Institute vs. Institution

Main Difference

The main difference between Institute and Institution is that the Institute is a organisational body created for a certain purpose and Institution is a structure or mechanism of social order and cooperation governing the behaviour of a set of individuals within a given community.

• Institute

  An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose.

  Often they are research organisations (research institutions) created to do research on specific topics. An institute can also be a professional body, or one involved in adult education, see Mechanics’ Institutes.

  In some countries institutes can be part of a university or other institutions of higher education, either as a group of departments or an autonomous educational institution without a traditional university status such as a “university Institute”. (See Institute of Technology)

  The word “institute” comes from the Latin word institutum meaning “facility” or “habit”; from instituere meaning “build”, “create”, “raise” or “educate”.

  In some countries, such as South Korea and Japan, private schools are sometimes referred to as institutes, rather than schools. In Spain secondary schools are referred to as institutes.

• Institution

  Institutions are “stable, valued, recurring patterns of behavior”. As structures or mechanisms of social order, they govern the behaviour of a set of individuals within a given community. Institutions are identified with a social purpose, transcending individuals and intentions by mediating the rules that govern living behavior.

  The term “institution” commonly applies to both informal institutions such as customs, or behavior patterns important to a society, and to particular formal institutions created by entities such as the government and public services. Primary or meta-institutions are institutions such as the family that are broad enough to encompass other institutions.

  As structures and mechanisms of social order, institutions are a principal object of study in social sciences such as political science, anthropology, economics, and sociology (the latter described by Émile Durkheim as the “science of institutions, their genesis and their functioning”). Institutions are also a central concern for law, the formal mechanism for political rule-making and enforcement.