Replying to college/univeristy??

OK, i thought college and university were the same thing.
but today i read in the newspaper about law school at stanford and how the students had at first gone to college and then went on to university at stanford.

so what is college, what is the difference between college and university? is a university just a 'better' college?

in sweden we have high school until the age of 18 and then it´s univeristy and nothing in between.