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Arguably the first western university was the Academy founded in 387 BC by the Greek philosopher Plato in the grove of Academos near Athens, where students were taught philosophy, mathematics and gymnastics.
The first European medieval universities were established in Bologna ( Italy) and Paris ( FranceThe French Republic or France ( French: Republique francaise or France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents.) in the Middle AgesThe Middle Ages formed the middle period in a schematic division of European history into three 'ages': Classical civilization, the Middle Ages, and Modern Civilization. It is commonly dated from the end of the Western Roman Empire ( 5th century) until th for the study of lawThis article is about law in society. For other possible meanings, see law (disambiguation). Law (a loanword from Danish-Norwegian lov , in politics and jurisprudence, is a set of rules of conduct which mandate or proscribe (or both) specified relationshi, medicineSee drugs, medication, and pharmacology for substances that treat patients. This article is about medical practice. Medicine is a branch of health science concerned with restoring and maintaining health and wellness. Broadly, it is the practical science o, and theologyTheology is literally rational discourse concerning God ( Greek θεος, theos "God", + λογος, logos "rational discourse"). By extension, it also refers to the study of other religious topics..
Well before, similar institutions already existed in PersiaPersia is the historical name for the state of Iran. The name was used in the West due to the ancient Greek name for Iran, Persis''. Persia is used to describe the nation of Iran, its people, or its ancient empire. The name Persia comes from a province in and the Islamic world, notably the Academy of GundishapurThe Academy of Gundishapur was founded in 666 AD by Sassanids during the reign of Shapur I of Persia. Gundishapur complex consisted of an academy, a university, a library and a teaching hospital. Its name is also written as "Gondeshapur", "Jondishapour" e and later also Al Azhar university in Cairo, which remains the oldest operating university in the world. One of the most important Asian universities, next to the Persian Academy of Gundishapur, was Nalanda, in Bihar, India, where the second century Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna was based.
In Europe young men proceeded to the university when they had completed the study of the trivium: the preparatory arts of grammar, rhetoric, and logic; and the quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. See Degrees of Oxford University, §1 for the history of how the trivium and quadrivium developed in relation to degrees, especially in anglophone universities.
Universities are generally established by statute or charter. In the United Kingdom, for instance, a university is instituted by Act of Parliament or Royal Charter; in either case generally with the approval of Privy Council, and only such recognised bodies can award degrees of any kind.
In France, students can also attend Grandes écoles, which are very prestigious and elitist schools, with small promotions -- usually, a couple of hundreds students -- and very selective competitive exams at the entrance. There are Grandes écoles for literature, business, and engineering. Formation provided in these schools is usually of a better level than the corresponding one in French universities. The system of the Grandes écoles is particular to the French education.
In the United States, universities are usually treated by the law as a corporation like any other, although many states impose special responsibilities to safeguard the welfare of a university's students. Because the American federal government does not directly organize or regulate universities, informal systems of accreditation have been developed by regional networks of academic institutions. The vast majority of private and public American universities are non-profit (meaning that excess tuition is plowed into providing higher quality of service), but starting in the 1970s, many for-profit colleges and universities were founded to take advantage of certain changes in the federal student assistance programs.
In the late 19th century, the U.S. Congress encouraged the creation of many land-grant universities.
In the last decades of the 20th century, a number of mega universities have been created, teaching with distance learning techniques.