The History of Higher Education

The medieval Islamic world was also home to medical schools that awarded medical degrees and diplomas to students, a qualification that can be equated to today's Doctor of Medicine degree. The Al-Azhar University founded in Cairo, Egypt, in 975, offered a variety of graduate and postgraduate degrees, including theological seminary, law and jurisprudence, Arabic, astronomy, philosophy, and logic. 

University of Salerno followed the University of Constantinople in the 9th century. Preslav Literary School and Ohrid Literary School in the Bulgarian Empire, also established in the 9th century AD, were the first institutions of higher education in Medieval Europe. The first degree-granting university in Europe was the University of Bologna, which was established in 1088. It was followed by the University of Paris (c. 1150), University of Oxford (1167), and the University of Cambridge (1209). The Roman Catholic Church was responsible for the development of a lot of medieval universities in Western Europe. Many historians state that universities and cathedral schools were a continuation of the interest in learning promoted by monasteries. 

In Europe, students proceeded to university when they had completed their study of the trivium-the preparatory arts of grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic or logic-and the quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. There were also many notable institutions that were providing education and conferring degrees even outside Europe, for example the famous Hanlin Academy, established during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) in China. 

Many external influences, such as periods of Enlightenment, Reformation, and revolution, shaped universities during their development and transition from the medieval era to the modern one. By the 18th century, universities published their own research journals, and by the 19th century, the German and the French university models had arisen. There models of education were renowned across the globe. Universities mostly concentrated on science in the 19th and 20th centuries, and they started to become accessible to the masses after 1914. 

Until the 19th century, religion played a significant role in university curriculum. However, the role of religion and courses related to it began to diminish in the 19th century in most of the universities and colleges, and the German university model was adopted by most higher education institutes. The British also established universities worldwide, and higher education became available to the masses outside of Europe. Today, most universities and colleges follow a similar model and curriculum to provide higher education.