Högskola
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In Sweden and Norway, the Swedish term högskola or the Norwegian term høyskole/høgskole/høgskule denotes an independent institution that provides tertiary education and only to a limited extent quaternary education similar to a university college in the English-speaking world. The distinction between universities and university colleges are somewhat unclear and there are great differences between institutions known as university colleges. Some of them may be engaged in substantial research and even grant doctoral degrees in a limited number of fields. The difference between a university and a university college lies in the larger variety of academic subjects offered at a university, and the traditional right of the university to award doctoral degrees in any field. Some university colleges have evolved into institutions more or less similar to small universities in the last decades.
"University College" is the official English translation by the Swedes and Norwegians[citation needed], although this terminology may be misleading as they are not constituent colleges of another university as one may understand the word literally, but rather institutions in their own right and standing. The Swedish term högskola and the Norwegian term høyskole/høgskole would be "high school" in a word-by-word translation, and this translation is misleading, too. Some of these colleges do aspire a lift to full university status by the Swedish or Norwegian government, and have therefore changed their translated English name to "university", although they are not a university by Swedish and Norwegian law. A full university in Sweden and Norway craves extensive own research, a breadth of academic disciplines and a licence to award doctor's degrees in all fields it teaches. All or several of these requirements are not met by the högskola/høyskole.
The term högskola/høyskole is also used by a number of specialised universities, especially the technical universities, which provide both tertiary and quaternary education, as well as conduct research. These are not considered as university colleges, but rather as specialised universities.
