Mar 19, 2009 12:20
15 yrs ago
3 viewers *
English term
college
English
Other
Education / Pedagogy
Education VET
Dear all,
The following sentence does not tell me so much or rather tells me too much. What does "college" here imply?
Strengthening the vocational education sector by piloting the development of a business management system at three colleges that would improve governance, planning and management.
Best regards,
Binnur
The following sentence does not tell me so much or rather tells me too much. What does "college" here imply?
Strengthening the vocational education sector by piloting the development of a business management system at three colleges that would improve governance, planning and management.
Best regards,
Binnur
Responses
| 3 +6 | college |
Tony M
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| 4 +1 | college |
Mohamed Kamel
|
Responses
+6
11 mins
Selected
college
As Tamas says, it makes all the difference in the world if this is US or UK.
Assuming that it is indeed UK (if not, please ignore my comments!), then a 'college' is an establishment of further or higher education, usually taking students post-16 (further) or post-19 (higher).
Traditionally, the 'college' structure used to be more vocationally-oriented, compared to the universities, which were more academic; however, such distinctions have become increasingly blurred in recent times.
The fact that your text uses the preposition 'at' suggests that they are indeed referring to specific educational establishments, it being purely a coincidence that the following list of areas being improved also happens to contain 3 items. Were the preposition (say) 'in', then i might have been tempted to think they were using 'coleges' in a different sense (some kind of 'panel'), as it is used in things like 'electoral college'; but the preposition used makes me pretty convinced this is not the meaning intended.
It would, of course, help a great deal if you explained a bit more about just what you do already understand, and what you don't.
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Note added at 2 hrs (2009-03-19 15:04:33 GMT)
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I think the text is fine, perfectly good native-speaker English, and no, I don't think 'college' could possibly be intended to mean 'course' here, that would make it nonsense, I'm afraid...
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Note added at 9 hrs (2009-03-19 21:24:29 GMT) Post-grading
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Binnur, the text as it stands is so good, it is hard to believe the person who wrote it didn't know what they were doing; I rather think it is unwise to try and suggest that you know better than they did what they meant to say ;-)
If they made a mistake and put 'college' when they really meant 'course', then they also made a mistake when they chose the verb 'improve', since 'courses' can hardly be said to 'improve' things (well, arguably students' minds, but even that's debatable...). It makes perfect sense to me: this organization (it would be so nice to know who we are talking about here!) seems to be trying out a new business management scheme in 3 establishments, and the aim of this scheme is to improve governance, planning and management of those establishments — all things that could readily apply to an educational establishment, but sit very uneasily if we are talking about students, or even to some extent, what students might be learning.
Assuming that it is indeed UK (if not, please ignore my comments!), then a 'college' is an establishment of further or higher education, usually taking students post-16 (further) or post-19 (higher).
Traditionally, the 'college' structure used to be more vocationally-oriented, compared to the universities, which were more academic; however, such distinctions have become increasingly blurred in recent times.
The fact that your text uses the preposition 'at' suggests that they are indeed referring to specific educational establishments, it being purely a coincidence that the following list of areas being improved also happens to contain 3 items. Were the preposition (say) 'in', then i might have been tempted to think they were using 'coleges' in a different sense (some kind of 'panel'), as it is used in things like 'electoral college'; but the preposition used makes me pretty convinced this is not the meaning intended.
It would, of course, help a great deal if you explained a bit more about just what you do already understand, and what you don't.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2009-03-19 15:04:33 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
I think the text is fine, perfectly good native-speaker English, and no, I don't think 'college' could possibly be intended to mean 'course' here, that would make it nonsense, I'm afraid...
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Note added at 9 hrs (2009-03-19 21:24:29 GMT) Post-grading
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Binnur, the text as it stands is so good, it is hard to believe the person who wrote it didn't know what they were doing; I rather think it is unwise to try and suggest that you know better than they did what they meant to say ;-)
If they made a mistake and put 'college' when they really meant 'course', then they also made a mistake when they chose the verb 'improve', since 'courses' can hardly be said to 'improve' things (well, arguably students' minds, but even that's debatable...). It makes perfect sense to me: this organization (it would be so nice to know who we are talking about here!) seems to be trying out a new business management scheme in 3 establishments, and the aim of this scheme is to improve governance, planning and management of those establishments — all things that could readily apply to an educational establishment, but sit very uneasily if we are talking about students, or even to some extent, what students might be learning.
Note from asker:
| Good question, Tony! I think here college means "course"- They will study the business management under 3 courses (unit of studies, lessons, titles etc) in order to strengthen the vocational education sector... What is your opinion? Binnur |
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
kmtext
: It certainly seems to be an educational establishment to me, and the spelling of "labour" implies UKE.
11 mins
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Thanks, KMT! Yes, I really don't see any problem, apart from not knowing what the wider context is!
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| agree |
B D Finch
: It would not make sense for "college" to mean "course". The preposition would be wrong too.
1 hr
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Thanks, Barbara! Absolutely!
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| agree |
K. Ganly (X)
: on both counts-UK english and that it simply means implementing x programme in 3 different colleges ( higher education establishments - though i would say they still remain distinct from uni's in being more vocationally-orientated even today)
1 hr
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Thanks, Katharine! And yes, it's important not to ignore the fact taht most colleges offer SOME 'further' education, not all HE as at Univ
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| agree |
Lirka
: in teh USA it is definitely a university-level instutution
2 hrs
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Thanks, Lirka! Certainly NOT the case in the UK
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| agree |
Gary D
: Both examples read correct to me, It looks typical AU English.
8 hrs
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Thanks, Gary! Yes, a bit management-speak, but doesn't shock my GB ears either
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| agree |
Phong Le
1 day 20 hrs
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Thanks, Phong Le!
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank you Tony and all those who contributed to my thread. I feel better with your explanations now and will focus on improving my understanding of this sort of text.
Best regards,
Binnur"
+1
17 mins
Mohamed Kamel
Egypt
Egypt
Egypt
15 Years of Experience in IT and Gaming
Native in: Arabic (Variants: Egyptian, Standard-Arabian (MSA)) 
Works in: English to Arabic
college
An educational establishment providing higher education or specialized professional or vocational training. ▶(in Britain) any of the independent institutions into which some universities are separated.
© Oxford University Press
MK
© Oxford University Press
MK
Discussion
Actually, it is a mental switch. The whole text is about lifelong learning and vocational training, so far from a traditional educational programme (no tertiary or secondary systems we know of, no technikons or colleges in the sense I am used to).
The text has been provided from the Netherlands and college (in Dutch) means "course".
Thank you for giving your impression on the sentence I have quoted. I still struggle with its translation. Maybe, I will need a second pair of eyes for this translation!!!
According to me ...."with the provision of high-quality training"= "by providing high quality training" ... but I wonder whether I am 100 % correct.
Various ambiguity in this source text makes the text difficult to translate.
But as I said, that is why I am happy that you, the native speakers, are there to help me.
Kind regards,
Binnur
I"ll give you another sentence, and look forward to hearing your comment on it:
XXX wanted its staff to maintain links between the
training provision and the labour market, with the provision of high-quality training meeting the demands of different target groups.
(it could be somewhat clearer to my opinion)
BR,
Binnur