院 is a bound morpheme (b.f.) that typically appears as the second element in compound nouns. It has several related senses: a physical enclosure (courtyard/compound, as in 院子), an educational or research institution (college/institute/academy, as in 学院 or 研究院), a government branch (as in 法院 'court'), or a public facility (as in 医院 'hospital' or 电影院 'cinema'). When you see 院 in a word, the first character tells you the specific type.