EDUCATION IN U.S.A  

GLOSSARY OF TERMS - Arabic

Academic Advisor:  A member of the faculty who helps and advises students on academic matters.

Academic Year:  The period of formal instruction, usually September to May; may be divided into terms of varying lengths - semesters, trimesters, or quarters.

Accreditation: This is a voluntary process by which educational institutions meet standards established by an accrediting body.  The U.S. Department of Education maintains a database of approval colleges and universities who earned accreditation from national, regional, or professional and specialized accrediting organizations.

Associate's Degree: The degree awarded after a two-year period of study; it can either be terminal or, in certain cases transferable (the first two years of a bachelor's degree).

Bachelor's Degree: Degree awarded upon completion of approximately four years of full-time study in liberal arts and sciences or professional subjects.

College: A postsecondary institution that provides an undergraduate education and, in some cases, master's level degrees.  College, in a separate sense, is also a division of a university; for example, College of Business.

Conditional Acceptance: Tentative acceptance into a degree-seeking program, pending successful completion of stated requirements/conditions.

Core Requirements:  Required courses for completion of degree program

Course:  Regularly scheduled class session of one to five hours (or more) per week during the term.  A degree program is made up of a specified number of required and elective courses and varies from institution to institution.

Electives: Courses that students may choose to take for credit towards their intended degree, as opposed to courses that are core requirements of the degree program.

Grade Point Average (GPA): A system of recording achievement based on a numerical average of the grades attained in each course.

International Student Advisor: The person associated with a university who is in charge of providing information and guidance to international students in the areas of government regulations, visas, academic regulations, language, housing, travel plans, insurance and legal matters.  This person usually works in the International Student Office and might also be referred to as the Designated School Official (DSO).

Major:  The principle subject area for a higher degree program.

Minor:  A lesser subject area that is secondary to the major but significant because of the credit hours earned by the student.

Non-resident Student:  A student who does not meet residency requirements of the state while attending a public (state) university.  Tuition fees and admissions policies may differ for residents and non-residents.  International students are usually classified as non-residents.

Notarization:  The certification of a document (or a statement or a signature) as authentic and true by a public official, known in the U.S. as a notary public, or by a lawyer who is also a commissioner of oaths.  Sometimes schools of medicine will require an applicant's signature to be notarized.

Prerequisite:  Program or course that a student is required to complete before being permitted to enroll in a more advanced program or course.

Quarter:  Period of study, approximately 10-12 weeks duration or one-quarter of the academic year.

Registration:  Process in which students select courses to be taken during a quarter, semester or trimester.

Semester:  Period of study approximately 15-16 weeks or one-half the academic year.

SEVIS: Student and Exchange Visitor Information System is a networked computer system set up in the United States to track information on non-immigrant international students and scholars attending school in the U.S.

Trimester: Period of study consisting of approximately three equal terms of 16 weeks each during the academic year.

Transfer:  The process of moving from one college or university to another to complete a degree.

Tuition: The money an institution charges for instruction and training (does not include the cost of books, housing, etc)

University: A large postsecondary institution that offers both undergraduate and graduate degree programs.

 

Portions of Glossary taken from
If you want to Study in the United States, Book 1: Undergraduate Study,
a publication of the U.S. Department of State