15,697
edits
Changes
no edit summary
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.
==Early DevelopmentWhich cultures created early 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. <ref>For more on learning in Mesopotamia and Egypt, see: Krebs, Robert E. 2004. Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions, and Discoveries of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions, and Discoveries through the Ages. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.</ref>
====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.<ref>For more on the early Greek higher education institutions, see: Reale, Giovanni, John R. Catan, and Giovanni Reale. 1990. Plato and Aristotle. A History of Ancient Philosophy, Giovanni Reale ; 2. Albany, NY: State Univ. of New York Press, pg. 149.</ref> 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.<ref>For more on the Musaeum and Library at Alexandria, see: MacLeod, Roy M., ed. 2000. The Library of Alexandria: Centre of Learning in the Ancient World. London ; New York : New York: I.B. Tauris ; In the U.S.A. and Canada distributed by St. Martin’s Press.</ref>====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.<ref>For more on India's higher education ancient tradition, see: Mookerji, Radhakumud. 1989. Ancient Indian Education: Brahmanical and Buddhist. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.</ref>
====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.<ref>For more on China's early higher education and imperial academy, see: Becker, Jasper. 2000. The Chinese. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, pg. 8.</ref>
====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.<ref>For more on Gundishapur, see: Esposito, John L., ed. 1999. The Oxford History of Islam. New York, N.Y: Oxford University Press, pg. 742.</ref>
====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.<ref>For a history of early Medieval European learning, see: Kleinhenz, Christopher, ed. 2004. Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia. The Routledge Encyclopedias of the Middle Ages. New York: Routledge, pg. 314.</ref>
