THE IDEA OF A UNIVERSITY
Professor C. O. Oluwafemi
Physics Department May 25th, 2007

THE EARLY STAGES
………….(Eleventh and twelfth centuries)

A resurgence of studies, mainly in medicine, law and theology occurred at a number of European cities (significantly at Bologna, Salerno and Paris).

Profound scholarsticism in the schools soon attracted privileges from the Church and the state( including some measure of academic freedom) .

Significantly, in the last quarter of the twelfth century three schools in France "unived to form a university” – The University of Paris.

THE TERMS
University:
meant any of the following:

• An entire group of persons involved in scientific pursuits in a given institution; the entirety of teachers and students;

• Alexander IV (1255) referred expressly to the “Universitãs” as all masters and scholars residing in Paris, regardless of their societal leanings

• Later, “universitas” and “studum” (or “studum generale”) were used promiscuously to denote institutions of learning across all the cities of learning” – Bologna and Salerno, Paris and Oxford.

b. Faculty
Usage:
Initially, a discipline or branch of knowledge
Later, a group of professors engaged in teaching the same subject.
Much later, by statute, the internal affairs of each faculty were regulated and lines of demarcation drawn between its spheres and those of other faculties.

c. ‘Degrees’
Evolved to mean “the various steps its takes (gradus) by which a student advanced from the stage of a simple scholar to that of a master or doctor. Three degrees emerged: the baccalaureate, the licentiate, and doctorate or mastership

ESTABLISHMENT AND GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
Establishment
The Church
Mainly through papal charter
Expectedly, the popes facilitated funding, protection (academic freedom), tax relief, etc.
To a lesser extent by the Archbishop and bishops (but with papal approval)

The State or Civil Authority (i.e. emperors and kings) through statutes and decrees.
Except that establishments by the royal (i.e. kings), need be assented to by the emperor (usually?).


In summary, a delicate scheme of cooperation between the Holy see and civil authority evolved with the following characteristics of ownership and control:
Unity of faith (in the common cause)
A hierarchical jurisdiction prevailed, such that the West was united in one Church (i.e. the Catholic Church, (N.B. Russia, being dominated by the charismatic Greek Church had no University in the Middle Ages)
Statistics (before the Renaissance)
81 Universities established:
13 grew spontaneously (ex consuetudine);
33 by papal charter;
15 by imperial or royal authorities;
20 by both papal and imperial (or royal) charters.

Characteristics
Earliest Universities had no charter, grew “ex consuetidine”
From those others emerged
……….. by migration
……….. by establishment
Migration was influenced by circumstances.
------Early Universities possessed no buildings like modern halls or laboratories,
------Relocated
at the instance of any conflicts between town and gown.
Thus, there occurred
……….”Successions”: from Bologna to Vicenza (1224), to Arezzo (1213), to Padua (1222), the great dispersion from Paris (1229).
………Migrations: (1209) from Oxford to Cambridge.
Very international in outlook; hence the use of the word Nations in describing constituents of some of those Universities.

Legacies of the medieval Universities
It bestowed on the modern university the essential ingredients of
Corporate teaching
Faculty organization
Courses of study
Academic degrees
--all of which turned out to be a threat to the content and structure of learning and to Christendom itself during the Renaissance!

THE UNIVERSITY DURING THE RENAISSANCE
Renaissance professors were uncomfortable with the content/style of learning of the medieval university; they viewed the content as being too heavy on the side of dialectic (i.e. more time was spent on a little knowledge). Humanism triumphed.

Some significant effects were:
The younger scholars revolted against the dryness of scholastic exercises as well as the restrictions of the Statutes. These unguarded instincts spilled to town and led to university reforms.
At some stage, Luther (for example) suggested a replacement of scholastic theology with pure teaching of the Gospel.

Monasteries were confiscated and revenues from the Church properties used for Protestant foundations.
Universities lost much of their international character and, with it, depth of intellectual life.
In 1549, a royal visitation eliminated from the statute every trace of the papacy.
In 1560 (in Scotland) abolition of papal jurisdiction and ratification of Protestant doctrine.
In Paris, the struggle between the Jesuits (the Society of Jesus) and the university led to the substitution of royal for papal supremacy.
UNIVERSITY IN THE MODERN AGE
a. In Germany:

Freedom of research became a prominent character.
Systematic lectures replaced the exposition of texts, seminars replaced the clumsy disputations.
Free scientific culture emerged, as at the University of Berlin (1980).
Philosophy became a leading subject; ahead of philology, Classical Romance and German.
Laboratory training became an indispensable component of science.
Among other things, the doctorate (Ph.D.) became a requisite for university teaching.

b. In England and Scotland:
Several statutes regulated the system of examinations and degrees.
Religious tests were abolished (1871) and traditional oaths gave way (1872)
Certain restrictions on learning by erstwhile Elizabethian code was removed.
The monopoly of higher education hitherto enjoyed by Oxford and Cambridge got broken; new Universities emerged: e.g. London (1825), Durham (1832).
c. In the United States.
Earliest: Harvard (1636), Yale (1701), Princeton (1726), Washington and Lee (1749), Pennsylvania (1751), Kings i.e. Columbia (1754), Brown (1764).
A most distinguishing principle was, and still is, that they were (are) meant
“to meet actual needs rather than perpetuate traditions; and since these needs are constantly changing, it is quite intelligible that new forms of University organization should appear and that older forms should frequently be readjusted”

Proprietory, Funding and Effects :
Established, in the main, by private individuals and this is the basis of the independence of these institutions from diversionary State interventions.
The Charters, especially of the older ones, explicitly upheld the furthering of morality and adherence to religion and some Christian Sects. (Divinity Schools are still in Harvard, Yale and Princeton).
Many State Universities (and some recently established private Universities) exclude theology.
Substantial financial endowment by individuals are made to scientific research, as evidence of practical interest in education as a purveyor of moral, social and economic growth.
In tune with the emphasis on practical University education, students’ preference for applied science is manifested; and this principle influences the lower strata of education.

Women emancipation:

------ Hitherto not admitted to Universities, American women began to have access to University education, specifically as from 1870 at Michigan.

------ As from mid-nineteenth century women were admitted to courses in law, medicine and engineering, hitherto the exclusive preserves of the male-folk!
Entrepreneurial Universities
Raison d’etre?
………...Relevance of Universities in the modern industrial world.
Professor Jochen Ronke (1998) comments:
“New knowledge and ideas, taken for itself, i.e. remaining separated from innovation, are economically worthless”.
It is in the “economic application of new knowledge produced in the science system that problems multiply. Their solution requires…. the mutation of traditional research and teaching into an entrepreneurial university”.

In Operation:
The University can be entrpreneurial
as an organizational entity;
if its individual members (i.e. faculty, students and staff) are themselves entrepreneurs;
with respect to its environment i.e., “structural coupling” between it and its region along entrepreneurial patterns.

Types of entrepreneurs?
Routine entrepreneurs
They engage in a repetitive production of their own brand. They form the core of any economy and organization, universities inclusive.

“Arbitrageurs”
They “discover and make use of discrepancies in the variation of products, production factors and assets”.

Innovators
Practicalize new ideas: In three main ways as far as the University is concerned:
(i) “diffusion of new knowledge within a scientific community”;
(ii) teach new knowledge;
(iii) solve economic problems with new knowledge – the so-called Schumpeterien interpretation. This is most germaine for the University system and may have (i) & (ii) subsumed within it.

UNIVERSITY TRADITIONS
(a) Tradition of Excellence
Excellence is the soul of a true university.
Evidenced by
(i) Academic pursuits
Manifested
In teaching and dissemination of knowledge with emphasis on
------ accuracy,
------ effectiveness,
------ update.
In research
Essential ingredients
------ constant update with the state of the art
------ rigour at the problem formulation stage
------ rigour and tenacity at the stages of analysis, interpretations and solutions.
------ If a leader, proper mentoring.

Examples
of bad mentoring:
“Einstein’s parents feared for a while that he might be mentally retarded for he learnt to speak much later than customary, one of his teachers said to him “you will never amount to anything Einstein”, in despair at his daydreaming and his negative attitude towards formal instruction; he failed to get a high school diploma and, with no job prospects, at the age of fifteen he loafed like a “model drop out”. Einstein’s first attempt to gain admission to a polytechnic ended when he failed to pass an entrance examination…….”

of tenacity and resilience
-------- In conversation with Albert Einstein, R.S Shankland (1963) writes: “I asked Professor Einstein how long he had worked on the Special Theory of Relativity before 1905. He told me that he had started at age 16 and worked for ten years; first as a student when, of course, he could spend only part-time on it, but the problem was always with him. He abandoned many fruitless attempts, ‘until at last it came to me that time was suspect’ ”.
-------- “In 1880, Alexander Bell and his associate, Sumner Tainter, discovered photo acoustic effect in an attempt to discover an optical communication system. Interest in the photoacoustic effect waned in a few years because of limitations of equipment of late 19th century. In the early 1970’s, activity was revived in photoacoustic measurements with the impetus coming from research at Bell Laboratories” McClleland(1979).

Lasting Effect:
By virtue of their monumental professional exploits, renowned academics are role models to many, even on a global scale.

(ii) General Procedures and Processes:
The university has almost entirely systematized its procedures through the committee system, the rationale being that:
(i) Details of virtually all problems are best discussed/debated by a few selected members of the community armed with carefully defined terms of reference
(ii) Time is saved from the otherwise seemingly unending and, if not confusing, debates characteristic of a full faculty or Senate.

Some key committees include those of
Council/BOR
………A & P
………F & GPC
………Development, etc.
.
Senate
………Admissions( to degree programmes)
………Ceremonies
………Publications
………Honours, etc.
Both Council / BOR and Senate
------ Special Assemblies
………Congregation
………Convocation, etc.
Ad hoc
………Largely by Management
Effects: The Committee system may slow down university processes but this is inevitable and the end results – thoroughness and innovations – more than compensate for any time lost.


(iii) Environment (Physical)
Careful thinking usually goes into the production of a university master – plan. The result is a serene, beautiful and safe environment (a la. C.U.!)

(iv) Hierarchy
The university is a highly ordered society: this hierarchical nature is usually quietly but firmly upheld.
Celebration of Excellence
Excellence is celebrated both within the university and by the town through
Endowed Chairs
Foundations - with ample funds to sustain renowned laboratories/special structures and/or perpetuate the names of academics associated therewith and/or of remarkable statesmen.
Examples are:
------ Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (U.S),
------ Lincoln Laboratory (U.S),
------ Cavendish Laboratory (Cambridge, U.K.)
------ Appleton Laboratory (U.K),
------ Lambo’s Aro Mental Hospital (Abeokuta, Nigeria);
Special Honours, as accorded Fellows of some Universities__
Medals and prizes for remarkable academic achievements;
“Grandeur” associated with processions during special university ceremonies of convocation, inaugural lectures, etc.;

Honorary Degrees : in appreciation of excellence either in town or within the university itself ;
Academic Dress:
Origin “Cap and gown” for the Bachelors degree derived from garbs worn by medieval students who invariably belonged to the clerical order .

Medieval times
------ Students’ robe
black lined with sheepskin for winter warmth;
plain hoods with modest lamb wool or rabbits fur for warmth and fancy;
------ Masters and doctors.
hoods and gowns trimmed with more exotic fur (miniver);
the biretta (or square cap) with a tuft on top in colours of red and scarlet.

Modern times
The head dress (the modern black cap with its tassel) was “highjacked” by undergraduates and finally by ‘choir boys’.

Over the centuries, the shapes and colours of garments have charged considerably and from university to university.
Doctors robes in scarlet and / or purple.

The modern Chancellor
Dresses of Chancellors of British universities were modeled after that of the Lord Chancellor of the realm; historically, the early Chancellors were members of the House of Lords!

Vice Chancellor
Robes slightly subdued relative to the Chancellor’s, apparently to reflect the ‘deputy status’ to the Chancellor. (The Vice-Chancellor being the chief executive in residence to supervise day-to-day running of the university in the absence of the Chancellor). In the medieval times the Vice Chancellor held awesome powers. Consider these:
in 1276, a Vice Chancellor in Cambridge held such awesome powers as the Chancellors as:
-------stand as judge in the university court with powers of arrest and imprisonment of masters and students e.g.
----- an organist of All Saints was imprisoned for three hours for adultery,
-----an Oxford master was locked up for inciting his students to drag a priest out of the pulpit who was reading his excommunication.
Traditions Peculiar to Individual Universities
May be for sentimental, fancy or historical reasons, or combinations thereof.
Some Examples:
University of Texas, U.S.A.

Arbor Day
When Texas Tech first started, most of the funds went towards the buildings, but the campus was lacking in its landscape. Then, in 1937, president Knapp decided to dedicate one day every spring to beautify the campus. On the first day of this now annual tradition, 20,000 trees were planted. This Tech tradition still goes on today as students and teachers plant trees and beautify the campus on Arbor Day.

The Blarney Stone
On St. Patrick's Day in 1939 Texas Tech University unveiled that they had discovered a piece of the Blarney Stone. According to the legend the stone was discovered by a group of petroleum engineers while they were on a field trip. After doing tests it was discovered that the stone was a piece of the original Blarney Stone. The stone now lies on a stand in front of the old Electrical Engineering Building. It is said that seniors that kiss the Blarney Stone upon graduation will receive the gift of eloquent speech.
Homecoming
Homecoming is an exciting week full of activities for Texas Tech students. Such activities include a bonfire, parade, float competitions, open houses, award programs, and of course the homecoming football game. Another favorite event, which has been around since 1954, is the election of the homecoming queen.

Matador Song
Fight, Matadors, for Tech! Songs of love we'll sing to thee, Bear our banners far and wide. Ever to be our pride, Fearless champions ever be. Stand on heights of victory. Strive for honor evermore. Long live the Matadors!
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA

Mobot
"Mobot," a general term resulting from shortening "mobile robot", is an annual competition at Carnegie Mellon that made its debut in 1994. In this event, robots try (autonomously) to pass through gates, in order, and reach the finish line. There is a white line on the pavement connecting the gates, and the line is normally used to find the gates, though it is not mandated by the rules that the robots follow the line. Towards the end of the course, the lines split and merge randomly, and knowledge of which line leads to the next gate is needed to consistently finish the course. This information is provided by the judges shortly before the actual competition begins. The current undergraduate mobot course record is held by winners in the year 2001, Alok Ladsariya and Anthony Rowe, whose mobot used the CMUcam for capturing images of the racetrack. Their second robot, "Barney," is the only finishing mobot on record to call into question whether each gate must be passed in the forward direction in order to count. The overall mobot course record is held by a winner in the year 2004, Joshua Pieper, a masters student in electrical and computer engineering.

Some Nigerian Universities
Founders Day

Rag day (originally conceptualized to demonstrate the sensitivity of university students to the realities of the society at large).

Covenant University
____ College week: Tech (CST), Brain (CHD), etc.
____ Man in the House ( Spirituality).
UNIVERSITY AS A BALANCED SOCIETY
Seen from the multidimensional perspective of

------ Mental nurturing
------ Physical well being
------ International Character
------ Beauty and Serenity (a la C.U.)
------ Government and order
------ Political/social alertness and responses thereto
------ Extra-curricula activities
sports
organized interaction with ‘town’
general awareness
music, etc.

Resultant Effect:
To be in a balanced university community is not to wish for any other thing in life!

Consider the following quotes:
“The only thing that gives me pleasure, apart from my work, my violin and my sailboat, is the appreciation of my fellow workers”
…………………………..Albert Einstein

“Politics is for the moment while an equation is for eternity”. ……………………Albert Einstein


CONCLUSION
The University evolved as a knowledge factory and had remained essentially so. Its processes had been significantly influenced, dynamically, by its initiators – the Church, the State and private individuals, in that order.

Excellence is at the core of its traditions and this is jealously nurtured. In consequence, the University must be blind to colour and race: it must be international in outlook. This, in turn, accounts for its uniqueness as a balanced community ,i.e., one most suited for academic fulfilment for its adherents.