University History

The first modern universities developed in Europe during the 1100's. The universities did not originate as places or as groups of buildings. They began instead as collections of scholars organized into corporations with certain privileges and responsibilities. In fact, the word university comes from the Latin universitas, the term for corporation or guild in the Middle Ages. Most European universities were patterned after one of two models. The model for the majority of universities in the north was the University of Paris. Most northern European universities developed from teachers' guilds at cathedral schools. The guilds charged a fee to train students and to grant degrees. The universities that developed from these guilds were run by corporations of teachers. Most of them specialized in liberal arts and theology. The universities gradually received certain privileges from religious and governmental authorities, including the right to admit students. Most southern European universities were modeled after the University of Bologna in Italy, which came into existence about 1100. They began as students' guilds, and most of their students were mature and successful professional people. The guilds hired the professors and set the working conditions. These conditions included punishing teachers for being absent or tardy. Most southern European universities were nonreligious in origin and specialized in law or medicine. During the Middle Ages, the universities did not require students to have completed primary and secondary education to be admitted. As late as the 1500's, a student might go to several universities before learning to read. In each university, students were taught orally. By 1500, nearly 80 universities had been founded in Europe. Some survived a short time. Others still exist. They include the universities of Cambridge and Oxford in England; Montpellier, Paris, and Toulouse in France; Heidelberg in Germany; Florence, Naples, and Rome in Italy; and Salamanca in Spain.

Excerpt adapted from the "Education" article, The World Book Encyclopedia © 1999