A college ( Latin : collegium) is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, or an institution offering vocational education.
In the United States, "college" may refer to a constituent part of a university or to a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, but generally "college" and " university " are used interchangeably, whereas in the United Kingdom, Oceania, South Asia and Southern Africa, "college" may refer to a secondary or high school, a college of further education, a training institution that awards trade qualifications, a higher education provider that does not have university status (often without its own degree-awarding powers), or a constituent part of a university (See this comparison of British and American English educational terminology for further information ).
