THE BIRTH OF THE IDEA OF A UNIVERSITY AND ITS MEDIEVAL EMBODIMENT

Abstract

Our postmodern era is characterized by the ending of a University and disappearance of the idea of higher education. The awareness of the ending of a University should contain a clear image of its beginning. But that is not the case. Even after so much time, there are still opacities regarding the origin, forming and growth of the idea of a University, especially regarding its forming in the Middle Ages. The only thing certain is that the idea and reality of a University cannot be attributed solely to one civilization and historical period. The author considers that the idea of higher education and its first establishments was not conceived in the West, but in the East, in ancient India, China, and Greece and early Byzantium. The paper treats the attitude that the Muslim mind is responsible for the idea of higher education and its first historical establishments. It contributed to the appearance and growth of the medieval Western-European idea of a University and to its concrete realizations. Further on, the author develops a discourse on nature of an European medieval University and its complete institutional establishment in the 20th century. Keywords: higher education, the idea of a University, Middle Ages, East, Antiquity, Islam, Christianity, West

Citation

Copyright

Article metrics