/* Find all columns names 'course_id' across multiple tables  */

SELECT table_name, column_name              # Find all tables that have 
FROM   information_schema.COLUMNS           # column names like 'course_id'
WHERE  column_name LIKE  '%course_id%';     


/* Find all columns having the same name across multiple tables */

SELECT column_name, table_name              # Find all tables 
FROM   information_schema.COLUMNS           # that have same column names
WHERE  table_schema = 'public'              # for demo database 
ORDER BY 1,2;