US Colleges and University
US colleges and university offer ample opportunities to any knowledge seeker for the academic pursuits in any field of study. They are equipped with the state of the art infrastructure, and have conducive ambience to foster and nurture scholastic aptitude.
Many of the US universities offer both, online and campus based courses of various levels such as, Bachelor’s programme, Masters or Doctoral programme. The programmes offered pertain to different disciplines of study such as, pure science, medicine, engineering and technology, business management and liberal arts. There are two sessions, winter session and fall session in an academic year.
US Universities can be classified into three categories, private institutions, public institutions, and community colleges. Private institutions are basically managed and run by nongovernmental organizations or private owners. Public institutions are managed by officials who are appointed or elected by the public. These institutions are supported by the public funds. Community colleges are institutions supported by the local communities. Community colleges operate two kinds of curriculum, Transfer and Terminal. Under Transfer category, one can earn two years of work towards the Bachelor’s degree. Terminal category is aimed to provide vocational training to the candidates to groom them and make them suitable to seek employment in different technical and quasi-professional fields.
Admission in US colleges and university are held on the basis of merit. Different institutions may have different eligibility criteria for admission. Admission requirements also vary with the level of the course such as, Undergraduate study or Bachelor’s programme, Masters or Doctoral programme, and the discipline of study. Most of the institutions require a valid score card of the appropriate tests held for the admission in US colleges and universities such as, SAT, ACT, GMAT. Some of them also conduct their individual admission tests. References from the persons of repute and standing in the relevant discipline of study are given due weightage. Admission fee and tuition fee are different for different institutions, but many institutions offer scholarships and part-time work opportunities to meet the expenditure.
Most of the US colleges and university maintain reasonably high academic standard. However, some of the prominent US colleges and universities are the Princeton University, Harvard University, Yale University, Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, California Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Duke University, Columbia University, University of Chicago and Dartmouth College.
US universities maintain a very tough academic regimen for the students. The ratio of the Faculty members to the students is high by any standard. Strict quality control has helped the US universities to earn a place of distinction on the globe.
JKUAT University – Why So Much Diversification in Courses?
There was a time when the JKUAT University was associated only as an engineering University but whether that maxim still holds true is a debate for another day. The JKUAT University started operating in 1984 mainly as a middle level College offering courses in engineering and technical disciplines. It got a boost in its profile when the Japanese government decided to fund it. It hence became a University with a strong emphasis on engineering and technical education. It even surpassed the University of Nairobi as the University of Choice in engineering related courses.
However, the Japanese withdrew funding for the University in 2001 and handed it over to the Kenyan government. From then on the University has embarked on a rapid diversification mode. It now offers courses in a wide range of disciplines; from humanities, through the liberal arts to the sciences. But for a University that wanted to model itself as the MIT of Kenya; did it loss its cause? Now, you must understand that this must be very desperate times for Kenyan Universities. With the funding from the exchequer dwindling by the day, the University, like its counterparts in the country, had to resort to other means of generating income in order to make it self sustainable. It therefore had to start courses in humanities and other disciplines in order to generate income. Let’s face it, there is no way they could have attracted enough self sponsored students for a technical course such as mechanical or electrical engineering.
However, the University must also strive to maintain its identity as a technical University even as it tries to become a financially viable institution.
Australian University Rankings – A Comparison
What are the top ten Australian Universities? There is no official government ranking of universities in Australia. However there is a number of university league tables produced every year by relevant bodies such as the Melbourne Institute, The Australian Newspaper, The Good Universities Guide, THES and Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s academic ranking of world universities.
The Melbourne Institute (operated by the University of Melbourne) has produced its own ranking of the international standing of Australian universities. This ranking is based on a number of performance indicators such as international standing of staff, views of Deans and CEOs, resources, undergraduate programs, undergraduate intake and graduate programs.
The Melbourne Institute (operated by the University of Melbourne) has produced its own ranking of the international standing of Australian universities. This ranking is based on a number of performance indicators such as international standing of staff, views of Deans and CEOs, resources, undergraduate programs, undergraduate intake and graduate programs. You can go to http://www.ms-payday-loans.com for further information.
According to Melbourne Institute 2007 the top ten Australian Universities (in order of ranking) are: Australian National University (ANU), University of Melbourne, University of Sydney, University of Queensland, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Monash University, University of Western Australia (UWA), University of Adelaide, Macquarie University and Queensland University of Technology. From this ranking ANU was the number one Australian university in terms of international standing and reputation, followed by Melbourne and Sydney. Is this result representative? Here we will analyze and compare it with the other two famous international league tables – THES and Academic ranking of world universities (ARWU).
Ranking Comparison:
- The list of top four universities produced by the Melbourne Institute are the same in ranking order as THES and ARWU 2007. We are confident to say that they are the Best Four – ANU, Melbourne, Sydney and Queensland.
- Group of Eight (Go8) Universities are among the top 8 universities as ranked by the three different league tables. These include the Best Four and the rest of the group – UNSW, Monash, UWA and Adelaide.
- Macquarie and QUT are among the top ten list (after Go8) in the Melbourne Institute and THES league tables.