Upper division college - American Education

A degree-granting institution of higher education limited to the last two years of the traditional four-year program. Unlike community and junior colleges, which limit their programs to freshman- and sophomore-level college work and confer associate degrees, upper division colleges offer junior- and senior-level studies and confer bachelor’s degrees. College of the Pacific (now University of the Pacific) created one of the first upper division colleges in the United States in 1924, when it established its School of Education. The school was designed to elevate teacher training to a four-year, bachelor’s degree program requiring study of college-level liberal arts and sciences before embarking on studies of pedagogy. At the time, most teacher training was limited to two-year, “normal” school programs that followed high school graduation.