Anian

There is. I did a year at the University of Colorado in the middle of my uni course in britain.

The biggest difference is that US degrees require you to cover lots of subjects outside of your main focus (major). I managed to get around that being a foreign student. The other big difference is the amount of work. The US courses were generally slower but had a lot of work involved. It was like they thought that making you busy would be better than giving you time to understand. The American students were very competitive too, probably due to the way that some courses grade you by how well you do in comparison to everyone else, so a bit of backstabbing went on. On the plus side, the lecturers were much easier to talk with, they had time set aside specifically for students rather than the UK version of trying to squeeze in somewhere.

avanutria

Agreed, there is a lot of difference between the UK and US higher education studies. I did my undergrad degree in the US and graduate degree in the UK, then worked with undergrads in a UK university.

As noted, US universities will require you to complete a "liberal arts component" which will usually involve writing or english comprehension and an assortment of classes in science, social sciences and/or arts. The requirements will vary by university but in most cases the student will be given a framework of requirements and then be able to choose subjects of personal interest within those requirements. Most of the liberal arts stuff will be completed in the first 2.5 of a 4 year degree.

Part of the reason for this, and another way that the US and UK differ, is that in the US college/university (the term is often interchangeable) is considered a time of exploration and personal discovery. Very few students know exactly what they want to do "when they grow up" and changing majors is common. When I was an undergrad I was told that approximately 75% of college students will change their majors at least once. In many institutions you can start as an "undeclared" student and work on your liberal arts requirements while deciding what it is that you wish to pursue as a major. Whereas in the UK you need to start thinking about your intended career when you begin choosing O and A level subjects, in the US you can be 20 years old and still undecided, and the system is designed to handle that.

Anian mentioned the amount of work. I'm not sure that there is a big difference in the amount of work required on each side of the pond - I imagine this will vary more by major and institution than by country - but there is an expectation that you will put in a certain amount of time for each class outside of that class's meeting hours. I think the rule of thumb was two hours of out-of-class work for every hour of class time.

Keep in mind that in the UK the fee status is assessed based on where the student has been living for the three years prior to starting her university studies, so there's a very real possibility that she would end up being assessed as an international student if she chose to study in the UK. You would need to contact the admissions office of her chosen universities in the UK to find out what her likely fee status would be if she went that route.

Bob

Yeah, big difference, cost, length of study, what kind of general studies they do in the first year.

If you're asking about the quality, you'll find good quality and shit quality universities, and courses taught within both type of universities in either country...so it only matters if you are comparing specific type of courses in specific universities for this to have any relevance.