Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

centro universitario

English translation:

institute of higher education, higher education centre, educational unit, faculty, school, institute.... depending on specific context

Added to glossary by Comunican
Nov 29, 2020 17:06
3 yrs ago
79 viewers *
Spanish term

centro universitario

Spanish to English Social Sciences Education / Pedagogy University quality
"La acreditación institucional pretende dar un paso más hacia el fortalecimiento de la autonomía de las instituciones universitarias poniendo de manifiesto que el centro universitario cumple con su responsabilidad legal de asegurar la calidad de su oferta académica"

"university centre" doesn't feel right to me, so I'm thinking "university location" or "university site", but would like to see what others think please.

UK English, please.

Many thanks!

Discussion

Comunican (asker) Nov 30, 2020:
OK, have finally settled on: institute of higher education, higher education centre, educational unit, faculty, school, institute.... depending on the specific context.
Thanks again everyone. I reckon I've spent about 2 hours on these two words!
Comunican (asker) Nov 30, 2020:
To all: Thank you all very much for your input and help on this. I've now ascertained that the accreditation is NOT granted at overall institution level but rather at educational unit level - which, depending on context, could be "higher education institute", "college", "school" or "faculty". So, I'm using those terms depending on individual context.
I've gone for "Higher" rather than "Further" because of the following from Warwick University: "People sometimes get confused between Further Education and Higher Education. Further Education is used to describe continued learning after GCSEs, BTECs or the age of 16. Higher Education (or HE for short) is the continuation of study post the age of 18." (https://warwick.ac.uk/study/outreach/parents/parents_factshe...
Can't remember the last time two words created so much work! Thanks again for everyone's help, much appreciated.
Marcelo González Nov 30, 2020:
@Comunican - Your link suggests it's different ...different from just 'university,' that is. So, a valid question would be, What about in the source text country? Is this meaning of 'centro' (as perhaps something akin to an off-campus site) the same? If so, 'university centre' would appear appropriate, assuming the author actually meant what s/he wrote. Interesting question! Cheers :-)
neilmac Nov 29, 2020:
@Comunican If the institution mentioned in the source text corresponds to the description in your link, then university centre should be fine. It also fits Peter's Wikipedia link. I initially thought that it was just another typical Spanish long-winded word for "University".
Comunican (asker) Nov 29, 2020:
THANKS PETER! Thanks Peter, that's really helpful. Just need to work out the English equivalent now....
peter jackson Nov 29, 2020:
It does in fact seem "centro universitario" is a distinct concept in Spain - see the Wikipedia page: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centro_Universitario
Comunican (asker) Nov 29, 2020:
Thanks Matt I agree it's not "centre", but am wondering if they are referring to the location/office itself - I know that some QA organisations accredit by location rather than the overall organisation.
But have just been chatting with a Spanish friend and he thinks it means the institution as a whole rather than just the specific site.
matt robinson Nov 29, 2020:
I agree with Peter. In British English at least, "university" is used to represent the institution and the place, if indeed there is a physical location. Who would say "Right, I'm off to the university centre"? In this case I think they are referring to the institution anyway.
Comunican (asker) Nov 29, 2020:
Yes, but... Thank you Peter and yes, I agree, except it already uses the term "instituciones universitarias" a few words before, so I think it needs to be distinct in some way...
peter jackson Nov 29, 2020:
Is it not just enough with “university”? The same as “centro escolar” is just “school” in English.

Proposed translations

7 hrs
Selected

alternative third-level colleges and institutions (e.g. F.E.colleges)

I am referring to the definition in the reference given by Peter in the Dbox re institutions that have their degrees awarded by other universities. See here for the UK

https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-policies/eurydice/conten...

...publicly funded higher education providers or alternative provider

"Many colleges and other institutions, such as further education colleges, do not have degree awarding powers, but provide complete courses leading to recognised UK degrees. Courses at these institutions are validated by institutions that have degree awarding powers under a formal recognition arrangement. These other providers of higher education programmes may use other institutional titles such as ‘college’. The use of such titles is not regulated by law.

Higher education provision in further education institutions may either receive direct public funding, or be funded via a franchise arrangement. A franchise arrangement, which can cover all or part of a programme, means that a student is registered at a higher education institution, which receives the funding and is responsible for quality assurance. The HEI then passes a proportion of the funding to the further education college providing the teaching.

In cases where 55% of the students at such an institution or college are studying courses of higher education, it may transfer to the higher education sector, becoming a higher education corporation (HEC). The institution will then become eligible to receive direct public funding from the academic year 2019-20 onwards, which it must apply for through registering with the Office for Students (OfS) and meeting its initial and ongoing conditions of registration.

Until 31 March 2019, decisions on applications from institutions wishing to transfer into the higher education sector and be eligible for public funding rested with the Secretary of State, in line with guidance from the Department for Education (DfE).

Alternative providers ..."

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Note added at 9 hrs (2020-11-30 02:13:33 GMT)
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https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centro_Universitario

Centro Universitario es el término utilizado en España para referirse a un centro docente independiente que imparte titulaciones universitarias oficiales en nombre de una universidad, como centro adscrito a esa universidad, pero sin formar parte de ella.

Un ejemplo puede ser un Centro Universitario que imparta la carrera de Derecho adscrito a una universidad oficial. En este caso, el estudiante cursaría las asignaturas en el Centro Universitario, siguiendo el Plan de Estudios de la Universidad Oficial

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Note added at 17 hrs (2020-11-30 10:32:06 GMT)
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Yes, I actually started with "F.E. College" as the heading and meant to put a slash or "OR" when adding the alternative. I'd probably use "third-level colleges/institutions" myself as not all courses in FE colleges lead to the awarding of diplomas or degrees. BUT they certainly do exist and what IS meant here IMHO.
When I was doing my first BA I could have simultaneously taken an LL.B in another institution, to be awarded by my university. (Wish I'd done so but I was a rather lazy 19-year-old!)
So legal, accountancy, MBE, teacher-training etc. courses are often studied in other institutions with degrees, diplomas awarded by affiliated universities.

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Note added at 17 hrs (2020-11-30 10:33:48 GMT)
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third-level colleges/institutions OR Further Education colleges

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Note added at 17 hrs (2020-11-30 10:35:13 GMT)
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BTW I have never seen this as "university centre"

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Note added at 4 days (2020-12-04 11:35:10 GMT) Post-grading
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Glad to have helped.
I see you are using a variety of terms but I think third-level/Higher Education colleges/institutions basically act as umbrella terms. And yes, affiliated to the degree-awarding university.
Note from asker:
Thank you, you've helpfully highlighted that the "centros" may not actually be part of the awarding university but instead affiliated to it. This has also become my understanding as I've got further into the text. I'm not so convinced by the long, rather descriptive translation you've offered and wonder whether you think "further education institution" is broad, yet specific enough? Thank you
Thanks. I don't think "third level" works so well and the distinction between FE and HE is clear from the link that I posted in the comments a few days ago. University-related education is HE and "institute of higher education" is a very good umbrella term. However in some cases, mainly due to the context/content of the rest of the sentence, other options are better - hence why I included them in the Kudoz entry. Good to have nailed this term and I hope it will help others! Thanks again.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks everyone for your help. Much appreciated. In the end, this answer helped guide me the most. In the end, after much thought and checking, I opted for: institute of higher education, higher education centre, educational unit, faculty, school, institute.... depending on the specific context."
+1
18 mins

university centre

Peer comment(s):

agree neilmac : The other links posted bear this out (Y)
2 hrs
thank you neilmac. Best! :-)
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34 mins

community college

I see that they have community colleges in the UK, too. In the US, students go to them for the first two years of their college career, and then transfer to 4-year institutions to complete their undergraduate degree.

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Note added at 39 mins (2020-11-29 17:45:26 GMT)
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Scroll all the way to the bottom of this link, and you'll find your term translated as "community college": https://www.linguee.com/english-spanish/search?source=spanis...

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Note added at 47 mins (2020-11-29 17:53:54 GMT)
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In the UK, if you check Wikipedia, community colleges seem to be geared towards objectives like adult education, etc.

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Note added at 49 mins (2020-11-29 17:55:20 GMT)
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There is some controversy regarding whether community colleges offer a quality education.

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Note added at 52 mins (2020-11-29 17:59:01 GMT)
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Re: their quality: https://www.communitycollegereview.com/blog/fact-or-fiction-...
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+3
1 hr

the University

In English, it is common to say "the University" or simply "University" in the same context that in Spanish we say "centro universitario".
Peer comment(s):

neutral philgoddard : But not in this sentence, where they've already said university. And although they've used the singular, they mean all universities.
20 mins
Hopefully, the final translation will not be that literal.
agree neilmac : If we call "instituciones universitarias" academic instituions, that fixes the redundancy issue...
57 mins
Thank you, Neilmac!
agree Jessica Noyes
1 hr
Thank you, Jessica!
agree Helen Unger Clark (X)
19 days
¡Gracias Helen!
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1 hr

they

I think it's just a rather clumsy attempt to find a synonym for "universities".

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Note added at 5 hrs (2020-11-29 22:46:39 GMT)
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Here's a suggested translation for the whole sentence:

Institutional accreditation seeks to give universities greater autonomy by showing that they are meeting their legal responsibility to provide a high-quality academic environment.
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10 hrs

universitary coordinating body

maybe

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Note added at 10 hrs (2020-11-30 03:27:11 GMT)
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or just "universities"
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19 hrs

Seat of learning

Plenty suggestions but this could cover it too I think:
Collins
seat of learning (seats of learning plural )People sometimes refer to a university or a similar institution as a seat of learning.
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1 day 3 hrs

... the Institute ... (or "IT")

Meaning whichever university they are talking about.
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