Generally, the departments set up by universities are lower than the college level, and they are composed of one or several majors with similar nature, and two or three departments form a college. There is also a large-scale direct department at the same level as the college.

The secondary colleges set up by universities, like departments, are internal units of universities, including several similar disciplines or departments, with relatively independent cultural characteristics and management responsibilities.

2. Different scales:

In terms of scale, colleges are generally larger than departments in terms of the number of majors, the number of teachers and students, the equipment and facilities, and the building area.

Since the 1980s, a number of large-scale teaching, scientific research or research universities with high educational level have been reorganized from departments to colleges. One of the basic conditions for upgrading is that there are certain requirements for the scale of the college, such as enrollment scale, the number and proportion of teachers, laboratory hardware facilities, master's degree programs, national laboratories, graduate thesis level and archiving. After reaching a certain scale, it can be upgraded from a department to a secondary college.

3. Different functions and tasks:

Each department of the school mainly undertakes the tasks of organizing teaching and personnel training, specific scientific research projects and laboratory construction.

When the department was upgraded to a second-level college, with the college as the main body, its functions and tasks have been extended to high-level personnel training, discipline construction, scientific research and scientific and technological development, and due to the expansion of coverage, interdisciplinary, marginal and emerging disciplines have been formed to promote social and economic development through innovative disciplines.

In addition, the social service function of the college is becoming more and more obvious, realizing socialized running of schools, accelerating the cultivation of high-tech applied talents and the transformation of scientific research achievements into productive forces.