16-18) finish their secondary education, and some specialist schools
- the constituent parts of some universities (see below)
- university colleges — independent higher education institutions that have been granted degree-awarding powers but not university status.
- colleges of further education and adult education.
- 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
Universities and colleges
Oxford and Cambridge
The two ancient universities of England: Oxford and Cambridge (collectively termed Oxbridge), are federations of autonomous colleges. While many of the Student Affairs functions are housed in the colleges, each college is more than a residence hall.
In addition to accommodation, meals, common rooms, libraries, sporting and social facilities for its students, each college admits students to the University and, through tutorials or supervisions, contributes to the work of educating them.
The faculties at each university provide lectures, central facilities such as libraries and laboratories, and examines for and awards degrees. Academic staff are commonly employed both by the university (typically as lecturer or professor) and by a college (as fellow or tutor), though some may have only a college or university post. Nearly all colleges cater to students studying a range of subjects.
Since the colleges are all fully independent legal entities owning their own buildings, employing their own staff, and managing their own endowments, colleges vary widely in wealth. It is entirely possible for some colleges to be in better financial health than the universities of which they are a part.
Typically a student or fellow of an Oxbridge college is said to be "living in college" if their accommodation is inside the college buildings. Most colleges also accommodate students in houses or other buildings away from the college site.
University of Durham
The University of Durham is also collegiate in nature, and its colleges enjoy the same legal status as 'listed bodies' as the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge. Generally, however, its colleges are not financially independent and do not have any teaching duties as part of the university, though they do provide meals, libraries, computers, and recreational facilities for their members.
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh recently restructured and created colleges along academic lines merging the old Faculties into larger bodies, and devolving control for most matters to academic schools.
University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews is legally a collegiate University, having two colleges: the United College of St Salvator and St Leonard and St Mary's College. However, each college exists in name only and the power they once held is now vested in the Academic Senate and the Faculties of Arts, Divinity, Medicine and Science.
University of Wales
In the University of Wales, colleges are the lower tier of institutional membership, below constituent institutions, following the reorganisation of the university in 1996. Prior to this, the member institutions were all called colleges. There are not currently any colleges in the University of Wales, but this is likely to change in the future.
New Universities
Three of the New Universities, Lancaster, York and Kent, have a similar system, although their colleges lack the legal status of those at Durham and Oxbridge. Officially, the University of London consists of a number of colleges. However, the federation has always been even looser there than at Oxford or Cambridge, to the extent that each of these "colleges" is essentially an independent university-level institution.
United States of America
By contrast to British usage, in American English the term "college" is generally reserved for institutions of higher education, which are often totally independent and fully empowered to grant degrees. The usual practice in America 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 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. 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 copyright infringement.
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 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", "academy", "union," and "school" as in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [http://www.mit.edu], United States Military Academy at West Point, New York [http://www.usma.edu], Cooper Union, or the Juilliard School.
The term college is also, as in Britain, 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 Brown or Harvard College at Harvard) while at others each of the faculties may be called a "college" (the "college of engineering", the "college of nursing", and so forth). Some American universities, such as Rice, Princeton 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.
The origin of America's usage
The founders of the first institutions of higher education in the United States were graduates of Oxford and 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 Oxbridge colleges they were used to — small communities, housing and feeding their students who were instructed by residential tutors (see United Kingdom/Universities and Colleges above). However, when the first students came to be graduated, these "colleges" proceeded to assume (without any recognized authority) the right to confer degrees upon them. In Europe only universities could grant degrees. Presumably the leaders of Harvard College (which granted America's first degrees in 1642) thought of their college as the first of many residential colleges which would grow up into a New Cambridge university. However, over time, no new colleges were founded; and Harvard grew and added higher faculties. Eventually, it changed its title to university, but the term "college" had stuck and "colleges" had sprung up all over America.
British and American usage contrasted
The most confusing aspect of the conflict between the British and American terminology arises from the colloquial use of the word "college" by Americans. Where a British person (or indeed, most people around the world) would say "attend university", the American instead says, "go to college" — even if he is referring to a something formally called a university. In Britain, aside from usage in reference to collegiate universities as detailed above, to attend "college" would usually be accepted as meaning one attends a technical college or a specific sixth form institution (NB. Most state schools and public schools in Britain have sixth forms, but there are a number of sixth form specific institutions). However, in the States, the student at the enormous University of Michigan still calls it his "college". Similarly, the institution that administers many standardized admissions tests in the US is known as the College Board. Thus to the American, the word "college" refers not only to an institution but to a phase in one's life. Anywhere else in the world that phase is called "university".
However, this phase itself varies somewhat around the world, which can lead to confusion even when the terminology is understood. Two outstanding features of the American version are universality and breadth:
#nearly half of all Americans attend at least one year of "college", so the word is more natural, less remarkable, than "university" might sound abroad. At the less-academic end of the scale, American universities award a great many degrees for professional training which might be accomplished on-the-job elsewhere.
#at the more-academic end of the scale, on the other hand, many American college students (especially at the most elite institutions) see "college" as a time of intellectual exploration which can be accomplished free from any need to prepare for the future, believing graduate school to be the time for that. The American system, by permitting students to spend some of their time in classes entirely removed from their major field of study, forces much less specialization and focus than is common in the rest of the world. Hence "college" is less dryly academic than "university" might sound abroad. Furthermore, a great many students in American universities and colleges live either in institution-run dormitories or in neighborhoods made up largely of student apartments. Hence one's college years involve a quite distinct kind of living arrangement between the family home and the first adult apartment.
For all these reasons, "college" as a phase-in-life between childhood and adulthood has become very important culturally in America, perhaps more so than in the rest of the world.
The rest of the English-speaking world
Influenced by their origins in the British Empire, and by modern American pop culture, the rest of the English-speaking world seems to have adopted a mix of their 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, 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).
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.) All college courses in the ACT are sanctioned by the Board of Senior Secondary Studies, or BSSS.
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. 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, or to learn a trade.
The Royal Military College of Canada is a full-fledged degree-granting university, but does not follow the naming convention used by the rest of the country.
The term "college" also applies to separate entities within a university (usually referred to as "affiliated colleges" and "federated 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.
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). Similarly, the term "college professor" does not hold nearly the same prestige in Canada as it does in the United States (whereas "university professor" does).
In Toronto, Ontario, a government-run secondary school is generally called a “collegiate institute” (C.I.), a complicated form of the word “college” which avoids the usual “post-secondary” connotation. Some private secondary schools choose to use the word “college” in their names nevertheless. (See Toronto for examples of secondary schools called “colleges”.)
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 an 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. A limited number of secondary education institutions use the word college to describe or name themselves, but this tends to be the exception.
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 modeled 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.
Other types of college include Colleges of Education. 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.
See also
- List of universities in the Republic of Ireland
Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, the term "college" mostly refers to secondary schools. It is also used for some tertiary institutions (e.g., Shue Yan College, or United College of the Chinese University of Hong Kong), or a residence hall of a university (as in British usage, e.g., St. John's College of the University of Hong Kong).
See also
- Education in Hong Kong
India
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 (estd. January 1857). The first research institution for the study of the social sciences and ushering the spirit of Oriental research was the Asiatic Society, (estd. 1784). The first college for the study of Christian theology and ecumenical enquiry has been the Serampore College (estd. 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.
Of late the government has been establishing Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) as specialized centres of excellence in the rapidly emerging field of Information Technology. They have been setup to educate professionals for the booming technology oriented market.
See also
- Universities and colleges in India
- Indian Institute of Management
- Indian Statistical Institute
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 English 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
In New Zealand the word "college" normally refers to a newer secondary school for ages 13 to 17. In contrast, most older schools of the same type are "high schools", and "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". There is no distinction between "high schools" and "colleges".
Some older schools are more collegiate in nature, however: Christ's College, Canterbury is still in theory organised as a body of fellows, and was a college of the Universities of New Zealand and Canterbury. Wellington College also enjoys its right to be named a College by virtue of its affiliation with the former University of New Zealand.
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".
Essentially the pattern of usage found in the United Kingdom is followed in New Zealand (refer: Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, R.A.C. of Physicians etc.).
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.
- In Germany a Hochschule 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 Graduierten-Kolleg is a German Graduate school.
- 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 Germany, 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 as university colleges, providing quaternary education and conducting research (such as Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, the Royal Institute of Technology).
- In China, Japan, Korea and other East Asian nations, 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 and daigaku. In Japan, daigaku is usually considered distinct from senmon gakkou (専門学校), which is more of a post-secondary vocational school. In China, the college students are selected through the annual National College Entrance Examination.
- In Belgium, the term college is used for institutes of secondary education, more in particular for Catholic schools (official secondary schools are called atheneum). For tertiary education, the difference is made between hogeschool (which literally means high school) and university. With the current reform of higher education under the Bologna process, the hogeschool institutions now offer professional bachelor's degrees (three years study in one cycle) as well as master's degrees (four years study in two cycles). Universities offer academic master's degrees (four to five years study in two cycles). Recent government measures have brought the hogeschool institutions to associate with an university in order to academize their curriculum and to get involved in applied research projects.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- In 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.
See also
- Career college
- Community college
- Junior College
- Residential college
- Sixth form college
- University college
- University
- List of colleges and universities
- Electoral college
- College of Cardinals
- House system
References
Category:Academia
Category:Educational stages
Category:School types
th:วิทยาลัย
High school:For the highest form of classical riding, see High School Dressage (horse).
High school is the name used for the last segment of compulsory education in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mauritius, New Zealand, Philippines, South Africa, Singapore, Taiwan (Republic of China), the United Kingdom and the United States. It provides a secondary education for boys and girls. The idea was first instituted in France by Napoleon as a way to train future officers for his military.
Australia
Main articles: List of schools in Australia, Queensland state high schools
"High school" is the most common name for secondary schools in Australia. In Victoria the name was officially changed to "secondary college" in the early 1990s, but to the majority of the adult population they are still "high schools." In the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania "high school" is 7–10, and students go to (matriculation) "college" for 11–12. Many private secondary education institutions are called colleges.
In some states TAFE institutes/colleges offfer high school equivalent courses, usually undertaken by adult students who left school without completing/undertaking Year 12 leaving certificate requirements. There are also private commercial education facilities offering Year 12 leaving certificate courses, often to students wishing to improve on their High School results in order to obtain entry to, or better placement opportunities at, university.
The exact length of secondary schooling varies from state to state. With high schools in New South Wales and Victoria serving years 7–12, and Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia serving years 8–12.
It is compulsory to attend school until the age of fifteen in all states and territories except for South Australia, where attendance is compulsory until age 16 and Tasmania, where attendance is compulsory until age 17.
The matter of compulsory attendance has been complicated by various initiatives at Commonwealth and State level to ensure that young people are in school, training or employment. There are calls to replace compulsory attendance age with compulsory achievement requirements, meaning that students must complete their final year level rather than being able to leave at reaching "leaving age". There are also calls to make attendance to the end of year 12 mandatory.
Canada
Secondary schooling in Canada differs depending on the province in which one resides. Normally it follows the American pattern; however, in Quebec, high school is grades 7 to 11[http://www.meq.gouv.qc.ca/daic/pdf/educqceng.pdf]. In Quebec most students follow high school by attending a CÉGEP, which is comparable to a two-year junior college and is obligatory for Quebec students wishing to go on to university in Quebec. Vocational CEGEPs are three years. Secondary schools in the remaining provinces (except Alberta and Nova Scotia) use four grades from 9 through 12, with OAC/grade 13 having been recently removed as a requirement for students wishing to attend post-secondary school in Ontario.
In Alberta and Nova Scotia, a secondary school is called a "senior high school", which teaches grades 10-12. A middle school is called a "junior high school", and teaches grades 7-9. Most senior high schools simply have "high school" in their name, without including the word "senior". If not stated, the term "high school" usually just refers to a "senior high school". British Columbia uses a system similar to Alberta (grade 8-12 or 9-12, depending on regional school boards).
Historically several provinces had two secondary education programs. High schools were to prepare students to enter the workforce while collegiate institutes prepared students for university.
Hong Kong
Main article: Education in Hong Kong
Secondary education in Hong Kong is largely based on the British schooling system. High school starts on the 7th year of formal education, after Primary Six, called Form One. Students normally spend five years in secondary schools, of which the first three years (Forms One to Three) are free and compulsory like primary education. Forms Four and Five students prepare for the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE), which takes place after Form Five. Students obtaining a satisfactory grade will be promoted to Form Six, who then prepare for the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination (HKALE) (colloquially the A-levels), which is to be taken after Form Seven. The HKALE and HKCEE results will be considered by universities for admission. Some secondary schools in Hong Kong are called "colleges." In some schools, Form Six and Form Seven are also called Lower Six and Upper Six respectively.
The HKCEE and HKALE is equivalent to the GCE O-level (or GCSE) and the GCE A-level respectively.
As of Oct 2004, there has been heated discussion on proposed changes in the education system, which includes (amongst others) reduction of the duration of secondary education from seven years to six years, and merge the two exams HKCEE and HKALE into one exam. The proposed changes will be in effect within the next few years.
Japan
universities
Main article: Secondary education in Japan
The Japanese word for a high school is kōtōgakkō (高等学校; literally high school), or kōkō (高校) in short. High school in Japan covers years 10 through 12, and it is not mandatory. Most Japanese pupils attend high school. High schools in Japan are referred to by MEXT as "upper secondary schools." However most English-language newspapers and sources use the term "high school". Many school boards also use "high school"; for instance Tokyo's metropolitan government uses "senior high school".
Republic of Korea (South Korea)
Main article: Education in South Korea
In South Korea, students from grades 10 through 12 attend high schools. A student may choose, however, the class he or she wishes to take for liberal arts. High schools in South Korea may also have subject specialty tracks. For example, university-bound students may choose to go to an academic science or foreign language specialty high school; while other students may choose a vocational track high school which emphasizes agriculture, commerce, or technical trade curriculums.
High schools are called 고등학교 (Revised: godeung hakgyo; McCune-Reischauer: kodŭng hakkyo), meaning high school.
Singapore
Main article: Secondary education in Singapore
Based on results of the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), Singapore's students undergo secondary education in either the Special, Express, Normal courses or the Integrated Programme which is recently implemented in 2004. Both the Special and Express are 4-year courses leading up to a Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education (GCE) 'Ordinary' - 'O' level examination. The difference between Special and Express is that the former's mother tongue language (English and Mother Tongue) are taught at a higher level (more difficult).
The Normal course is a 4-year course leading up to a Singapore-Cambridge GCE "Normal" - "N" level examination, with the possiblity of a 5th year followed by a Singapore-Cambridge GCE "Ordinary" - "O" level examination. It is split into "Normal (Academic)" and "Normal (Technical)" where in the latter students take subjects that are technical in nature, such as Design and Technology.
After the second year of a secondary school course, students are typically steamed into a wide range of course combinations, making the total number of subject they have to sit for in "O" level six to ten subjects. This includes science (Physics, Biology and Chemistry), humanities (Elective Geography/History, Pure Geography/History, Social Studies, Literature, etc.) and additional mathematics subject at a higher level, or "combined" subject modules.
Co-curricular activities has become compulsory at the Secondary level, where all pupils must participate in at least one core CCA, and participation is graded together with other things like Leadership throughout the four years of Secondary education, in a scoring system. Competitions are organised so that students can have an objective towards to work, and in the case of musical groups, showcase talents. [http://www.moe.gov.sg/corporate/secondary3.htm]
Republic of China (Taiwan)
The secondary education in Taiwan includes junior high school, senior high school, vocational high school, military school, and complete high school. The traditional secondary education institutions were established in "Japanese colonial time." Today, they include many features from the United States.
After six years in elementary school, the rules state that children must enter junior high school, or their parents may be fined. There are three grades in junior high. Children who achieve the third grade can choose to enter senior high school, vocational high school, or complete high school. If children want to continue their formal education, they must sit for an exam. Generally speaking, the grade to enter high school and complete high school is highest, while it is lower to go on to vocational high school and military school.
Senior high school has three grades. Graduates from senior high school often continue on to university. Vocational high school has three grades as well. Children who complete vocational high school can then enter a technological university. Complete high school is like that of American high schools, in that it has grades seven to grade twelve.
United Kingdom
Main article: Education in the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, the term "high school" is not used generically, though in Scotland it is frequently used in the name of a school, an example being the Royal High School in Edinburgh. Unlike the United States, a pupil of such a school would refer to the institution simply as "school" and in general discussion, the term "secondary school" is invariably used to make the distinction between these schools and schools for younger children ("primary school").
In most part of the UK students transfer from primary school to secondary school at age 11. Education is compulsory to age 16 and schooling continues for 2 further years after that. Traditionally the five years of compulsory secondary schooling from ages 11 to 16 were known as "first year" through to "fifth year," but they have now been renamed "Year 7" through to "Year 11." After Year 11 a student can opt to remain at school, to transfer to a college, or to leave education and seek work. Those who stay at school enter years 12 and 13. These years are traditionally known as the Sixth Form ("Lower Sixth" and "Upper Sixth"), and required students to specialise in three or four subjects for their A Levels. This is an unusually specialised curriculum for this age group by international standards, and recently some moves have been made to increase the number of subjects studied. There are also vocational qualifications aimed at this age group. After attaining the relevant A Level qualifications the student can enter university.
In a few parts of the UK there are middle schools for ages 9 to 13 and upper schools for ages 13-18.
South Africa
In South Africa, high school begins at Grade 8 (the eighth year of education). Students study for five years, at the end of which they write what are known as matric examinations. After this, they can progress to university education (provided they have been academically successful).
United States
upper school]]
Main article: Secondary education in the United States
In the United States, high school generally consists of grades 9, 10, 11, and 12, although the inclusion of grade 9 varies by school district. Students usually graduate from high school in the year of their 18th birthday. A few American secondary schools still incorporate grades 7 through 12, but the norm is grades 9-12.
About 70% of American students complete high school and receive a diploma. A high school diploma or General Educational Development Test (GED) certificate is usually required for entrance into a two or four-year college or university and to other post-secondary education programs.
As a practical matter, while laws in most states mandate school attendance at least until graduation or age 16, enforcement of the truancy laws is sporadic. Conversely, students who have failed a grade may remain in high school past the age of 18, if they have not graduated on time. The public-funded schools must provide education to everyone; however, if an individual proves a threat to himself and/or others, or if he reaches the age of 21 without a diploma, then most states allow the school to expel the student.
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Category:Educational stages
Category:School types
Category:School terminology
ko:고등학교
ja:高等学校
Financial aidIn the United States, financial aid refers to funding intended to help students pay tuition or other costs, such as room and board, for education at a college, university, or private school. General governmental funding for public education is not called financial aid, which refers to awards to specific individual students. A scholarship is sometimes used as a synonym for a financial aid award.
Types of financial aid
Financial aid may be classified into two types based on the criteria through which the financial aid is awarded: merit-based or need-based.
Merit-based
Merit-based scholarships include both scholarships awarded by the individual college or university and merit scholarships awarded by outside organizations. Merit-scholarships are typically awarded for outstanding academic achievements, although some merit scholarships can also be awarded for special talents, leadership potential and other personal characteristics. Merit scholarships are sometimes awarded without regard for the financial need of the applicant. At many colleges, every admitted student is automatically considered for merit scholarships. At other schools, however, a separate application process is required.
Athletic scholarships are a form of merit scholarship that take athletic talent into account.
Need-based
Need-based financial aid is awarded on the basis of the financial need of the student.
To receive federal need-based financial aid, the student must file a FAFSA application. The FAFSA uses a calculation taking into account income and assets to determine a student's Expected Family Contribution (EFC). Colleges use the EFC to decide what types of financial aid a student is eligible to receive. Students must complete the FAFSA each year in order to be considered for financial aid.
The United States government provides need-based financial aid in the form of Federal Pell grants, Federal SEOG Grants, SSIG Grants, Federal Work-Study, Federal Stafford loans (in a subsidized and unsubsidized form), Federal Perkins Loans, and Federal Parent (PLUS) loans. Federal Perkins Loans are made by participating schools, whereas Federal Stafford Loans and Federal PLUS Loans are made by participating lenders or the US Department of Education. The availability of lenders will vary on the specific post-secondary institution and their participation level in either the traditional "guaranteed student loan" program or the William D. Ford Direct Loan program.
State governments also typically provide some types of need- and non-need based aid, consisting of grants, loans, work-study programs, tuition waivers and scholarships. Individual colleges and universities may provide grants and need- and merit-based scholarships. Students requiring financial aid beyond what is offered by their institution may consider a private (alternative) educational loan, available from most large lending institutions.
See also
- CSS Profile
- Student loan
External links
- http://studentaid.ed.gov -- The Student Portal web-site of the United States Department of Education
- http://www.nasfaa.org - The web-site for the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators
- http://www.finaid.org -- information and advice about the financial aid process
- [http://scholarships.fatomei.com Nationally Coveted College Scholarships, Graduate Fellowships and Postdoctoral Awards]
- http://www.collegeboard.com/pay - page about financial aid from the College Board
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Academic majorAn academic major, major concentration, concentration, or simply major is a mainly U.S. and Canadian term for a college or university student's main field of specialization during his or her undergraduate studies. The university department offering the major defines a framework for the student's studies, including a certain number of required courses and a certain number of freely chosen courses relevant to the major. Some majors in some universities effectively define the student's full course of study; many others allow students considerable latitude both within their field and in their other courses. The university also generally defines general education or core education and distribution requirements.
Although many students choose their major before entering a college or university, many others select it during their first or second year of a four-year program. Some schools do not allow students to officially declare their major until the end of their second year so that students can experience many fields and ensure they have chosen the one most appropriate for them.
In many other countries, including the United Kingdom, undergraduate students are normally required to concentrate on one subject throughout their degree, so the concept of a "major" is not relevant. Instead, the choice of degree and subject determines the entire course of study. In Australia, the U.S. system is followed to some extent, but there are also more specialist undergraduate degrees than in the U.S.
See also
- British undergraduate degree classification
See also
- Higher education
- Academic degree
Category:School terminology
ja:専攻
Standardized testStandardized testing is any test that is used across a variety of schools or other situations. Designers of such tests must specify a discrete correct answer for every question. This type of test includes both achievement (which measures knowledge already known) and aptitude (which attempts to predict future performance or potental) tests given to grade-school students, the English GCSEs, and the American SATs.
Standardized tests generally include at least some multiple-choice and true-false questions. These can be graded by computer, or by humans who do not understand the material in depth, as long as they have a list of the correct answers. One potential defect in such tests is that the test-taker can accidentally skip a line and then be marked wrong on material to which he or she knew the correct answer. ABC
Standardized tests often include written portions as well; these are graded by humans who use rubrics, or guidelines, as to what a good essay on the subject will be.
Some believe that standardized tests make it possible to compare the achievements of students from different schools, eliminating bias from grade inflation and the influence of schools' reputations on university admissions officers. Others contend that standardized tests reinforce bias in education because students whose families have access to enrichment opportunities do better on such tests than students from other parts of a society. Such tests, as objective as they try to be, are tools of culture and are rooted in whatever cultural or philosophical understanding gave them rise.
Standardized tests only generate useful information if each question generates a ratio of correct to incorrect answers. So if nearly all test-takers get an answer correct, the test question needs to be eliminated from the test. Similarly, if nearly all test-takers get a particular question incorrect, the test question needs to be eliminated. Standardized objective tests create some meaning by comparing correct responses to incorrect ones.
Most frequently, tests are administered to people of similar ages or grades at particular times in development. This practice allows researchers to study correct to incorrect response ratios for 3rd graders (for example) over time or from region to region. The wide array of test-takers in a particular group generates data to establish normative classification for a group. Those data can serve as a guide for what that particular test finds as a normative response for that test. For that reason, many standardized tests are also called "norm referenced."
Most standardized tests are achievement tests and therefore have little predictive value for students, teachers or schools. They only generate good data for narrow skill sets or topics. However, many school systems use standardized testing as a screening tool, as a basis for curriculum or as a broad comparison between students. Standardized tests have limited value and need to be regarded as only one way to measure performance, potential or intelligence.
Originally a standardized test was simply a standard test – of academic achievement or of knowledge in a specific academic or vocational domain. It has since acquired the meaning of a written test whose scores are interpreted by reference to the scores of a norm group which has taken the test and which is usually considered to be representative of the population which takes the test. For example, standardized tests of academic achievement provide conversion tables showing the percentile ranks in the norm group of all possible raw scores. Some standardized tests are now analyzed with item response theory.
History of standardized tests
Perhaps the earliest evidence of standardized testing based on merit comes from China during the Han dynasty (206 BC-202 AD). The concept of a state ruled by men of ability and virtue was an outgrowth of Confucian philosophy. The imperial examinations included the so-called Six Arts which included music, archery and horsemanship, arithmetic, writing and knowledge of the rituals and ceremonies of both public and private life. Later, the five studies were added to the testing (military strategies, civil law, revenue and taxation, agriculture and geography in addition to the Confucian Classics).
Criticisms of standardized tests
Standardized tests are widely used in education, placement and certification. Their validity has been criticized on several grounds.
Some of the criticisms are standard psychometric ones. For example, scores on tests of achievement in mathematics problem-solving are often correlated with scores on tests of language ability; this suggests that the mathematics test is actually measuring the linguistic ability required to understand the presentation of the problems rather than the mathematical ability required to solve them. Educational tests also tend to become outdated as curriculum changes.
Standardized tests are also widely criticized as culturally inappropriate for many groups, both in content and in process. Criticism of content usually centers on the differing relevance of the content to people from different cultures – for example, newly arrived immigrants can be expected to have greater difficulty with an intelligence test which asks them to name past leaders of the country to which they have recently immigrated.
Attempts have been made to develop culture-free and culture-fair (culture-neutral) tests of intelligence, but on the whole these attempts have not been successful. Conceptions of intelligence vary widely from culture to culture, and abstracting the few common elements, or what appear to be the few common elements, cannot be depended on to produce a reliable guide to intelligence.
A common criticism of standardized testing programs in schools is that they encourage teachers to "teach to the test." That is, teachers concentrate on the parts of the curriculum they know will be covered on the test and neglect those that will not. This criticism is certainly worth considering if teachers have foreknowledge of the test and the test is not comprehensive. However, if enough alternative forms of the test are provided, if teachers do not know which form will be used, and if the forms provide a comprehensive sampling of the curriculum, this danger would probably be avoided. Despite the obvious danger of teaching to the test in certain circumstances, though, little research has investigated the prevalence of the phenomenon, or its effects. Furthermore, any form of testing will promote teaching to the test if the consequences of testing are serious and the material on the test is known beforehand.
A related criticism is that students whose teachers train them in test-taking skills unrelated to content will perform better than equally accomplished students whose teachers do not. Some simple test-taking skills can improve scores on multiple-choice standardized tests, so this criticism points to a real danger, especially if standardized tests are used (incorrectly) as the sole measures of achievement or skill. However, little research has investigated the prevalence or effects of this training.
Standardized tests are also criticized for emphasizing recall and recognition rather than higher-order cognitive skills. However, this criticism is not generally valid. While many standardized tests do emphasize recall and recognition, many others assess analytical skills.
Another criticism is that standardized tests assess inadequate samples of skills. Again, however, this criticism cannot validly be made of all standardized tests, although it can be made about the majority of tests of any type.
Not without importance is the correlation between standardized test performance and social class and/or degree of wealth. Those who can afford to take often expensive secondary test prep courses designed especially to teach one how to take the test can enjoy a huge advantage over those who cannot afford such courses, which reflects resources available to the student, and not necessarily academic merit.
Large-scale attempts have been made to substitute performance assessment or "authentic" testing for standardized academic testing. Performance tests require actual performance of a skill; for example, instead of answering questions about a science experiment, a student would be required to perform it. However, performance tests have poor reliability simply because they accumulate so little data. Standardized tests have been found to predict scores on performance tests better than other performance tests do.
Much of the opposition to standardized tests has centred on the incorrect use of these tests. In particular, the use of standardized tests of academic achievement to assess individual students is questionable, given the tests' reliability – they are simply not accurate enough to provide adequate assessments of individual students by themselves.
Perhaps the most important criticism of standardized testing is that many standardized tests fail to meet the standards of their own field. For example, tests of adult literacy are widely used, although there is little evidence that they assess literacy accurately.
In Britain the political impact of standarized testing in recent years has been that it has been used to criticise the performance of individual schools and the teaching profession. It is bound up with national, centralised, inspection and appraisal.
Advantages of standardized tests
Perhaps the simplest advantage of standardized tests is that they are standardized. While some people may systematically score lower on certain tests, these differences will be systematic. On the opposite end of the spectrum, scores on subjective tests change significantly according to whoever is grading them. In the case of college admissions, for example, interviews with prospective students has been repeatedly shown to predict later college performance no better than chance, while statistical measures such as prior GPA or SAT scores are much more accurate.
One of the main advantages of standardized testing is that it is able to provide assessments that are psychometrically valid and reliable, as well as results which are generalizable and replicable.
Another advantage is aggregation. A well designed standardized test provides an assessment of an individual's mastery of a domain of knowledge or skill which at some level of aggregation will provide useful information. That is, while individual assessments may not be accurate enough for practical purposes, the mean scores of classes, schools, branches of a company, or other groups may well provide useful information because of the reduction of error accomplished by increasing the sample size.
While standardized tests are often criticized as unfair, the psychometric standards applied in the development of standardized tests would produce fairer testing if applied in other types of testing. In particular, the effectiveness of each test item in accomplishing the goal of the test would have to be demonstrated.
References
- , for information about teachers cheating on their student's standardized tests.
External links
- http://www.worknwoman.com/articles/st_testing2.shtml
- http://aad.english.ucsb.edu/docs/lords.html
- http://www.udel.edu/bateman/acei/onstandard.htm
See also
- Standardized testing and public policy
- education
- alternative assessment
- List of Admissions Tests
College and university rankingsIn higher education, college and university rankings are listings of educational institutions in an order determined by any combination of factors. Rankings can be based on subjectively perceived "quality," on some combination of empirical statistics, or on surveys of educators, scholars, students, prospective students, or others. Such rankings are often consulted by prospective students as they choose which schools they will apply to or which school they will attend.
Rankings vary significantly from country to country. A Cornell University study found that the rankings in the United States significantly affected colleges' applications and admissions. In the United Kingdom, several newspapers publish league tables which rank universities.
International rankings
Organizations which have provided worldwide rankings include the much-publicized Shanghai Jiao Tong University ranking project, which was a large-scale Chinese project to provide independent rankings of Universities around the world on behalf of the Chinese government.
The Times Higher Education Supplement, a British publication, annually publishes the Times Higher World University Rankings, a list of 200 ranked universities from around the world.
The webometrics ranking of universities is based entirely on the web-presence of the University (a computerised assessment of the size and sophistication of the website). As such it is unlikely to accurately reflect the academic performance directly, but will reflect the internet based activities of the universities in a way which is free of national or language bias.
Regional and national rankings
The U.S. News & World Report rankings of US universities
The best-known American college and university rankings have been compiled since 1983 by the magazine U.S. News and World Report based on a combination of statistics provided by institutional researchers and surveys of university faculty and staff members. The college rankings were not published in 1984, but were published in all years since. The precise methodology used by the U.S. News rankings has changed many times, and the data are not all available to the public, so peer review of the rankings is limited. (A private 1997 review by the National Opinion Research Center, commissioned by U.S. News itself, was later published by the Washington Monthly; it appeared to contain several serious criticisms of the rankings' methodology.)
The U.S. News rankings, unlike some other such lists, create a strict hierarchy of colleges and universities in their "top tier," rather than ranking only groups or "tiers" of schools; the individual schools' order changes significantly every year the rankings are published. The most important factors in the rankings are:
- Peer assessment: a survey of the institution's reputation among presidents, provosts, and deans of admission of other institutions
- Retention: six-year graduation rate and first-year student retention rate
- Student selectivity: standardized test scores of admitted students, proportion of admitted students in upper percentiles of their high-school class, and proportion of applicants accepted
- Faculty resources: average class size, faculty salary, faculty degree level, student-faculty ratio, and proportion of full-time faculty
- Financial resources: per-student spending
- Graduation rate performance: difference between expected and actual graduation rate
- Alumni giving rate
All these factors are combined according to statistical weights determined by U.S. News. The weighting is often changed by U.S. News from year to year, and is not empirically determined (the NORC methodology review said that these weights "lack any defensible empirical or theoretical basis"). The first four such factors account for the great majority of the U.S. News ranking (80%, according to U.S. News's 2005 methodology), and the "reputational measure" (which surveys high-level administrators at similar institutions about their perceived quality ranking of each college and university) is especially important to the final ranking (accounting by itself for 25% of the ranking according to the 2005 methodology).
Other rankings of US universities
Other organizations which compile general US annual college and university rankings include the Fiske Guide to Colleges and the Princeton Review. Many specialized rankings are available in guidebooks for undergraduate and graduate students, dealing with individual student interests, fields of study, and other concerns such as geographical location, financial aid, and affordability.
Among the best-known rankings dealing with individual fields of study is the Philosophical Gourmet Report or "Leiter Report" (after its founding author, Brian Leiter of the University of Texas at Austin), a ranking of departments of analytic philosophy. This report has been at least as controversial within its field as the general U.S. News rankings, attracting criticism from many different viewpoints, but it is also extremely popular and well regarded by many in the profession. Notably, practitioners of continental philosophy, who perceive the Leiter report as unfair to their field, have compiled alternative rankings.
Avery et al. recently published a working paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research titled [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=601105 "A Revealed Preference Ranking of U.S. Colleges and Universities."] Rather than ranking programs by traditional criteria, their analysis uses a statistical model based on applicant preferences. They based their data on the applications and outcome of 3,240 high school students. The authors feel that their ranking is less subject to manipulation compared to conventional rankings (see criticism below).
Rankings of UK universities
The Research Assessment Exercises (RAE) are attempts by the UK government to evaluate the quality of research undertaken by British Universities. Each subject, called a unit of assessment is given a ranking by a peer review panel. The rankings are used in the allocation of funding each university receives from the government. The last assessment was made in 2001. The RAE provides quality ratings for research across all disciplines. Panels use a standard scale to award a rating for each submission. Ratings range from 1 to 5
- , according to how much of the work is judged to reach national or international levels of excellence. Higher education institutions (HEIs) which take part receive grants from one of the four higher education funding bodies in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Criticisms of rankings
College and university rankings, especially the well-known U.S. News rankings, have drawn significant criticism from within and without higher education. Critics feel that the rankings are arbitrary and based on criteria unimportant to education itself (especially wealth and reputation); they also charge that, with little oversight, colleges and universities inflate their reported statistics. Beyond these criticisms, critics claim that the rankings impose ill-considered external priorities on college administrations, whose decisions are sometimes driven by the need to create the most desirable statistics for reporting to U.S. News rather than by sound educational goals.
Furthermore, some have suggested that the formulae and methodologies used to turn the various data into a ranking are arrived at specifically, if unconsciously, to keep a few key institutions at the top of the chart — not because of any undue partisanship among the editors; but simply due to a subconscious assumption that a system which flies in the face of conventional wisdom must somehow be faulty. Hence editorial decisions would tend to reinforce preconceptions. In other words, if the public, as it is argued, looks to ranking publications not so much for guidance as for confirmation of its own assumptions, then mightn't the editors of U.S. News (as proud as they are of the annual "fine-tuning" they give their methodology), have a predisposition to overlook methodologies which "rock the boat" to the extent of dropping Harvard (say) out of the top handful of schools?
Some of the specific data used for quantification are also frequently criticized. For instance, Rice University, with a top 5 per-student endowment and a generous Financial Aid department, is ranked in the mid-twenties for per-student "Financial Resources". As another example, the "Peer Assessment" equally weighs the opinions of administrators at less-known schools such as Florida Atlantic and North Dakota State with those of say, Harvard and Stanford. Students with their sights set on the best graduate schools may not be interested in knowing which programs the administrators of bottom schools have heard of, or vice versa.
Other critics, seeing the issue from students' and prospective students' points of view, claim that the quality of a college or university experience is not quantifiable, and that the ratings should thus not be weighed seriously in a decision about which school to attend. Individual, subjective, and random factors all influence the educational experience to such an overwhelming extent, they say, that no general ranking can provide useful information to an individual student.
Suppose, as these critics illustrate, that the difference between an "excellent" school and a "good" one is often that most of the departments in the excellent school are excellent, while only some of the departments in the good school are excellent. And the difference between an excellent department and a good one might be, similarly, that most of the professors in the excellent department are excellent, while only some in the good department are. For an individual student, depending on the student's choices of field of study and professors, this will often mean that there is no difference between an excellent college or university and a merely good one; the student will be able to find excellent departments and excellent faculty to work with even at an institution which might be ranked "second-tier" or lower. Statistically, the rankings are distributions with large variances and small differences between the individual universities' means (averages).
Complicating matters further, as most educators and students observe, individuals' opinions about the excellence of academic departments and, especially, of professors, exhibit a wide range of variation depending on personal preferences. And the quality of an individual student's education is most determined by whether or not the student happens to encounter a small number of professors that "click" with and inspire him or her. Similarly, the main difference between a "good" or "second-tier" large state university and an "excellent" or "top-tier" prestigious smaller institution, for the student, is often just that, at the larger school, the student needs to work a bit harder and be a bit more assertive and motivated in order to actively extract a good education. For many students this will not be difficult enough to justify a preference for the smaller institution, though some individuals do prefer a smaller school.
Forget U.S. News Coalition
In the 1990s a coalition of student activists calling themselves the Forget U.S. News Coalition (and occasionally substituting a coarser word for "Forget") arose, based initially at Stanford University. FUNC attempted to influence college and university administrations to reconsider their cooperation with the U.S. News rankings. They met with limited success, finding administrations encouraged the development of alternatives to the rankings, though most institutions (including Stanford) continued to cooperate with U.S. News. Critics of FUNC question its motives claiming that the organization is dissatisfied with the rankings not for principled objections to the ranking process, but rather because they are disatisfied that Stanford has ranked below Harvard, Yale, and Princeton for the past 10 years. One school which has criticized US News, but also has held steady in the rankings is Emory University which generally ranks in the top 20 colleges nationwide.
Colleges and criticism of U.S. News rankings
Reed College has not cooperated with the U.S. News rankings nor submitted any institutional data to U.S. News since 1994; its administration has been outspoken in its criticism of the rankings. Critics charge, and Rolling Stone magazine reported, that Reed's "second-tier" or lower ranking in U.S. News's lists, which was based on U.S. News estimates of non-submitted data, is artificially depressed by U.S. News as retribution for Reed's harsh criticism of the rankings. Since the refusal to cooperate with U.S. News, Reed has seen its applicant pool grow tremendously and improve in academic quality, and the school is now among the most selective liberal arts colleges in the nation, and routinely receives stellar praise as a superior academic institution.
Ohio Wesleyan University and St. John's College are also colleges which haven't been cooperative with the U.S. News rankings.
See also
- Academic Ranking of World Universities
External links
- [http://gateway.library.uiuc.edu/edx/rankoversy.htm Rankings Caution and Controversy reference page] from Education and Social Science Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; see also their [http://www.library.uiuc.edu/edx/rankbib.htm bibliography]
- [http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/about/05rank_brief.php U.S. News description of ranking methodology]
- [http://www.asian-nation.org/best-colleges.shtml Asian-Nation: Best Colleges for Asian Americans] by C.N. Le, Ph.D.
- [http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0109.graham.thompson.html "Broken Ranks," an article from Washington Monthly]
- [http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2000/norc.html A review of U.S. News methodology by the National Opinion Research Center]
- [http://web.reed.edu/apply/college_rankings.html Reed College statement on rankings]
- [http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/99/12.2.99/rankings-matter.html reference to Cornell study on rankings' effect]
- [http://www.yaledailynews.com/articlefunctions/Printerfriendly.asp?AID=7791 "Ivy Council criticizes U.S. News rankings," a story from Yale Daily News]
- [http://www.stanford.edu/dept/news/stanfordtoday/ed/9705/9705fea101.shtml FUNC story from Stanford news page]
- [http://www.ericdigests.org/2003-3/rankings.htm College Rankings]
- [http://www.stanford.edu/dept/pres-provost/president/speeches/970418rankings.html Stanford University seeks alternatives to U.S. News rankings]
Rankings on the Web
World university rankings
- [http://www.thes.co.uk/worldrankings/ Times Higher World University Rankings]
- [http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2004/top500list.htm Shanghai Jiao Tong World University Rankings and Resources]
Asian university rankings
- [http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/features/uni | | |
