It’s an educational institution which carries out academic research and educates students through specialist academic courses called degrees.  

Most university students are young people who have arrived at university immediately after completing their secondary school education, but it is also possible to study at university at any time in adult life, and many people study for university degrees at later stages in their careers.  

Typically, universities are large institutions, educating over 10,000 students, though some are smaller.

The English word ‘university’ comes from the Latin word ‘universitas’, meaning a whole community of academic teachers and students, studying a range of subjects.  

Today the term usually indicates a place of higher education, offering degree courses in a wide variety of subjects.  

In the USA, the word ‘university’ can only be applied to institutions with a graduate school (a place where people can study for a second or third university degree), so you will find some famous universities in the USA which are called colleges.

Most universities offer degree courses in a very wide range of subjects - that's the key to what universities do. 

Some universities specialise in certain broad areas of study: for example, in London, Imperial College is one of the world’s top science universities, whilst the London School of Economics is a university specialising in the study of economics, politics and related topics.  

Some university-level colleges offer specialist courses in single, specific areas - for example, music conservatoires, art colleges, hotel management colleges, schools of veterinary medicine and so forth.  Many of these specialist colleges are run by, or are affiliated to, universities.

Answering this question may take a bit of time, and is one of the main reasons that this guide has been written for you!  

Many people find out what they are good at when they are at school.  Normally, people who study at university are academically motivated - in other words, they like studying very much, and are able to make good progress with their studies.

Generally speaking, subjects you like and are good at at school will be subjects which you might think seriously about studying at university.

In general, university degrees ask you to study a particular subject (or a selection of subjects) in great depth, and undergraduate degrees will normally require you to study your chosen subject(s) for at least three years.  So you have to be really interested in, and be good at, a subject in order for it to be a viable choice for study at university.  You will also have to meet a university’s entrance requirements in order to be accepted for study on a particular degree course.

You may be thinking about a career which will require you to study a particular subject at university in order to follow that career - for example, people who want to become medical doctors or engineers need to study medicine or engineering at university.  If you have a clear idea about the profession you would like to follow, then you will want to find out about how to gain the university qualification you will need for that career.

Other careers will require you to have a university degree, but in no particular specified subject.  For example, if you want to work in news media, you might do so with a degree in literature, or modern languages, or political sciences.

Your school teachers will help you to discover and to understand what you are good at. 

Generally, the subjects you do well in at school can help you to understand where your particular skills lie.  Your school will assess you for academic ability, and it may be that you will find that you are stronger in some areas than others.  

You might find, for example, that you are very good at understanding and handling numbers, but less good at writing, whilst being very good at speaking.  Data from assessments such as CAT-4 testing will help you to discover what you are good at, and your school staff will guide you.  

Most importantly, you should keep an open mind, work hard at school, and be ready to constantly explore new things and acquire new skills.  The more you’re able to understand and develop your abilities and interests, the better you will understand how your career might develop, and how university can be the next stage in your journey, once you’ve left school.

Most mainstream professional careers require you to study at university and gain at least one degree before entering that career.  

For most people wanting to work in a professional sector, a good degree from a good university is a basic requirement.  

But things are changing, and there are many alternative pathways, which can be right for some. 

Things will also vary from country to country.  Additionally, not all qualifications gained at a university in one country are necessarily accepted for entrance to a profession in another country, though most qualifications in Europe are transferable across the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA).

Another big question!  

We will help you to explore this important question, and this is one of the reasons that your family has selected The British School for your education.  Our schools enable you to develop a wide range of skills and aptitudes as part of your curriculum here at school.  Co-curricular activities, as well as the culture of our classroom lessons, enable you to explore more about what you are good at, and to develop really important skills and aptitudes. 

For example, taking part in a school public-speaking competition helps you develop skills and competence in public speaking, presentation, teamwork, thinking through and expressing ideas, and so on.  These are crucial skills for success in a very wide range of careers.  If you enjoy public speaking (for example), you may find that the skills you’ve developed, and in which you find confidence, start to get you thinking about a career in international business of some sort, or in diplomacy and international relations.  The international context of a British School education means that you already have in-depth experience of working alongside people from a variety of cultures and traditions.  This might strengthen your interest in an international business or diplomacy career!

You should also be aware that artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are constantly changing the world of work, and are changing the kinds of jobs that have existed until now or very recently.  For example, in the world of law and legal careers, thousands of qualified lawyers have traditionally been employed doing fairly basic legal work in areas such as property transfers, business taxation and other kinds of regulation.  Highly effective artificial intelligence applications mean that a lot of this work will soon be done instead by computers, leaving legal experts free to work on the really creative, complex and difficult cases.  

So, it’s likely that in all the professions, employers are going to employ people differently.  People who have learned lots of detailed data in order to do their job are going to be much less in demand than those who are able to think and solve problems creatively, and to express their thinking clearly and convincingly.  

It is very likely that people who are great communicators, team workers, imaginative, empathetic and highly creative will continue to be in demand from employers.  These people will be constantly learning and re-training throughout their careers in order to use their high-level skills effectively in areas in which artificial intelligence and automation are less effective.  This means, therefore, that the university experience of studying a subject you love, and are good at, will give you many of the most important tools necessary to be successful in your career.  

At university, studying a modern language or two, or philosophy, or literature, or physics, or indeed any subject which really interests you, will give you the ‘tools’ you need to succeed in your professional life.

Some specific professions, like medicine, engineering, and so forth, will always require you to study a specific degree at university, but many other careers will need you to have developed to a very high level your

• creativity

• problem-solving skills

• empathy and ‘people’ skills

• communication skills

• teamwork skills

If you want to aim at a career in medicine, engineering, architecture or other specialisms, your teachers will be able to talk to you about the very specific mind-sets and skill-sets which are required for success in those careers.  Generally speaking, entry to university degree courses in these specialist areas is extremely competitive, and will require certain specific school qualifications.  

You will need to think carefully about your levels of dedication and focus, as well as on your interest in the subject, as you consider careers such as medicine.  There is further information on this site about such careers, and you should look at this carefully.

This is a difficult question to answer accurately, as we live in a very fast-changing world.  

But the availability of artificial intelligence (AI), and instantly applicable ways of applying it across a whole range of human activities, mean that much professional work will be revolutionised, and that change in many traditional career areas will happen very quickly. 

Generally speaking, professional activity which involves the routine processing and applying of information will be done better through artificial intelligence.  For example, we’ve already mentioned how AI will transform much activity in the world of law.

Given this, it’s very likely that professional careers of the future will require very high-level thinking and creative skills, so that professionals can manage AI and also provide the kind of brilliant thinking which may supplement and harmonise with the exceptional ability of AI to process and work with vast amounts of information.  

It’s also likely that strong ethical and interpersonal skills will complement this demand for top-level creative input from humans.  

Most traditional careers will be affected by rapid changes brought about by AI and automation.  It is also very likely that a whole range of new roles will exist, some of which will currently be the vaguest of ideas, and one or two perhaps inconceivable!

The timeless virtues of 

• hard work, 

• integrity,

• behaving positively towards others,

are always going to be sought by good employers.

In addition to that, though, careers of the future will need you to be:

• Versatile, adaptable and happy with constant re-invention of what you do at work - 

You’ll need to train constantly to keep up with changes, particular in terms of mastering new technologies and their application.  

You will need to adapt to different ways of working, as nearly everyone will work for a succession of different employers over the course of their careers.  

Jobs for life with one organisation will be virtually unheard of, and many people will diversify, working for several income streams, doing different things.  

Many people will rely on and benefit from having ‘side hustles’, activities which may take on increased importance or become ‘main hustles’ if successful.

• Creative - 

thinking laterally and outside conventional parameters will be important, so you can complement the brilliant capacity of AI to master, process, interpret and apply vast amounts of detailed information.

• Culturally well-informed, with excellent general knowledge -

this will enable you to make the most of AI and modern technologies, as well as being able to identify and to guard against information which is false, unpleasant or created to cause deliberate harm.

• A great people-person, able to work effectively in teams, many of which may be working online for much of the time, and across different countries.

• Completely at home with computing, AI and all associated technology, and happy to constantly up-skill in order to master the improvements and updates.

Taking a traditional undergraduate degree, lasting three or four years, will help you greatly to lay a foundation for a lifetime of career success.

In particular, a good university degree will show:

• You have sticking power to engage in a difficult course, and to complete it successfully, thus demonstrating tenacity and resilience;

• You have spent three years of your life devoted to serious academic study, 

and

• you have been committed to learning more about the world around you, and so you are able to evaluate things with a strong sense of what’s what;

• You have learned how to think, both in terms of developing your understanding of the subject-detail of your degree, and in terms of thinking broadly and creatively;

• You have learned how to study and how to acquire new knowledge; 

• You have acquired specialist knowledge in a particular area, and you know how to apply it;

• You have coped with the pressures of study, examinations and managing your time effectively - in other words, you’ve managed and completed a major, complex, long-term project, and have done so successfully.

• You have also spent three formative years meeting new people and acquiring friends, and preparing yourself for the full independence of adult working life.

• Additionally, if you’ve studied a degree closely related to your target career (e.g. medicine, engineering, biochemistry, etc.), then you have equipped yourself with the basic specialist knowledge you will need to enter your chosen profession.

A university degree is a qualification which is awarded to a student when that student has successfully finished a course of study.  

Finishing a university degree usually involves exams, and so the degree is awarded once the examinations and other assessments are completed to the necessary level.  

Someone who has been awarded a university degree is called a graduate, and the ceremony at which they receive their degree is called a graduation.

An undergraduate is someone who is studying for their first university degree - they have not yet graduated from a university.  

A postgraduate is a university student who has graduated and is studying for a further degree, either at the same university as the first degree, or at another university.  

Some people end up with three or four degrees!

The word 'bachelor' when applied to a university degree from the English-speaking world normally denotes a first degree.  So, for example, after completing a first degree successfully, a university would award you a bachelors degree - BSc, BA, BEd, etc., in the UK, USA and other anglophone countries.

A Masters is usually a specialist degree taken by graduate students once they’ve completed their first degree.  

An example of a Masters degree is an MBA, a Masters in Business Administration - this degree is an advanced qualification taken by students who want to excel in business, and normally takes two years to complete.

This is a final-level, postgraduate degree (you can’t study for a degree which is worth more than this, or one of this sort). 

Doctorates are often known as a PhD (or D Phil) - the degree is usually a structured piece of advanced academic investigation in which a student, under the supervision of a senior university tutor, completes a programme of research and a thesis (a substantial academic document in which the student’s findings are formally presented).  The thesis is examined by the university, and often the final assessment includes live questioning of the student.

For two main reasons:

• because universities are communities of scholars, people whose work it is to discover new things about the world; 

• because universities educate students.

Universities are centres of knowledge where the most expert academic specialists discover new things.  For example, important discoveries about DNA profiling were made by scientists at the University of Leicester in England - these discoveries enabled very important scientific advances. 

Universities are a crucial part of the education system across the world.  For example, in the European Union countries, around 18 million people were studying at universities in those European Union countries in the academic year 2019 - 2020.  Around 60% of that number were students studying for their first university degree.