I want to know how the structure and organization came about. Where, when, why. Things like that. Thanks!
This is a really interesting question, and while I do not have a complete answer, I’ve done some research to find what I can about this topic. (I wish I knew more!) Universities, as we think of them today, go back to the medieval world:
"The University of Constantinople, founded in 849 in Byzantium, is considered by some to be the earliest institution of higher learning with some of the characteristics we associate today with a university (research and teaching, auto-administration, academic independence, et cetera), though it was not considered a "degree-granting university". The first university in the modern sense, which issued academic degrees, was the University of Al Karaouine in Fez, Morocco … founded in 859"
-from Wikipedia, I’m sorry I couldn’t find you a more reliable source. I do know that even early Greco-Roman academies had Academic divisions, if not the administrative departments we see today.
"Although each institution is differently organized, nearly all universities have a board of trustees; a president, chancellor, or rector; at least one vice president, vice-chancellor, or vice-rector; and deans of various divisions."
-also Wiki… looking at these administrative divisions, I can infer that this organization probably came with the European Universities, i.e. "University of Bologna (1088), the University of Paris (c. 1100), and the University of Oxford (11th century)." The reason I say this is that, for instance, the University of Oxford to this day reflects the academic organization and structure, so I deduce that historically, at least in some form, the hierarchy of administrative duties and the separation of Academic disciplines occurred in the early years of Oxford. This still leaves about a two-century gap… so I am not sure exactly when the administrative components were formalized.
I can tell you that the American university structure comes from the European organization and the basic divisions and administrative senior ranking staff positions have not changed much in the past millenium. There are new offices, mainly to cover student needs as technology moves forward, but the President, Provost, and Dean offices still exist, as do the separation of Arts and Sciences.
I hope this was helpful! I found some further reading for you, see:
"A History of American Higher Education" by John R. Thelin
November 18th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
This is a really interesting question, and while I do not have a complete answer, I’ve done some research to find what I can about this topic. (I wish I knew more!) Universities, as we think of them today, go back to the medieval world:
"The University of Constantinople, founded in 849 in Byzantium, is considered by some to be the earliest institution of higher learning with some of the characteristics we associate today with a university (research and teaching, auto-administration, academic independence, et cetera), though it was not considered a "degree-granting university". The first university in the modern sense, which issued academic degrees, was the University of Al Karaouine in Fez, Morocco … founded in 859"
-from Wikipedia, I’m sorry I couldn’t find you a more reliable source. I do know that even early Greco-Roman academies had Academic divisions, if not the administrative departments we see today.
"Although each institution is differently organized, nearly all universities have a board of trustees; a president, chancellor, or rector; at least one vice president, vice-chancellor, or vice-rector; and deans of various divisions."
-also Wiki… looking at these administrative divisions, I can infer that this organization probably came with the European Universities, i.e. "University of Bologna (1088), the University of Paris (c. 1100), and the University of Oxford (11th century)." The reason I say this is that, for instance, the University of Oxford to this day reflects the academic organization and structure, so I deduce that historically, at least in some form, the hierarchy of administrative duties and the separation of Academic disciplines occurred in the early years of Oxford. This still leaves about a two-century gap… so I am not sure exactly when the administrative components were formalized.
I can tell you that the American university structure comes from the European organization and the basic divisions and administrative senior ranking staff positions have not changed much in the past millenium. There are new offices, mainly to cover student needs as technology moves forward, but the President, Provost, and Dean offices still exist, as do the separation of Arts and Sciences.
I hope this was helpful! I found some further reading for you, see:
"A History of American Higher Education" by John R. Thelin
References :
Employee at a four-year college
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University