How did universities develop

Figure 1. Depiction of Plato's Academy.

Universities today are a key component for modern states and economies, where the professional classes and academic research are fostered. We often rate societies by their abilities to produce scientific achievement and develop economic success, where universities play a critical role. However, the history of universities was very different, and these institutions were first relatively parochial, and only in recent times have they become pervasive.

Which Societies created the precursors to Universities?

Early institutions of higher learning existed long before universities were established. These early institutions conducted research and taught pupils, similar to our ideas of universities today. Early recordings from Egypt and Mesopotamia suggest some scholars conducted research, and these scholars likely taught and were affiliated with institutions of learning. The Ashurbanipal Library at Nineveh and Library at Sippar were collections of knowledge that likely also had students and teachers associated with them that taught a select group of individuals who learned the complex written languages of their day also began to study and apply their knowledge.

The Platonic Academy of Greece

The first institution that was more fully documented was the Platonic Academy (Figure 1), founded in 387 BCE, with Aristotle's Peripatetic school founded in 335 BCE having derived from Plato's Academy. These schools generally had a select few pupils. They were not institutions for mass education. Perhaps one of the first truly international institutions of higher education was the Musaeum, institutions that brought knowledge to it from around the known world.

The Library of Alexandria

The Library of Alexandria was part of this institution, and it served as a repository for knowledge not just from the Hellenistic world but also accumulated knowledge from Babylonia and Persia that had preceded Greek scholarship. The Musaeum largely functioned like an international university, where students would come to be educated by the best teachers. The Ptolemaic state was tolerant to scholarship and allowed individuals from many regions to come to Alexandria to be involved in this institution.

Creation of Universitie in India

In the ancient world, several regions developed traditions of scholarship. In the Indian subcontinent, Pushpagiri and Nalanda were two well-known centers of higher education. These institutions were devoted to Buddhist teaching and trained individuals in arts, medicine, mathematics, and astronomy. Even politics, or something comparable to political science, or political theory, was taught at these academies. Earlier Hindu higher learning centers, such as Taxilia, also inducted students. This place became associated with one of the earliest economic treatises known to us, a text call the Arthashastra, which also discussed other topics, such as political statecraft.

The Chinese Imperial Training System

China had developed an imperial academy to train bureaucrats during the Han dynasty in Taixue by the 1st century CE. While earlier academies were more akin to private institutions, the Chinese imperial training system became more similar to public education. The school seemed to recruit students nationwide, and admission was based on skills and accolades, demonstrating that higher education had become a form of social mobility and mass education. Up to 30,000 students may have attended the academy at a given time. Later in the 1st millennium CE, the school began to develop an examination system that evaluated its enrolled classes.

The Persian Medical academy - Gundishapur

In ancient Persia, during the Sasanid dynasty around the 3rd century CE, Gundishapur functioned as a medical training and higher education academy. This academy continued to function for some time after the arrival of Islam. It became one of the key influences and foundations for Islamic higher education that succeed it.

Higher education in Rome and the Middle Ages

In Europe, during the Roman and later Antiquity period, scholarship continued to follow the Greeks' Platonic tradition. However, these institutions were closed by the 6th century CE due to their association with pagan practices and philosophies. With the fall of the Roman Empire, scholarship became confined to isolated monasteries. These monasteries trained individuals in learning, mostly those who became priests or monks and began to document some of the Greek and other knowledge from the past.

When were the first Early Universities created?

Figure 2. Merton College in Oxford, one of Oxford's oldest colleges and residences..

The first true university, an institution called such, was founded in Bologna, Italy, in 1088. The Latin phrase universitas magistrorum et scholarium indicated an association of teachers and scholars. At this early date, universities were more of an association or a guild for learning particular crafts. In the case of Bologna, the focus was law. The emphasis was on training students for more developed skills within a particular profession to serve and develop those skills at more professional levels. Oxford, the second oldest university and oldest English speaking university, was probably sometime late in the 11th century. Traditions such as having a chancellor and residence halls had become established by the 13th century. Oxford had established its oldest colleges, Balliol and Merton Colleges, by the mid 13th century (Figure 2).

The early universities, such as Paris, later became the Sorbonne, derived from the monastic or cathedral learning schools that had continued into the early Medieval era after the fall of the Roman Empire. Thus, these early universities were closely affiliated with the Catholic church, although education began to be broad and offered important skills outside of religious education. Despite the religious association of schools, they also developed to be independent and sometimes trained individuals who would come into conflict with the church.

A key development occurred in the founding of the University of Naples, founded in 1224. It was founded as a public institution dedicated to a king rather than the pope or Catholic church. Some see this as the beginning of developing the concept of secular education, although virtually all higher education institutions had religious curriculum as part of their broader education. In Germany, where many cities developed very independent traditions, we see municipalities and municipal governments being active in universities' founding. This is the case with the University of Cologne, founded in 1388.

When were the Modern Universities Established?

By the late Medieval and Early Modern Period, the number of universities began to grow rapidly in Europe, whereby in the 18th century, there were probably around 143 universities. This does not include other forms of higher education institutions that did not call themselves universities, such as academies. The University of Paris began to develop the idea of faculties that differentiated areas of study. The topics of focus that began to develop in universities were philosophy. The traditional title for PhDs is philosophy, medicine, logic, theology, law, mathematics, astronomy, and grammar. These branches of study were seen to be related to a humanistic perspective, as many required translation of ancient works in addition to a focus on the discipline.

Early universities were rigid and heavily influenced by Aristotle's notion of the sciences and learning. However, scholars began to experiment with new ways of learning and experimentation. Disciplines began to break away from a heavy influence of humanistic influences. This led to the divergent development of the sciences from the humanities within an education system. By the 18th century, universities also began developing research journals, encouraging scholars to publish and circulate their findings with other scholars. In Germany, Wilhelm von Humboldt developed ideas of academic freedom, seminars, and laboratories as a way for universities to foster debate, knowledge, and new scientific inquiry.

During the 19th century, public universities available to the masses became more widespread. Only in the 19th century did religion become less of an important focus in the curriculum. This gradually made universities secular higher education institutions. With the development of the Industrial Revolution, many universities began to focus more on the sciences as industrialization began to develop as a form of competition between the Western world. In Britain, the concept of the civic university was seen as an engine for developing a secular, economic potential that used the masses by giving them access to education.

The British Empire and later other European empires began to transplant the European education model around the world. While the United States began to adopt some of the German models for a research university, much of the rest of the world also was instilled with European concepts. These then became pervasive and entrenched within countries such that when colonial powers diminished in the 20th century, the university systems they either founded or had fostered as educational models were largely kept in places such as India, Kenya, and the Middle East.

Conclusion

Today's universities have diversified further. Private universities that have a business-like or for-profit model has been one prominent model developed recently. Intergovernmental and universities built by countries in foreign places have been created to promote ideas or training that is similar to what one might obtain in the home countries. This has spread many similar universities worldwide, where countries with very different cultures and traditions now have relatively similar universities' ideas. This has also become a way in which countries now see universities to compete in the global marketplace, as they train their masses and develop their economic competitiveness.

We see then that higher education changed conceptually from restricted academic institutions to the foundation of universities, which proved to be similar to guilds in the Medieval period. It was only in the late Medieval and Early Modern eras that universities began to spread more rapidly, and in the 19th century, these institutions became fully secular. This secularization, and later acceptance of women, helped the masses to enroll in universities during the 19th century. The concept of mass education became established as industrialization became a key for countries' economic success and power.

References

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