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A 'collegiate university' is a university whose functions are divided between the central administration of the university and a number of constituent colleges.
A collegiate university differs from a centralized university in that its colleges are not just halls of residence; rather, they have a substantial amount of responsibility and autonomy in the running of the university. The actual level of self-governance exercised by the colleges varies greatly among institutions, ranging from nearly autonomous colleges in federated institutions to dependent colleges that are integrated with the central administration itself. Often, but not always, colleges within universities will have their own specific students' unions.

Contents

Loose federations

Independent colleges

Dependent colleges

Former collegiate universities

Loose federations

Also known as federated schools, some colleges are part of loose federations that allow them to exercise nearly complete self-governance. In the United Kingdom, the colleges of the University of London and the University of Wales perform almost all the duties of a university with the exception of the awarding of degrees. In the United States, many state university systems consist of campuses that are almost independent, spread out across different parts of the state. Examples of such institutions include the University of California and the University of Texas.
Over time, some federated schools may formally end their relations with the parent university to become degree-awarding universities. An example is Cardiff University, formerly named the University of Wales, Cardiff. Imperial College London and University College London may do the same in the future, as the Privy Council has awarded them the right to confer their own degrees, although they have not yet exercised this right. University of Wales, Lampeter, formerly St David's College, Lampeter, ceased to confer its own degrees when it joined the University of Wales, but retains the right to confer degrees and other qualifications, and still awards the Licence in Theology (LTh) in its own right.
Historically, the University of Dundee and the University of Newcastle upon Tyne were colleges of the University of St Andrews and the University of Durham, respectively, before they became independent.

Independent colleges

More commonly found in older universities, an independent college often existed on its own for some time before joining the university, and therefore has a distinct history, heritage and financial existence. Such independent colleges vary in the level of teaching that they provide, but they may create positions independently from the university and may provide their own funding for research. They also tend to play a large role in deciding admissions.
At the undergraduate level, independent colleges usually provide most, if not all accommodation and bursaries. They often have their own halls for meals, libraries, sports teams and societies. This fosters loyalty to the college among its students—an undergraduate might state the name of his or her college before the name of the university when asked where he or she studied. This spirit is often maintained through college-based alumni organizations.
Examples include the colleges at the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Durham (at Durham, some of the colleges are not independent of the parent university, as many of them were established later in the 20th century, without the endowment funds needed to be independent).

Dependent colleges

Some universities have built colleges that do not provide teaching but still perform much of the housing and social duties, allowing students to develop loyalty towards their college. However, such colleges are planned, built and funded entirely by the central administration and are thus dependent on it.
Examples include the colleges of Yale University, Harvard University, Rice University, the University of York, the University of Kent, and Princeton University.
At Uppsala University and Lund University, students are organised into ''nations'', historically determined by the region of origin in Sweden. The Chinese University of Hong Kong was founded as a loose federation of three colleges, but the founding colleges had later become dependent on the central administration, and new colleges were established as dependent colleges.

Former collegiate universities

Some universities that once featured collegiate systems had gradually lost them to mergers and amalgamation, due to financial, political or other reasons. Examples include the following:

★ At the University of St. Andrews, the colleges joined together to become St Mary's College, St Andrews for Divinity and the United College of St Salvator and St Leonard and are now purely administrative.

★ The colleges of the former University of Paris were suppressed after the French Revolution, and the university has now been split into 13 institutions.

★ The University of Aberdeen consisted of King's College and Marischal College until 1860.

★ The University of Dublin was originally intended to follow the pattern of Oxford and Cambridge. However, the initial college, Trinity College, Dublin, was the only one ever established, so all members of the university are members of the college.