Institue or College: which one is better?

[Steven-yang]

Hi, I'm so glad to be here. It's the first time I entered here. Now I need some help from you.

I work in a Chinese vocational school----Bei jing haidian University. It's a school where students receive three-year program education. Now my school has been granted the authority by the Beijing Municipal Education Committee to have four-year program education, i.e., students in my school can receive bachelor degree now. In the meanwhile, the school name will be changed from Bei jing haidian University to Beijing City Institute/College. As for Beijing City Institute & Beijing City College, which one is better?

In China, it seems that "University" is superior to "college" or "institute". I'm not sure whether this conception is right or not. Don't you have Massachusettes Technology Institute?

Today we held the opening ceremony of the new school. When I want to translate the school name into English, I became confused. Since "college" and "institute" have the same Chinese translation in Chinese, I don't know whether I should choose Beijing City Institute or Beijing City College. Which one is better?



I'm looking forward to your kindly reply.
Thanks a lot.

[Roger]

A college specialises in tertiary education, i.e. a college of medicine, law, etc. In Britain, many colleges are attached to universities.
But an institute either pursues research or it is a commercial outfit that offers teaching to adults and others that pay. I would not use this name for your institution of higher learning! It reminds me of Berlitz, EF and other McDonald's of the teaching business!

[Steven-yang]

Hi, Roger. I greatly appreciate your prompt help. I've known some difference between institute and college now.

You must be British. The difference between institute and college you mentioned in Britain is the same case in American culture?

[Roger]

Nah, not British although I stick to British English through habit.
I do not think there is any major difference between American "institute" and British "institute". Note that 'institute' is shortened from 'institution'. That word has a few other meanings, but it is widely used as a generic term to refer to any kind of school, college or university, usually public schools. 'Institute" is sometimes used in reference to a department of a college or university. This may be due to practice in Europe, especially in French-speaking countries ('institute' is of Latin origin).

My previous comment was based on the existence of many private training centres that advertise in various newspapers as "institute", like CHinese 'peixun zhongxin'. Now a 'peixun zhongxin' is most definitely not a 'daxue', is it?

[lolwhites]

Roger
In the UK the term college can also refer to a Post-16 institution that provides vocational training, preparation for university or adult education. If it concentrates on A-levels (i.e. 16-19 pre-university) it's known as a Sixth-Form College. If it includes vocational training and adult education it's called a Further Education (or FE) College. Of course, education systems vary from country to country and adequate translations can be hard to come by. As a teacher in an FE College (with a sideline in EFL) I am often required to give quite a detailed description of my place of work when overseas visitors ask me what I do for a living.

[tamarisk]

True in Malta we have practically the same system as the UK.

6th is post secondary, the two yrs before university.
Then there is university or other similar courses that reach to degree/diploma etc.

[Roger]

thanks, lolwhites! Appreciate your information!
Roger

[Allan]

If it was a vocational school, shouldn't it have been called a "college" before and shouldn't it now be called a "university"? That's how it works in Canada where 'colleges' teach vocational arts and universities teach more theororetical information as well as being the institutions attended in order to enter the professions (Teaching ESL certificates are available at both levels).

One college in Canada, at least, has become a university within the last few years. It would be very strange to say the least for a university to become a college (although, as others have mentioned, universities are made up of 'colleges'- sort of a different meaning of the same word: Vocational schools as 'colleges' are short for 'community college' whereas at university the 'college' is either a building, or a campus, or sometimes a discipline~ a college of dentistry that doesn't have its own building, for example)