In the past, many of what are now British universities with their own degree-awarding powers were colleges which had their degrees awarded by either a federal university (such as Cardiff University) or validated by another university (for example many of the post-1992 universities). Colleges that had (or have) courses validated by a university are not normally considered to be colleges of that university; similarly the redbrick universities that, as university colleges, prepared students for University of London External Degrees were not considered colleges of that university. Some universities (e.g. Cardiff University) refer to their academic faculties as "colleges", such purely academic subdivisions are not within the scope of this article.