{"id":5140,"date":"2015-12-15T09:00:28","date_gmt":"2015-12-15T14:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/?p=5140"},"modified":"2015-11-02T22:07:36","modified_gmt":"2015-11-03T03:07:36","slug":"an-intro-to-universities-english-vocabulary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/an-intro-to-universities-english-vocabulary\/","title":{"rendered":"An intro to universities (English vocabulary)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image<\/a>

Image by CollegeDegrees360 on Flickr.com is licensed under CC BY 2.0.<\/p><\/div>\n

Many of you reading this blog are studying at universities or are hoping to attend a university in the future. So, today we are going to look at some important vocabulary related to the people you will see and meet at a university.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start by looking at the words \u2018university\u2019 and \u2018college.\u2019 These two words are usually used synonymously, but they do have a slight difference in meaning.<\/p>\n

A college<\/strong> is an institution that offers undergraduate degrees. Some colleges offer 2-year degrees (called an associates degrees), while others offer 4-year degrees (called bachelor\u2019s degrees). A university<\/strong> is an institution that offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees (called a master\u2019s degree or doctorate) and is a place where research is conducted. Both universities and colleges are considered post-secondary schools, or learning institutions for people who have graduated from high school.<\/p>\n

In British English you will often hear people refer to \u2018university\u2019 by the nickname \u201cuni<\/strong>.\u201d In the United States it is more common to refer to post-secondary school as \u201ccollege\u201d regardless of whether the school is really a university or a college.<\/p>\n

There are also some commonly used names for the people you will meet in university settings and we are going to take a look at those now.<\/p>\n

Students at a university can be divided into undergraduate<\/strong> and graduate<\/strong> students. Undergraduate students are studying for a bachelor\u2019s degree (usually a 4-year degree). Graduate students are studying for a master\u2019s degree or doctorate (usually 2-6 more years of study after a bachelors degree).<\/p>\n

Students at universities are often referred to by the year they are in their studies. In America the following terms are very common:<\/p>\n

Freshman<\/strong> \u2013 a first year student<\/p>\n

Sophomore<\/strong> \u2013 a second year student<\/p>\n

Junior<\/strong> \u2013 a third year student<\/p>\n

Senior<\/strong> \u2013 a fourth year student<\/p>\n

College is typically 4 years of study in the United States, although some students may take longer (or less time) to complete their degree.<\/p>\n

In the United Kingdom university students usually refer to themselves by the year they are in school: first year, second year, etc. For example: I\u2019m a second year student at uni.<\/p>\n

Graduate students are often simply called \u201cgrad students<\/strong>.\u201d After completing a doctoral degree some students continue to work and learn at a university, but they are not part of the teaching faculty, and these students are called \u201cpost-docs<\/strong>.\u201d This stands for \u2018post-doctoral student.\u2019<\/p>\n

Other roles that graduate students have at universities include:<\/p>\n

TA<\/strong> (or teaching assistant) \u2013 a graduate student who assists a professor in teaching and grading<\/p>\n

RA<\/strong> (or research assistant) \u2013 a graduate student who assists a professor in conducting research<\/p>\n

It is not just students at universities that have special names though, teachers do too.<\/p>\n

At a university an \u201cinstructor<\/strong>\u201d or \u201clecturer<\/strong>\u201d is a person who teaches a class, often a lower level or undergraduate course. Usually an instructor or lecturer does not conduct research at a university and does not have tenure. Tenure<\/strong> is a term used at universities in the United States, which means a job is guaranteed and won\u2019t be taken away and given to someone else for any reason. Lecturers and instructors often have only yearly appointments to teach so they don\u2019t have tenure. \u201cProfessors<\/strong>\u201d are people who have been teaching at a university for a certain period of time and have proven beneficial for the university to keep as permanent employees. Professors often conduct research part of the time and teach part of the time. A nick name for a professor is \u201cprof.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

Other people at a university:<\/p>\n

advisor<\/strong> (also spelled adviser<\/em>)\u2013 A university advisor is someone who works for the university giving insight and direction to a student about their academic career (i.e. which classes to take and in what order), as well as social, or personal matters.<\/p>\n

registrar<\/strong> \u2013 The university registrar is the person (or group of people) who keeps student records (i.e. grades) and who puts students into the classes they want to take.<\/p>\n

dean<\/strong> \u2013 A university dean is the head of a group of professors, a school within the university, or an administrative office at a university. This is basically the boss of a group of faculty at the university. There are often multiple deans at a university who help with the administration of the university to keep it running smoothly for students and professors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Many of you reading this blog are studying at universities or are hoping to attend a university in the future. So, today we are going to look at some important vocabulary related to the people you will see and meet at a university. Let\u2019s start by looking at the words \u2018university\u2019 and \u2018college.\u2019 These two…<\/p>\n

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