Residential College - Various Models of Residential College

Various Models of Residential College

Prominent models for residential colleges are the colleges of the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom and the institutions based on them in the United States, including Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Binghamton University, University of Pennsylvania, Murray State University, Murray, KY Rice University, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Miami, Pantnagar University, Uttarakhand, India the University of California, San Diego, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. Many other institutions use the system as well. Other universities in the U.S. have recently begun implementing residential colleges as a housing option, but, unlike the aforementioned institutions, at these universities not all of the undergraduate students are members of a residential college. Princeton University has a residential college system for underclassmen, but most upperclassmen leave their college to join an Eating Club. Cornell University recently expanded its residential college system by razing much of its present upperclassmen housing and building five new residential colleges. At the University of Virginia, students may apply to live in one of three residential colleges, and acceptance rates vary widely.

In the United States, the academic and residential functions of the residential college system have separated somewhat, leaving the colleges primarily as housing systems. Although residential colleges still offer some classes, these offerings supplement the offerings of the major academic departments which have separate facilities. The primary difference in the U.S. between residential colleges and standard dormitories is often that students are a member of the same residential college for each year that they attend the university. In addition, the members of each residential college are usually expected to eat their meals together, as a unified body. Standard dormitories tend to have residents who move between dorm complexes every year, and who eat in dining halls largely mixed with residents of other dormitories.

In the United Kingdom, a residential college combines both the living and academic aspects of the university in one location. Students often take their classes on the lower floors of the college building and live in the upper floors. Apart from the obvious models of the ancient universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Durham University has residential colleges that operate rather differently from those of Oxford and Cambridge, while the University of London has an extensive federated college system that is, in effect, a confederation of major teaching and research institutions. The University of Dublin (founded 1592) is unique in that only has one constituent college, Trinity College.

Many universities in Canada have emulated the collegiate systems of some British universities. The University of Toronto has a federated college system including a number of "federated colleges" and "constituent colleges". Other Canadian universities with residential colleges include Trent University and its colleges, the University of Western Ontario, the University of Waterloo, York University, the University of Manitoba, and the University of British Columbia. Three Canadian residential colleges are distinguished by being for graduate students rather than undergraduates — Green and St. John's Colleges at UBC, and Massey College at the University of Toronto.