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In British English, how should I properly write a sentence like

What knowledge is required at university?

Basically, I want to ask what knowledge is required for study at a university or in a university, or in university, as appropriate to the sense of being a student at the university.

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    Hello, Saras, and welcome. I think you need to tell us a little more about the kind of knowledge you're talking about. Do you, for example, mean knoweledge of a particular subject? If so, which one?
    – Barrie England
    Commented Jan 13, 2012 at 21:25
  • In the UK I think it would be odd to speak of academic requirements for entering a university. It normally depends almost entirely on the particular course you're interested in.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jan 13, 2012 at 22:46
  • Hello @Barrie England how should I phase a sentence that I've wrote below the first answer?
    – Saras
    Commented Jan 14, 2012 at 10:11

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Either at university or in a university would sound odd (without being ungrammatical) because the usual context is a specific course, or at least subject. There are plenty of people within university buildings who have neither knowledge nor skills. [Some of them may even be professors ;)]

"This is the knowledge required to pursue a university course in Computer Studies" or "...to study at university level" would be right if your paper qualifications are sufficient but you are worried that you might be thought not to know enough. (I find that idea odd, but this probably isn't the place.)

"This will enable me to meet the requirements for the Computer Science BSc course at Redbrick University" or just "This will allow me to study Computer Science at Redbrick" (which will be taken to mean the same, despite its technical ambiguity) would be right in the more usual situation where you already know enough to understand a degree course, but don't have the relevant pieces of paper.

(synthesized from comments, with particular thanks to Barrie England, as ever)

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  • Does 'Computer Studies' has to be in capitals?
    – Saras
    Commented Jan 15, 2012 at 22:26
  • can degree be instead of course, like: "This is the knowledge required to pursue a university degree in Computer Studies" or does it sound wrong?
    – Saras
    Commented Jan 15, 2012 at 22:34
  • 'Computer Studies' is the name of the subject and the course: there are books on computer science as there are on history, but they are read in the History department. Degree can usually be used instead of course, with some loss of precision. And if these points are important, perhaps you could have put them into the original question? We're all happy to help, but not necessarily to play 'guess what you were thinking of'.
    – Tim Lymington
    Commented Jan 15, 2012 at 23:08
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It might be "What is the procedure for admission into ABC University?" Or "What are the requirements to be accepted ... ?"

E.g:

The basic admission requirement is a high-school-leaving certificate.
Once you have met the requirements for University Entrance ...

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  • Hello, if I want to say that: 'This course would provide me the knowledge required (at or in) (a) university.' How should I phrase that, or do I still need to mention the course I'll be studying? If so, how could I phrase that using Computer Science as a course?
    – Saras
    Commented Jan 14, 2012 at 9:26
  • @Sara, you can say something like this: This course will provide me with necessary knowledge and skills.
    – Mustafa
    Commented Jan 14, 2012 at 9:51
  • but I want to say that it will provide me with necessary knowledge and skills (ar or in) (a) university
    – Saras
    Commented Jan 14, 2012 at 10:08
  • @Saras, it will provide me with knowledge and skills necessary at a university.
    – Mustafa
    Commented Jan 14, 2012 at 10:16
  • @Saras: It sounds now as if you're considering a pre-university course and that you want to say that it will give you the knowledge you need to go on to university. Is that right? If so, you could say something on the lines of Mustafa's suggestion.
    – Barrie England
    Commented Jan 14, 2012 at 10:32

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