Colleges, Uni's, Oh My!

When I first got here, I was totally confusing my host parents when I used the terms college and university interchangeably. In the states, college and universities are often used to refer to anything post high school (grade 12). One of my favorite host mom's comments is all she thought was colleges are where people go to play sports. I have now been enlightened.

Universities are called uni's in Australia so I apologize to all of my colleagues if I start using this term upon my return.

Colleges/unis in Australia are based on the traditional Oxford/Cambridge model. Universities are were students pursue their major course of study which is often decided based on their performance in grade 12. Australian universities traditionally don't have the robust amount of student support services that you find in American higher education. The concept of on-campus housing, activity centers is new to Australia and they are slowing starting to build the services.

That is where colleges come into play. Colleges were formed in South Austrlalia predominately by church organizations to fill the void especially with rural students who were in the city for the first time. They do more than just provide accomodations. They also serve as academic counselors, support system, intercollegiate athletics, etc. By enrolling at college also, the student also consents access to all of their educational records at the uni for advising purposes.

Confused yet, so when a student goes to uni, they might also go to college. They are a student at both places and the colleges do provide some educational programs not related to their academic major. Enrollment at both an university and college would constitute what I think of as the freshman experience in the states.

Austrlian colleges are part residential life, part-fraternity/sorority, part-student activities, part-counseling, and very competitive part-intramural athletics since they offer scholarships.