In higher education, a course is a unit of teaching that typically lasts one academic term, is led by one or more instructors (teachers or professors), and has a fixed roster of students.
Courses generally have a fixed program of sessions every week during the term, called lessons or classes.
The entire collection of courses required to complete an academic degree is called a program (or programme) of studies.
Unlike most European university courses, grades are generally determined by all of these kinds of work, not only the final examination.
Motivations for choosing such a program include a wish to experience other cultures and to learn how to work in the clinical situations in other countries.
An English major, for example, might also study one or two years of chemistry, biology or physics as well as mathematics and a foreign language.
Elective courses are also offered in the third and fourth years of university, though the choice is more restrictive and will depend upon the particular major the student has chosen.
For example, at the University of British Columbia, students intending to specialize in Sanskrit as part of a major in Asian language and culture will usually have to complete several Sanskrit and Hindustani or Punjabi courses during the first two years of university, as well as additional courses in other languages of India in the third and fourth years of study.
This common numbering system began to be used in the 1920s[4] and was designed to make transfer between colleges easier.
[4] It eventually gave the US slang term "101" used to designate elementary knowledge in any subject, academic or not; as in "boiling potatoes is cooking 101".