EARLY HIGHER EDUCATION
Development of Colleges and Universities
Although modern colleges and universities evolved from Western European
institutions of the Middle Ages, significant types of higher learning existed
in ancient times, in the Middle and Far East as well as in Europe. Some of
these Eastern institutions still flourish.
Historical Antecedents
In Greece, the Academy of Plato and the Lyceum of Aristotle were advanced
schools of philosophy. During the Hellenistic period, which began
in the 4th century BC, Athens attracted many Roman students, later including
the statesmen and writers Julius Caesar, Cicero, Augustus, and Horace. Also
important during this period was the Egyptian city of Alexandria, with its
great library and museum, which attracted scholars
from the Middle East. The Jewish academies in Palestine and Babylonia, which
produced the Talmud, promoted religious and secular intellectual pursuits from
about AD 70 through the 13th century. The University of Nalanda, in northern
India, where native and Chinese students studied Buddhism, functioned until the
13th century. Institutions of higher education flourished in China itself from
the 7th century and in Korea from the 14th century. The Al Azhar University in
Cairo, now more than 1000 years old, is the central authority for Islam.
Another Islamic institution of equal antiquity is Al Qarawiyin University in
Fes, Morocco.
Medieval Universities
Western European universities developed as students migrated to various places
where noted teachers lectured on subjects of particular interest to them.
Language was no barrier because lectures and disputation were conducted in the
universal tongue, Latin. By the 12th century Paris was established as the
center for theology and philosophy, and the University of Paris became the
model for later universities in northern Europe. Bologna, Italy, was the center
for the study of law, and the University of Bologna set the pattern for Italian
and Spanish universities. Beginning in the 13th century, universities were
established in France, England, Germany, Bohemia, and Poland. Students
migrating from the same country banded together into so-called nations for
mutual aid and protection. From these communities developed the concept of the
college (Latin collegium, "society"). Medieval universities had the right to
suspend studies when conditions in their towns and cities were unfavorable and
to confer degrees that included the privilege of teaching in any Christian
country.
From: "Colleges and Universities," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 97 Encyclopedia. (c)
1993-1996 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
GUINNESS BOOK OF RECORDS:
The oldest educational institution in the world is the University of Karueein,
founded in AD 859 in Fez, Morocco.
Last updated on 29 December 1998
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