College / university (was: branch of 'Omission of definite article')

[Robin Hamilton]

> we (at least
> in BrE) say 'at university' and not 'at/in college'. This is no doubt
> connected to the fact that very few of the educational institutions here
> that give post-18 education are called X College - the vast majority are X
> University.

Now, certainly, but would that have been true before the 90s?

There's also a distinction sometimes made (and formally present in some
institutional names) between X University and the University of X.  A
follow-on, perhaps, from the older distinction between Oxbridge and the
Redbrick Universities (the latter mostly founded in the nineteenth century).
The term of disparagement for the institution where Damien is currently
working -- emerging in the wake of the Robbins Report in the 60s -- was
"Plateglass University". <g>

> I am at York at the moment, for example (but I'm not a
> student, so only see their habits second-hand); here, the Colleges really
> are just dorms, though they try to foster College loyalty and are trying
> to
> raise their profile.

When I was a graduate student there in the late sixties, the main
distinction (I was attached to Langwith) was the quality of the pinball
machines available.  Does this still hold, Damien?

Then there are the various varieties of Professor in the UK -- (bog
standard) Professor, Emeritus Professor, Regius Professor, Visiting
Professor, Professors who hold a Personal Chair ...  I'm sure the list could
be extended.  It doesn't in the least map onto the USA meaning of
"professor".

Robin

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