Glossary




Academic Evaluation: The process by which an academic program is measured and compared against another to determine an approximate educational equivalence.

Accreditation: The process of granting recognition to schools, colleges, and universities that meet certain educational standards.

Admission Criteria: Permission granted to enroll in a school, college or a university.

Associate Degree: The certificate or diploma awarded, usually by a junior or community college after two academic years of undergraduate study.

Bachelor's degree: The certificate or diploma awarded after four or five academic years of college or university study.

Community College: A publicly supported two-year college offering courses intended for transfer to four-year universities that may satisfy the first tow years of a bachelor's degree and pre-professional program requirements.

Credit hour (semester hour): A measurement of classroom instruction at the college and university level. An academic period within a semester system usually consists of between 14 to 18 weeks. One calendar year can be divided into two semesters and a summer session equal to one-half of a semester. Usually one credit hour represents one hour each week for a semester or approximately 16 classroom contacts. One year of full-time academic work represents a total of 30 to 32 semester hours of credit. Usually one credit hour represents one hour each week for a semester, or approximately 16 classroom contacts. Doctorate: The most advanced academic degree offered by universities and institutions of higher learning in the United States.

Entrance Criteria: (See "Admission Criteria")

Evaluation: (See "Academic Evaluation.")

Freshman: The status of a student enrolled in the first year of high school, college, university.

Grade-point average (GPA): The GPA is measurement of the quality of a student's performance and is determined by dividing the total number of grade points earned by the number of credit hours attempted, including failures.

Graduate Level: Status of academic program at the university level leading to a master's degree or doctorate degree.

High School (Secondary School) Diploma: The certificate awarded at the completion of high school.

Junior: The status of a student enrolled in the third year of high school, college, or university.

Lower Division Level: The level of courses studied at the undergraduate level at a college or university; generally taken in the first two years of study and represent introductory, foundation, or prerequisite studies before student can proceed to advanced courses in his/her major area/field of concentration.

Major: The academic discipline/area of concentration/specialty that constitute the primary emphasis of a student's high school, college, or university program.

Master's Degree: The certificate or diploma awarded after one or more years of study following the Bachelor's degree offered by universities and institutions of higher learning.

Professional Degrees: A degree representing satisfactory academic qualifications for professional certification in fields such as architecture, business, law, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, etc.

Quarter: An academic period, consisting of about 12 weeks, equal in value to two-thirds of a semester. Fifteen quarter-hour credits equal to semester-hour credits. The calendar year under the quarter system is divided into four equal terms.

Regional Accreditation: The process of granting recognition to schools, colleges, and universities by one of six regional accreditation bodies in the United States that set certain educational standards and criteria.

Semester: An academic period usually consisting of between 14 and 18 weeks. One calendar year can be divided into two semesters and a summer session equal to one-half of a semester.

Senior: The status of a student enrolled in the fourth year of high school, college, or university.

Sophomore: The status of student enrolled in the second year of high school, college, or university.

Transcript: An official academic record of a student's studies reporting individual subjects/courses studied, with credits/hours of instruction and final grades/examination results.

Translation: The process by which a document issued in one language is converted, word-for-word, line-by-line, into another language.

Trimester: An academic period considered equal in value to a semester. The calendar year can be divided into three equal trimesters.

Undergraduate Student: A student enrolled in a program leading to the Associate or Bachelor's degree.

Upper Division Level: The level of courses studied at the undergraduate level at a college or university; generally taken in the third and fourth years of study and represent advanced and more concentrated studies in the major/field of concentration.