1. State College or University: These schools are supported and run by the State Government. Each U.S. state operates at least one state university, and several state colleges.
2. Private College or Universities: These schools are privately owned/operated institutes. Tuition fee is usually higher than the state government schools. Normally these colleges and universities are smaller in size.
3. Community Colleges: Community colleges are local i.e. a city or county colleges. They also conduct evening classes for students who work during the day. Normally, community colleges welcome international students. But few countries do not recognize degrees from such community colleges.
4. Professional Schools: These are professional schools to train students in professional fields such as Art, Music, Engineering, Business, etc. They can be a part of a university or may be a separate school. Some offer graduate programs as well.
5. Institute of Technology: These are technical schools which conduct at least four years of study in the science and technology fields. Some of them offer graduate programs too.
6. Schools run by Church: Many U.S. colleges and universities were founded by religious groups and are run by local religious organizations. Nearly all these schools welcome students of all religions and belief, but may give preference to members of their own religious group. Traditionally, many church related schools insist all the students to take Bible courses and attend chapel services.
Community Colleges
Community colleges offer a wide range of vocational (job training) programs in hundreds of fields from Business Administration and Computer Programming to Nursing, Fashion Design, Hotel and Restaurant Management, Engineering or Advertising Art. Students who complete these courses get degrees or certificates. International students can attend community colleges. Community college can be a starting point to earn a four year or graduate degree from a U.S. university. Community colleges are a popular alternative for the first two years of a bachelor's degree. These first two years are designed to provide a strong foundation of general knowledge, before a student begins concentrating on a major field of study.
Community colleges meet the educational and vocational needs of local communities. Usually they are run by a state government, by maintaining an "open door policy" with low tuition costs and few entrance requirements.
Universities on the other hand are bigger educational centers which offer wide range of courses, and caters to a larger area. But due to the competition and a complicated admission process, it is difficult to get an admission here.
USA Universities: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. MIT is organized into five schools and one college, containing 32 academic departments and 53 interdisciplinary laboratories, centers and programs.
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Founded in 1861 in response to the increasing industrialization of America, MIT's mission and culture is guided by an emphasis on teaching and research grounded in practical applications of science and technology. As a federally funded research and development center in World War II, MIT scientists developed defence-related technologies that would later become integral to computers, radar, and inertial guidance. After the war, MIT continued to have a high profile throughout the Space Race and Cold War and its reputation expanded beyond its core competencies in science and engineering into the social sciences including economics, linguistics, and management.
MIT is governed by a 78-member board of trustees known as the MIT Corporation which approve the budget, degrees, and faculty appointments as well as electing the President. MIT's endowment and other financial assets are managed by a subsidiary MIT Investment Management Company. MIT is organized into five schools and one college containing thirty-two academic departments.
MIT was once characterized by James R. Killian as "a university polarized around science, engineering, and the arts." MIT has no school of law or medicine, some of MIT's schools and departments are listed below:
School of Architecture and Planning: Architecture, Media Arts and Sciences, Urban Studies and Planning; School of Engineering: Aeronautics and Astronautics, Biological Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences: Anthropology, Comparative Media Studies, Economics, Foreign Languages and Literatures; School of Science: Biology, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics.
MIT has 992 faculty members, of which 181 are women, and 138 are minorities. These faculty are responsible for lecturing classes, advising both graduate and undergraduate students, sitting on various academic committees, as well as conducting original research. Many faculty members also have founded companies, served as scientific advisers, or sat on the Board of Directors at major corporations. As of October 2006, 63 current or former members of the MIT community have won the Nobel Prize, 16 of them in the last six years. 64 current faculty and staff members belong to the National Academy of Engineering, 61 to the National Academy of Sciences, 22 to the Institute of Medicine, and 118 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Institute Professor is the title awarded to faculty who have made extraordinary contributions to their field and the MIT community.
MIT has never awarded an honorary degree; the only way to receive an MIT diploma is to earn it. MIT faculty and students pride themselves on pure intellectual ability and achievement, and MIT professors often say that they grade with "all the letters of the alphabet." Due to these academic pressures, MIT culture is characterized by a love-hate relationship.
MIT has over 380 recognized student activity groups, including a campus radio station, student-run ambulance, publications, performance groups, social dance groups, cultural and religious groups, honour societies and club sport teams. The MIT Science Fiction Society claims to have the "world's largest open-shelf collection of science fiction" in English. The Lecture Series Committee has weekly screenings of popular films as well as lectures by prominent speakers.
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MIT has a student athletics program offering 41 varsity-level sports. They participate in the NCAA's Division III, the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference, the New England Football Conference and others sport leagues. MIT teams have won or placed highly in national championships in pistol, track and field, swimming and diving, cross country, crew, fencing, and water polo.
MIT's main Cambridge campus spans approximately a mile of the Charles River front. The campus is divided roughly in half by Massachusetts Avenue, with all academic buildings to the east and most dormitories and student life facilities to the west. Essentially all classes are held on main campus, although MIT owns or leases a number of research facilities throughout Cambridge and the greater Boston area.
