<p>"Americans (I’m one) have a difficult time understanding this system because we use the term “college”</p>
<p>Let me put it this way: people around the globe have difficulties understanding the Oxbridge system, and citizens of the UK are no exception. The Oxbridge college system is unique, despite many American universities (such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc) adopted it. The difference is, that those colleges of American universities are residential, and undergrad only, whereas at Oxford and Cambridge EVERY student is a member of a college, and the colleges are independent charitable institutions on their own right, with own possessions and with a significant degree of autonomy. But research, the faculties, etc are organized by the University core. It’s a bit like US itself: the states have a certain degree of freedom, but in overall belong to something bigger that commands most of the money.</p>
<p>Be as it may, it could easily happen that your friend got into King’s College London, what is a part of the University of London. The UoL is a federal university, like the American state universities, most notably California. In this context, the word “college” stands for a full research university, not a residential-like college of a single university, which is the case with King’s College at Cambridge.</p>
<p><a href=“Study at Cambridge | University of Cambridge”>Study at Cambridge | University of Cambridge;
<p>(There’s a video on the right)</p>