Today’s college students picture lecture halls, degrees, libraries, rankings, and placements when they think of institutions. However, rarely do individuals and students stop to think about the more important question, i.e., who created the university system?
The concept of an organised, degree-granting institution of higher learning, autonomous with experienced faculty, exams and international organisations rather than only the initial location where teaching took place. Surprisingly, Moroccois where the first university is, Italy is where it significantly changed, and India is where it found philosophical depth.
While ancient learning facilities existed in India (Nalanda) and Persia, Morocco is credited with the world’s first continually operational, degree-awarding university system, which was established in 859 AD by Fatima al-Fihri as the University of al-Qarawiyyin in Fez, which is recognised by UNESCO. Al-Qarawiyyin is the earliest known modern university system, while European universities such as the University of Bologna (Italy, 1088) came after.
How Italy Established the Oldest University System?
If Morocco were the framework of organised higher education, then Italy is the point at which higher education evolved into a system that was planned, organised, and cross-border scalable. This was the most significant change in academic history for college students acquiring degrees, the establishment of departments, credits and exams that take place today.
By the late eleventh century, Europe was experiencing significant social transformations, where cities were growing, laws were getting more complicated, and there was an increasing demand for qualified professionals, including scholars, administrators, jurists, and doctors.
Italy, which was at the nexus of trade, classical knowledge, and religion, reimagined schooling. The University of Bologna (1088), a self-governing guild (universitas) of students and masters, emerged from existing schools and led to the establishment of Italy’s university system. This was followed by the establishment of other universities like the University of Naples Federico II (1224), which was the first state-funded university, which was establishing a model for organised higher education with faculties, autonomous bodies and degrees.
Given below are some of the key features which helped establish Italy’s Early University System:-
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So, the country which established the first university system was Morocco, Italy was the one to systemise it, and learning was enriched in India. And till today, the university system followed by a university was invented by Italy.
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