Sino-Vietnamese word from 高等.
In Vietnam, there is an arbitrary distinction between the English words university and college in the English names of Vietnamese institutions. University is used of four-year bachelor's institutions, and these include both collective ones and members of them. For example, Đại học Quốc gia Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh is called the "Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City," but one of its members, Đại học Công nghệ Thông tin, is equally called "University of Information Technology"; compare this to the use of university and college in English, as in the University of Oxford and Worcester College. On the other hand, college in Vietnamese contexts is used only of two-year associate's institutions, despite its near synonymy to university in proper English, especially American English. This contrived distinction often gives Vietnamese learners of English a false impression of how the English words are to be used, as respective direct translations of the Vietnamese words đại học and cao đẳng.