A university system is a set of multiple, affiliated universities and colleges that are usually geographically distributed. Typically, all member universities in a university system share a common component among all of their various names. Usually, all member universities of a university system are governed by a system-wide governing body, such as a board of trustees or a board of regents. In fact, university systems are so common in post-World War II United States that most states have one or two university systems under which many of their publicly-funded universities are aligned, both in name and in governance.[citation needed] Additionally, for-profit universities, such as DeVry University, often have multiple campuses which share the same name; these may be, but are not always, described as a university system (not necessarily accurately, see below).
A university system should not be confused with a multiple-campus university. A university system contains several universities. A multiple-campus university is a single university that has more than one campus. In the US, a common test of whether institutions comprise a system is whether they are separately accredited by a government-approved regional accreditor (this supersedes per-campus accreditation by national professional accreditors).[citation needed] University marketing departments may emphasize or deemphasize the independence of member institutions.[citation needed]
In Canada, university system usually refers to the collection of all universities within a jurisdiction, as distinguished from other post-secondary institutions. Used as a point of comparison, it may refer to the universities within a province or within a country.[1] In the UK, university system has been used to refer to the policy and practise of integrated administration and infrastructure of the universities within the country.[2]
see also: Argentine Universities
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