UNIVERSITY
A university (from Latin universitas 'a whole') is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. University is derived from the Latin phrase universitas magistrorum et scholarium, which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs.
The first universities were developed in Europe from schools that had been maintained by the Church for the purpose of educating priests.
The following properties were common among the oldest universities:
They used the word universitas (which was coined at its foundation).
They received students from everywhere (not merely the local district or region).
They engaged in higher learning that went beyond teaching the Seven Liberal Arts, and had at least one of the higher faculties (Theology, Law or Medicine).
They awarded degrees through an oral and public event managed by a guild of masters.
They had some degree of autonomy from ecclesiastical authorities.
They enjoyed academic freedom.
They issued secular as well as non-secular degrees.
The oldest universities with the former criteria were University of Bologna, University of Paris, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge and University of Palencia.
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