Before we begin with a historical outline, it is a good idea to understand the original definition of the word “universitas” which is the Latin word for university. It is generally translated as “a group of people who are united as one body, a community, society or corporation” and was initially coined by the first university to exist. This definition is now additionally used to highlight European medieval guilds and other associations which were legally allowed to deliver knowledge to the general public. In other words, the world was aware of its first forerunners of the university during the unique but somewhat controversial period which we know as the Middle Ages.

As time passed on Europe strengthened its interest in Christian religion and numerous monastic and cathedral schools began delivering classes similar to those of a higher education institution. Monks and nuns played the roles of modern professors and tutors while newer generations came with greater interests in learning. 

In turn, this led to the birth of an educational system with a clear structure – monasteries which served as primary schools teaching general subjects and monastic and cathedral schools in the role of delivering secondary education which would later, together with other existing schooling institutions, begin to establish as self-regulating universities for higher learning.

These acts of institutional development were quite logical as secondary schools could provide adequate future educational figures, able to teach the most important areas of knowledge at the time – Arts, Humanities, Medicine and Law.

The University of Paris, which is also known as the second-oldest university on the European continent, marked the beginning of its existence around the year 1150 as an individual corporation associated with Notre Dame de Paris, a French cathedral school. Shortly after emerging the university gained international appraisal for its academic works, especially in Philosophy and Theology, and later on managed to set several standards which have existed ever since. After a series of unfortunate events the university discontinued its activity in 1970 and divided into 13 autonomous universities.

This Parisian university is far from being a sole example, as a diversity of other higher education universities began emerging in other ways. Some were founded by kings like the Charles University in the Czech Republic and the University of Naples in Italy while others were introduced with the help of municipal administrations like the University of Cologne in Germany. 

But the most notable example here is, without a doubt, the University of Bologna, the oldest university in the world. It was founded back in 1088 and introduced as a “universitas” (see above). The university was introduced thanks to people from various nations and was notably visited by many foreign students. It is historically popular for its academic teaching of legal disciplines such as Roman law and degree-awarding principles. The institution proudly exists even today with more than 80,000 students pursuing both Bachelor and Master degrees.

The University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge, both highly regarded as the King and Queen of higher education, originated during the following century in the UK. The so called “boom of new universities” marked its beginning afterwards as a clear indication that humanity is thirsty for knowledge. This was mainly the result of the rediscovery of Aristotle’s works which in turn sparked great interest in a variety of natural and scientific fields. What is more, it is believed that this act itself was a turning point for Western thought and the main reason for the beginning of the Renaissance, a major period in human history. 

The contemporary “version” of the university developed mainly after the 18th century, as humanity progressed into the modern era. There were approximately 143 universities on the European continent, a number which established Germany, Italy, France and Spain as major higher education centers of the world. Additionally, each university was busy with its own research and preparation of different study programmes delivered in a national language. This rapid development, both in quality and quantity, was the result of countless scholars who translated and prepared knowledge for the future generations since the re-emerging of Aristotle.

Despite some drawbacks during the 19th and 20th centuries which disrupted the evolution of higher education for some time, we finally reach the 21st century and the thousands of different universities which currently exist worldwide. We saw that the university has gone through a long way of developing before reaching what we are aware of today. In addition, it is easy to see why Europe is regarded as the birthplace of both the first universities and higher education as an idea and afterwards a complete system.