Universities / Higher Ed

The modern division of formal education into primary, secondary and tertiary levels is relatively modern. In the past most children were instructed informally within the family or small community, and this was only concerned with passing on basic skills, practices and traditions including oral chronicles and historical narratives. From the end of the first millennium in Europe regional administration and organisation, akin to what had existed in Roman times, began to be established and this gave rise to the need for basic and further levels of education. The demand for literacy and numeracy became greater and out the abbeys and cathedrals there emerged schooling based on the classical curriculum. This saw the beginnings of (Latin) grammar schools and the founding of colleges and universities to equip a small minority for the tasks of civil administration. Between the 12th and 15th centuries some thirty-five universities were founded in Europe including Bologna, Oxford, Cambridge, Padua, Coimbra, and Barcelona. In addition to the two English ones three were founded in Scotland: St Andrews, Glasgow and Aberdeen, followed in the next century by Edinburgh. The importance the Scots attached to education beyond parish and grammar school level is indicated by the fact that while in England the first education act was passed in 1870, concerning schooling for children between 5 and 12, in Scotland the 1496 act required landowners to send their eldest sons to colleges or universities to learn Latin, liberal arts and law. The Scottish influence was strong in North America where many liberal arts colleges were founded on its model. By the end of the 19th century a new model of science and technology based education had developed in Germany and it began to be adopted in the US. The debate between humanities education and scientific and vocational training was a feature of the 19th century with Mill and Newman making important contributions. With the expansion of higher education across the world and its rising cost this is again to the fore as, with increasing percentages of populations attending college and university, is the question what are universities for? This has been intensified by the move from libraries to electronic resources and by the shift from class-based to online teaching and research as a result of Covid19 .