University

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A university is a type of institution that provides higher or tertiary education - that is, education beyond schooling - and serves as a place for experts in academic subjects to conduct research and scholarly exploration of an idea. Modern Western universities tend to be composed of students taking courses that lead to degrees, as well as faculty, adjunct instructors, staff, and administrators. First or undergraduate degrees are ones which lead to a Bachelor's award - afterwards students can carry on and do postgraduate study, which can lead to Master's degrees, or conduct a significant amount of original research in their subject discipline, which is awarded with a Doctorate, or doctoral degree (often a Ph.D.). The university has its origin as a community of scholars (Latin: "universitas magistrorum et scholarium"), although current-day universities are usually large, government-funded or privately-endowed entities employing hundreds or thousands of staff and teaching a wide number of courses.