College - background (non-educational meanings)

The noun college has a variety of meanings. Some of these are at least partly determined by the context in which the word is deployed. This page, which may be of less interest to most readers of AWE than College (clarification of meanings), gives some indication of the different meanings that College has outside education . There is also a page on the background to the educational meanings of the word college.

The general sense of College is 'an organized society of people with a common interest [often professional]'. It shares the root of colleague. In ancient Rome, a collegium was 'a partnership' or 'an association'; more particularly a 'club', 'corporation', 'company', 'fraternity', 'guild' or 'union'. It is now used predominantly in an educational sense - but there is no one agreed meaning, even in education.

• The Church was the first to use college in English, applying it originally to the Twelve Apostles, the Apostolic College.
  • The totality of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church is called the College of Cardinals, or the Sacred College. It is the members of this under 80 years of age who elect a new Pope on the death of the last. In 1996, Pope John Paul II limited the number of voters: "The maximum number of Cardinal electors must not exceed one hundred and twenty." There are currently around 200 Cardinals in all.
    • College came also to have the meaning of 'a residential community of colleagues for a common purpose'. This purpose was often the tending of a particular place of worship, but increasingly came to be used also for 'a place where priests might be trained'. See College (clarification of educational meanings).
• This professional use of the word College has developed in modern English.
  • An Electoral College is a group of people chosen to decide an election.
    • In the Holy Roman Empire, the total of Princes who chose the new Emperor, set at seven princes (three archbishops and four secular princes) in 1356, and growing by one in 1648 and again in 1690.
    • In the modern USA, as in other democracies, the electoral college in presidential elections is a method of indirect election: citizens vote for a member of the College pledged to vote the way they want, rather than directly for the president.
  • College can also be the title of a prestigious professional body, usually governed by Royal Charter in the UK.
    • Colleges of Heralds were set up in both Scotland and England in the 14th century, both continuing to function to this day.
    • In Scotland, the College of Justice is a collection of senior judges and others, known as 'Senators of the College of Justice' (currently (2011) about 22) who are in effect [members of the] highest court[s]. Historically, they were formed, by King James V in 1532, to clarify and codify the law of Scotland.
    • Many professional bodies in the secular world are known as Colleges, or, in the UK, Royal Colleges. This is marked in the medical professions: the Royal College of Surgeons and Royal College of Physicians are joined by the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the Royal College of Radiologists and many more.
    • In the non-medical field, there are also such bodies as the Royal College of Organists and various Royal Colleges of Music, etc.
• However, most readers of AWE may be more interested in the different educational uses and implications of the word college - see background to the educational meanings of the word college.