It was widely seen among students as a battle between the universities (Sigerson Cup) and the non-university third-level institutions (Trench Cup).

In the current education system, there are 17 public universities, 51 public non-university institutions, 16 private universities and 89 private higher institutions.

When the CNAA was wound up the British government asked the Open University to continue the work of awarding degrees in non-university institutions.

Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) is a modern technical college and is the country's largest non-university third-level institution.

The remainder are distributed among the more than 20 private universities and a smaller number of non-university institutions.

Although the term "college" is hardly used in any context at any university in South Africa, some non-university tertiary institutions call themselves colleges.

The non-university institutions are however, formally sub-divided, by location and partly by type.

Building on that circle the university and non-university institutions formed Dresden Concept to strengthen international awareness and the position in applications for the German excellence initiative.

There are also several non-university academic institutions and societies that are dedicated to holistic science or open to holistic ideas.

Higher education in France is also provided by non-university institutions dedicated to specific subjects.