Analytic Quality Glossary

Analytic Quality Glossary

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Citation reference: Harvey, L., 2004-24, Analytic Quality Glossary, Quality Research International, http://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/glossary/

This is a dynamic glossary and the author would welcome any e-mail suggestions for additions or amendments. Page updated 8 January, 2024 , © Lee Harvey 2004–2024.

Recipes

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University

core definition

University is an institution of higher education that grants its own degrees including the award of Ph.D. and normally undertakes leading-edge research, as well as having a social critical role.

explanatory context

The term university has international currency and many countries use a recognisable variant based on the Latin universus (meaning the whole, corporate body), subsequently universitas in Medieval Latin and universite in Middle English (see table below).

There is some attempt to delineate universities from other institutions that are exclusively teaching (and scholarship) institutions that do no funded research. In some countries, an (accredited) institution of higher education may undertake all the same functions as a university but that alone does not entitle it to use the university title, which may be protected and restricted.

Also, it is debateable whether universities in all countries are able to play a social critical role.

In some countries, significant universities have another name, such as grand école in France or fundação in Brazil.

Also, the status of University of Technology /Technical University varies from country to country. In some cases it is a major university in others it is a vocational higher education institution. For example, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay is an ‘institution of national importance’ it has selective admission and is one of the best engineering schools in India. Birla Institute of Technology, also in India, however, has the status of an institution ‘deemed to be a university’ having been originally an affiliated college of Bihar Univeristy. In Indonesia, Institut Teknologi Bandung (Bandung Institute of Technology) is a very highly regarded state institution. Similarly, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (The Technical University of Denmark) is arguably Denmark’s main engineering institution. On the other hand, technical Institutes in Britain, in the main, are further education colleges.

analytical review

The Irish Higher Education Authority (HEA) (2004) defines university as:

A higher education institution committed to teaching and research in the major disciplines of knowledge and professions. It may comprise one or several colleges. The University will have the power to confer degrees.

The British Higher Education Funding Council for England (2011) comments on British universities as follows in its glossary:

Universities are diverse, ranging in size, mission and history. The Secretary of State has the power to grant university status to an institution. Former polytechnics were given the status of universities under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. These are sometimes called ‘new’ universities. The pre-1992 or ‘old’ universities include many founded in the 1950s and 1960s, the civic universities established in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, which date from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

An updated version (HEFCE, undated) states:

UK universities are diverse, ranging in size, mission and history. Nowadays, the Privy Council and Companies House have the power to grant use of the title 'university' to an institution, on the advice of BIS. There are certain prerequisites, including the need to have degree awarding powers. Universities are all higher education institutions, although not all of them choose to apply to be authority funded.

According to the Nuffic (2003–2010) Glossary, universiteit (translated from Dutch to English as university or research university) is:

A degree-awarding institution which prepares students for independent research work in an academic or professional setting; it provides theoretical education and research training up to the doctorate. When talking about both types of higher education institution in the Netherlands (universiteit and hogeschool), use the terms 'research university' and 'university of applied sciences'. (In theory, universiteiten and hogescholen are now both free to offer both types of higher education, and they are increasingly working together to offer study programmes.) [Source cited as: Werkgroep Voorlichting over het Nederlandse Hoger Onderwijs, 1999].

Fachhochschule Mannheim (2004) states:

The Universität offers a theory-oriented and science-based education; pure research is typically performed there. A university with mostly technical subjects is called a "Technische Universität (TU)" (Technical University) or sometimes "Technische Hochschule (TH)".

associated issues

Term	Language
Dai Hoc	Vitenamese
Daigaku	Japanese
Gama'at	Sudanese
Háskóli	Icelandic
Panepistimion	Greek
Sveuciliste	Serbo-Croat
Tudományegyetem	Hungarian
Universidad	Spanish
Universidade	Portuguese
Università degli Studi	Italian
Universitas	Indonesia
Universität	Austrian/German/Swiss German
Universitatea	Romanian
Université	French
Universiteit	Dutch
Üniversitesi	Turkish
Universitet	Bulgarian
Universitet	Russian
Universitet	Swedish
Universitetas	Lithuanian
Universitetet	Norwegian
Universiteti	Albanian
Universiti	Malaysian
University	English
Univerza	Slovenian
Univerzita	Czech
Yliopisto	Finnish

related areas