History and context of graduate education

Teaching

History and Context of Graduate Education

Many contemporary colleges and universities grew from Western European institutions that were around since the Middle Ages. Important types of higher learning existed in ancient times, in the Middle East, the Far East and Europe. Higher education in ancient Greece began at the Academy which established in about 387 BC by Plato. And also at the Lyceum which was founded in 335 BC by Aristotle. Both of these institutions offered to its students the advanced study of philosophy. During this time the Egyptian city of Alexandria attracted scholars from Greece and the Middle East to its museum and to the great Library of Alexandria. Al Azhar University was founded in the 10th century in Cairo, Egypt, is the central authority for Islamic learning and is still one of the most prominent universities in the Middle East (Colleges and Universities, 2009).

Western European universities evolved as students migrated to various places where noted teachers lectured certain subjects. Students who migrated from the same country often banded together into groups. These groups then developed the concept of the college. In the later part of the 12th century the University of Paris emerged as a leading center for the study of theology and philosophy. This became the model for universities that were established later in northern Europe. The University of Bologna in Italy became the center for the study of law and set the precedence for Italian and Spanish universities. The University of Salerno which was also in Italy became the leading center for the study of medicine. Medieval universities offered a liberal arts curriculum that offered grammar, rhetoric, and logic along with music, astronomy, geometry, and mathematics. Often after completing the liberal arts study, some students went on to the professional studies of theology, law, or medicine (Colleges and Universities, 2009).

In the Renaissance period of European history scholars demonstrated a revived interest in ancient Greek and Latin languages and literature. Medieval universities focused on these classical studies, but the emphasis in the Renaissance turned to the humanistic importance of Greek and Latin scholarship. Scholars in the Renaissance were interested less in the religious meaning of classical literature. Instead they focused on what the literature stated about life on earth. Following the Protestant Reformation in the early 16th century, religious doctrines became the core subjects of higher education. Many universities and colleges during this period were controlled by either Catholic or Protestant churches. They emphasized theological studies and trained priests and ministers as well as lawyers and physicians (Colleges and Universities, 2009).

Throughout the early 17th century the colonists of North America brought their ideas of higher education with them from Europe. These thoughts were shaped by the liberal arts tradition of the medieval universities, by the classical humanism of the Renaissance, and by the religious reforms of the Reformation. British colonists formed their colleges based on Oxford and Cambridge which were the leading English universities (Colleges and Universities, 2009).

Soon after the Puritans immigrated to North America from England, they established Harvard College in order to prepare ministers for the community. The school pursued a traditional liberal arts curriculum with emphasis on the study of Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and theology. Soon other colleges were established in North America, including the College of William and Mary in Virginia in 1693, Yale in Connecticut in 1701, Princeton in New Jersey in 1746, and Columbia University in New York in 1754 (Colleges and Universities, 2009).

Even though most colleges in colonial North America were directly influenced by English universities, many also borrowed from Scottish traditions of higher education. Scottish universities generally offered more mathematics and science programs than were offered by most English universities. The strong mathematics and science programs in Scotland attracted such American students as Benjamin Rush. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh. When he returned to North America in 1769, he helped form the earliest American medical education programs at the College of Philadelphia. After the United States won its independence from England in 1783, the states that made up the new country began to establish state colleges. The University of Georgia was founded in 1785, the University of North Carolina in 1789, the University of Tennessee in 1794, and the University of South Carolina in 180l (Colleges and Universities, 2009).

The University of Virginia was founded under the leadership of Thomas Jefferson in 1819. This marked the beginning of the modern style of state university organization, control, and curriculum. Jefferson's ideas was that the University of Virginia to be free from church control and to promote citizenship and scientific progress. The university was publicly supported and controlled, was a secular rather than religious institution, featured a modern and scientific curriculum while also offering traditional or classical programs, and offered students the opportunity to follow several alternative courses of study rather than just one prescribed curriculum (Colleges and Universities, 2009).

At the end of the 19th century some universities in the United States were influenced by German research universities. In the German institutions, professors that were highly trained in their academic specialties conducted original research in seminars with their graduate students. Several American graduate students attended German research universities and, upon returning introduced the seminar and the scholarly research method to American higher education (Colleges and Universities, 2009).

I thought that it was very interesting that OU ranks first in the Big 12 and at the top in the nation in international reciprocal exchange agreements with universities around the world, due to the fact that they have 174 student exchange agreements with universities in 66 countries. It appears that OU plans to increase the number of students they have studying abroad by more than 50% in the years to come (Public Affairs, 2009).