|
» HIGHER EDUCATION
| |
Higher education is education provided by universities,
vocational universities (community colleges, liberal
arts colleges, and technical colleges, etc.) and other
collegial institutions that award academic degrees,
such as career colleges. Post-secondary or tertiary
education, also referred to as third-stage, third level
education, or higher education, is the non-compulsory
educational level following the completion of a school
providing a secondary education, such as a high school,
secondary school, or gymnasium. |
| |
Tertiary education is normally taken to include undergraduate
and postgraduate education, as well as vocational education
and training. Colleges and universities are the main institutions
that provide tertiary education (sometimes known collectively
as tertiary institutions). Examples of institutions that
provide post-secondary education are vocational schools,
community colleges and universities in the United States,
the TAFEs in Australia, CEGEPs in Quebec (Canada) and the
IEKs in Greece. They are sometimes known collectively as
tertiary institutions. Tertiary education generally results
in the receipt of certificates, diplomas,or academic degrees.
Higher education includes teaching, research
and social services activities of universities, and within
the realm of teaching, it includes both the undergraduate
level (sometimes referred to as tertiary education) and
the graduate (or postgraduate) level (sometimes referred
to as graduate school). In the United Kingdom post-secondary
education below the level of higher education is referred
to as further education. Higher education in that country
generally involves work towards a degree-level or foundation
degree qualification.
In most developed countries a high proportion
of the population (up to 50%) now enter higher education
at some time in their lives. Higher education is therefore
very important to national economies, both as a significant
industry in its own right, and as a source of trained and
educated personnel for the rest of the economy.
There can be disagreement about what precisely
constitutes post-secondary or tertiary education: "It
is not always clear, though, what tertiary education includes.
Is it only that which results in a formal qualification
or might it include leisure classes? In the UK, are A-levels
tertiary education as they are post-compulsory but taught
in school settings as well as colleges? Is professional
updating or on-the-job training part of tertiary education,
even if it does not follow successful completion of secondary
education?"
|
