University
From Free net encyclopedia
A university is an institution of higher education and of research, which grants academic degrees at all levels (bachelor, master, and doctor) in a variety of subjects. A university provides both tertiary and quaternary education. University is derived from the Latin universitas, meaning corporation (since the first medieval European universities were simply groups of scholars).
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History
Image:Math lecture at TKK.JPG Because of the above definition, there is some controversy regarding what is the world's oldest university between Takshashila, Nalanda and Al-Azhar University depending on the extent of this definition.
Students at Takshashila University, founded in Taxila, Pakistan (a part of ancient India at the time) from around the 7th century BC, were given academic titles after graduating from one of its many courses. Nalanda University, founded in Bihar, India from around the 5th century BC, also gave academic titles to its graduates, while also offering post-graduate courses. Al-Azhar University, founded in Cairo, Egypt in the 9th century, offered a variety of post-graduate degrees, and is usually regarded as the first full-fledged university.
The ancient cities of Takshashila, Nalanda, Vikramasila, and Kanchipura in ancient India were greatly reputed centres of learning in the east, with students from all over Asia. In particular, Nalanda was a famous center of Buddhist scholarship, and as such it attracted thousands of Buddhist scholars from China, East Asia, Central Asia and South-East Asia, while also attracting many students from Persia and the Middle East.
The awarding of academic titles was not a custom of other educational institutions at the time but ancient institutions of higher learning also existed in China (Yuelu Academy), Greece (the Academy), and Persia (Academy of Gundishapur)
The Academy, founded in 387 BC by the Greek philosopher Plato in the grove of Academos near Athens, taught its students philosophy, mathematics, and gymnastics, and is sometimes considered to resemble a university. Other Greek cities with notable educational institutions include Kos (the home of Hippocrates), which had a medical school, and Rhodes, which had philosophical schools. Another famous classical institution was the Museum and Library of Alexandria.
Institutions bearing a resemblance to the modern university also existed in Persia and the Islamic world prior to Al-Azhar University, most notably the Academy of Gundishapur.
In China, there were a number of institutions of higher learning that vaguely resembled universities in the Western sense of the word. In general, these are of considerable antiquity, predating western institutions of higher learning by centuries. In China, it's recorded that the imperial central academy, then called Shangxiang (Chinese: 上庠; Pinyin shàngxiáng, where "shàng" means upper, and "xiáng" is an ancient word for "school") was established during the reign of Emperor Shun (2257 BC - 2208 BC). The higher learning institution - imperial central school was called Piyong in Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC - 249 BC), Taixue in Han Dynasty (202 - 220) and Guozijian in Sui dynasty. For example, Nanjing University traces its source back to the imperial central school at Nanking founded in 258 by the Kingdom of Wu. The early Chinese state depended upon literate, educated officials for operation of the empire, and an imperial examination was established in the Sui Dynasty (581 -618) for evaluating and selecting officials from the general populace.
In the Carolingian period, Charlemagne created a type of academy, called the palace school or scola palatina, in Aachen. Another one was founded near Noyon by Carolingian leaders. The staff of scholars; the aristocrats and clergymen; and Charlemagne himself, shared the vision of educating the population in general, and of training the children of aristocrats in how to manage their lands and protect their states against invasion or squandering. These initiatives were a foreshadow of the rise, in the 11th century, of universities in Western Europe.
The first European medieval university was the University of Magnaura in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey), founded in 849 by the emperor Bardas; followed by the University of Salerno (9th century), University of Bologna (1088), and the University of Paris (c. 1100), later associated with the Sorbonne name. Many of the medieval universities in Western Europe were born under the aegis of the Catholic Church, usually as cathedral schools or by papal bull as Studia Generali. In the early medieval period, most new universities were founded from pre-existing schools, usually when these schools were deemed to have become primarily sites of higher education. Many historians state that universities and cathedral schools were a continuation of the interest in learning promoted by monasteries.
The first university outside Europe in that tradition was the University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, today the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo founded 1538 and insipired in the University of Alcalá de Henares.
In Europe, young men proceeded to university when they had completed their study of the trivium–the preparatory arts of grammar, rhetoric, and logic–and the quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. (See degrees of Oxford University for the history of how the trivium and quadrivium developed in relation to degrees, especially in anglophone universities).
Universities are generally established by statute or charter. In the United Kingdom, for instance, a university is instituted by Act of Parliament or Royal Charter; in either case generally with the approval of Privy Council, and only such recognized bodies can award degrees of any kind.
There is a growing movement, dubbed the University of the Third Age, 'the U3A', which consists of small, independent and autonomous groups of retired scholars and others engaged in study for its own sake, of charitable status and without the award of any form of degree or qualification; a 'university' in the ancient sense of a corporation of scholars. The scope of U3A studies extends far beyond the walls of academe and embraces most of the physical as well as the mental disciplines appropriate to those in the 'third age' of life.
Universities around the world
The funding and organisation of Universities is very different in different countries around the world. In some countries Universities are predominantly funded by the state, while in others funding may come from donors or from fees which students attending the University must pay. In some countries the vast majority of students attend University in their local area, while in other countries Universities attract students from all over the world, and may provide University accommodation for their students.
Currently, only four countries in the world do not possess universities, with twenty small nations being part of two large regional universities, the University of the South Pacific and University of the West Indies. (PDF)
Selective admissions
Unlike community colleges, enrollment at a university is not generally available to everyone. However, admission systems and university structures vary widely around the world, as discussed in the article college admissions. Differences are marked in countries where universities fulfill the role of community colleges in the United States and Europe.
Colloquial usage
Colloquially, the term university may be used to describe a phase in one's life: "when I was at university…"; in the United States, college is often used: "when I was in college…". See the college article for further discussion. In Australia, and New Zealand "university" is often contracted to "uni", which has also recently become common among the young in the United Kingdom. In New Zealand and in South Africa it is sometimes called "varsity", which was also common usage in the U.K. in the 19th century.
The usual practice in the United States today is to call an institution made up of several faculties and granting a range of higher degrees (even if it does not have doctoral programs) a "university", while a smaller institution only granting bachelor's or associate's degrees is called a "college". (See liberal arts college, community college). Nevertheless, a few of the older universities in the United States, such as Boston College, Dartmouth College, and the College of William and Mary, have retained the term "college" in their names for historical reasons, even though they offer a wide range of higher degrees. On the other hand, many smaller state colleges now call themselves "universities", regardless of their limited programs and degree offerings.
See also
- Corporate universities
- List of colleges and universities
- List of oldest universities in continuous operation
- List of academic disciplines
- List of colleges and universities by country
- Medieval universities, including list of
- Muslim educational institutions
- Private university
- Public university
- School and university in literature
- University ranking
- College applications
- Underground education in Poland during World War II
- Wikiportal/University
- Wikiversity
Related terms
- academia - academic rank - academy - admission - alumnus - aula - polytechnic-Brain farm -Bologna process - business schools - Grandes écoles - campus - college - college and university rankings - dean - degree - diploma - discipline - dissertation - faculty - fraternities and sororities - graduate student - graduation - lecturer - medieval university - medieval university (Asia) - mega university - perpetual student - professor - provost - rector - research - scholar - senioritis - student - tenure - tuition - undergraduate - universal access - university administration
References
- Clyde W. Barrow, Universities and the Capitalist State: Corporate Liberalism and the Reconstruction of American Higher Education, 1894-1928, University of Wisconsin Press 1990
- Joe Berry, Reclaiming the Ivory Tower. Organizing Adjuncts to Change Higher Education, Monthly Review Press 2005
- Sigmund Diamond, Compromised Campus: The Collaboration of Universities with the Intelligence Community, 1945-1955, Oxford University Press 1992
- Olaf Pedersen, The First Universities : Studium Generale and the Origins of University Education in Europe, Cambridge University Press, 1998
- Thomas F. Richards, The Cold War Within American Higher Education: Rutgers University As a Case Study, Pentland Press 1998
- Walter Ruegg (ed), A History of the University in Europe, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (3 vols) ISBN 0521361079 (vol 3 reviewed by Laurence Brockliss in the Times Literary Supplement, no 5332, 10 June 2005, pages 3-4).ar:جامعة
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