A College is an institution which provide education after school studies are over. The Latin word for a college is collegium. In different countries they represent different roles, but the thumb rule is that colleges usually are intended for imparting higher education and is a training institution which awards trade qualifications, research methodologies and degrees intended to pursue specific careers. In India after completing class 12, students move to colleges to enroll in their respective courses. The process of moving from a school to a college is dependent on many factors. The foremost is the choice of a course or a career. That is a very important step, which will dictate the choice of a college. For example, to pursue MBBS, a student will first enroll in an medical entrance exam i.e. NEET UG, take the exam and then the medical college will be allocated according to the merit list and availability of seats. India there are two kind of colleges; either they are specific to a specialty/stream; or non specific colleges which offers many streams and sub streams and their related courses. The specific colleges are called Medical Colleges or Engineering Colleges or Law Colleges. These colleges are also called Professional colleges. Colleges offering BBA and MBA courses are generally referred to as B-schools. The colleges offering multiple courses are usually just called ‘colleges’ and are huge in numbers.

The other classification used for colleges is according to the body which governs them. Thus colleges are classified as Government Colleges or Private Colleges. Government colleges are managed by the government; these could be centrally or state funded. The private colleges are owned by societies, trusts or individuals and the funding is not done by the Government. There are a a few private colleges in India, which are partially funded by the government and the fact is mentioned in the prospectus of the college. Most of the non professional colleges in India offer Certificate, Diplomas and Undergraduate degree courses. Some of these colleges also offer Post Graduate courses and a few of them offer Post Doctoral courses. A few of these colleges only offer Vocational Education. 

Generally, colleges are located in different parts of a state and all of them are affiliated to a regional, state of central universities. The colleges offer programs leading to degrees of that university. Imperative to mention here is that some colleges use the word university in their names, but do not have the authority to be called a university. Some colleges are located with the campus of universities and offer specific non professional courses; like College of Physics, College of Languages and so on. These colleges are usually managed by the university and could be called Affiliate or Campus colleges. At times these colleges are called schools; like School of Liberal Arts, School of dramatics and so on. Thus college, universities and schools at times are interchangeable in nomenclature, but the function remains the same – to provide Higher Education.