Word Bank

University

A university is a big school, which you go to when you're an adult, at 18 years old. You choose only ONE subject to learn about and you can be at university for 3, 4 or even 5 years! You will leave university with a degree, which means you are an expert in that subject and you can get a job around that area. The degree also means you can have special letters after your name, how cool is that?!

Student

At school you're called a pupil, but when you go to university you will be called a student. This is because you spend most of your time 'studying' your special subject. As a student, you can live away from home, in your own room on campus or in a house with friends. You can eat whenever and whatever you want, you can go to bed whenever you want and you can even get up whenever you want (unless you have a class to go to of course!)

Campus

The campus is what we call the university as a whole. So it includes the places students live, eat, learn and play. It's kind of like a little village where everything is on your doorstep!

Courses

Also known to you as subjects, such as Maths, English, Science. At university you choose one course to learn. This could be a subject that you simply LOVE, or a subject that can get you a great job, such as being a lawyer, a teacher or a doctor! Universities offer such a wide range of courses, not just the basic ones you learn at school... you can even choose a course on animals, film studies, languages, fashion and computer games!

Local University

Depending on where you live, this will be the university that is closer to you and that is working with your school teachers. It could either be Harper Adams University (Shropshire), Keele University (Newcastle-under-Lyme), Staffordshire University (Stoke-on-Trent) or Wolverhampton University.

Graduate/Graduation

When you finish university and pass all of your exams, you will take part in a graduation ceremony. This is a bit like an awards ceremony, where you and your family members get together with everyone else from your year group and you get to dress up in a special gown and funny hat (called a mortar board). You will be presented your certificate and will most probably have lots of photos taken of you on this special day!

Degree

A degree is a qualification. Qualifications you get before your degree can be GCSE's, A Levels and NVQs. The qualification you get from university is a big one, meaning that you are a specialist in the subject area that you have studied. You need special degrees to do certain jobs, such as teaching, being a lawyer or a doctor etc, but other more general degrees can lead you on to many different career paths.

Some words can look big and scary when you don't know what they mean. My Word Bank explains some of the more common words you'll see on the Explore University website.

HAWKS the owl

A student wearing a graduation mortar board hat and gown