Online College Courses

An interesting thing about online college courses is the definition of college. This can make an investigation of possible online college courses confusing and occasionally can mislead the reader. The internet is a wonderful thing but it can also create confusion where the same word, like college, means something different around the world. College does mean education wherever you may browse in the English-speaking world but you may be surprised to find, when searching for online college courses, that you may be returning to high school if that course happens to be based in Australia. It helps then to understand what exactly college means in various parts of the world.

College in the United States

If you are from the US and searching for online college courses, you may get a variety of options but you can safely bet they are all tertiary level. Here the word college is generic for any post-secondary undergraduate education. Americans go to college after high school, regardless of whether the educational facility is formally a college or a university or if it is provided in person or online. Some students choose to dual-enroll, by taking college classes while still in high school. The word and its derivatives are the standard terms used to describe the institutions and experiences associated with post-secondary undergraduate education. The latter is probably the only key distinction because when a student graduates with a degree further education will almost always be referred to as university education as opposed to college education.

College in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, usage of the word loosely represents a variety of educational facilities including one that is relatively unique to the UK and that is ‘further education’. This is an institution between secondary school and university. It usually offers a range of vocational courses and online bridging college courses. Most students enrolled are high school age but there are also significant numbers of mature students enrolled as well as some 14-16 year olds sent from their schools on a part-time basis for vocational study that the high schools are not equipped to deliver. Then there are what the Brits call Sixth form Colleges which cater for 16-18 year old students taking their ‘A levels.’

In the United Kingdom, college may also refer to higher education where a college is part of a university but these colleges do not award degrees. Most courses offered at these facilities also offer online college courses. Universities with constituent colleges are collegiate universities. Moreover, to further complicate the UK definition of college, a college may also be a grouping of faculties or departments. In some universities, the sole purpose of the college is to provide students with accommodation and/or pastoral care.

But wait there is more to confuse you on your quest for online college courses. In the UK, a university college is an independent institution that prepares students to sit as external candidates at other universities or it may simply have the authority to run courses that lead to the degrees of those universities. Historically, some universities originated as university colleges.

While Australia and New Zealand both follow British education formats, the standard definition in both countries for college is high school, that is the years of schooling between year 9 and year 13.  From college students generally enter a trade or go to university. While Canadian education also hails from the British system they have for the most part, adopted American terminology. So online college course seekers beware, all may not be as it seems.