16 2.4 MODERN PERIOD

In Germany, the eighteenth century brought decided changes which some authors regard as the origin of the modern university. From Halle, founded in 1694, Christian Wolff’s rationalistic philosophy spread to all the Protestant universities, and from Göttingen (1737) the new Humanism, especially the study of Greek.

Freedom of research became the characteristic feature of the university; the systematic lecture replaced the exposition of texts; the seminar exercises supplanted the disputation; and German was used instead of Latin as the vehicle of instruction. The foundation of the University of Berlin (1800) was another advance in the way of free scientific culture. Philosophy became the leading subject of study. Next in importance was philology, Classical Romance, and German.

The development of the historical method and its application in all lines of research are among the principal achievements of the nineteenth century. In the natural sciences laboratory training was recognized as indispensable, and the study of medicine was put on a new basis by improved methods of investigation. Specialized research with producing scholarship, rather than accumulation of knowledge, was held up as the aim of university work. As a result the departments of science multiplied and in each the number of courses rapidly increased. This was the case especially in the faculty of philosophy, which came to include practically everything that did not belong to theology, medicine, or law.

The B.A. degree disappeared, the M.A. was merged with the doctorate in philosophy, and this had its chief significance as a requisite for teaching. Great importance was attached to the preparation of teachers for the schools and gymnasia, while in the university itself, the recruiting of professors was provided for by the system of Privatdozents, i.e. instructors who have the privilege of teaching but no official duties or salaries. These instructors often teach at various universities before being promoted to a professorship, and thus acquire a wide experience as well as an acquaintance with conditions in different parts of the empire. The students also are encouraged to pass from one university to another. They no longer live in colleges, nor are they exempt from municipal control and military service.

In England and Scotland the nineteenth century was marked by numerous and far-reaching changes. A succession of statutes revised the system of examinations and degrees: religious tests were abolished at the English universities in 1871, at the Scottish in 1892; many of the traditional oaths disappeared, and the restrictions imposed by the Elizabethan code were in large part removed. The reforms advocated by the Royal Commission in 1852, included:

the restoration in its integrity of the ancient supervision of the university over the studies of its members by the enlargement of its professorial system, by the addition of such supplementary appliance to that system as may obviate the undue encroachments of that of private tuition . . . the removal of all restriction upon elections to fellowships and scholarships . . . an adequate contribution from the corporate funds of the several colleges towards rendering the course of public teaching, as carried on by the university itself, more efficient and complete.

The monopoly of higher education so long enjoyed by Oxford and Cambridge was broken by the creation of new universities; Durham was established in 1832, and the University of London, founded in 1825 and chartered as an examining and degree-conferring institution in 1838, was reorganized on a broader basis in 1889.

The university extension movement, inaugurated at Cambridge in 1867, was taken up by Oxford also. Women were admitted to examinations and degrees at London in 1878, Cambridge in 1881, and Oxford in 1884.

The Development of Universities in the United States
In the United States the oldest universities grew out of colleges modelled on those of England; Harvard (1636), Yale (1701), Princeton (1726), Washington and Lee (1749), University of Pennsylvania (1751), King’s, i.e. Columbia (1754), Brown (1764).

The first step towards university instruction was the addition of graduate studies pursued by resident students (mentioned at Harvard towards the end of the eighteenth century). During the first quarter of the nineteenth century, American students began to study in Germany and they naturally, on returning to their own country, sought to introduce elements from the German universities.

It was not, however, until 1861 that the doctorate in philosophy was conferred (Yale); since that time, the universities have developed rapidly but not according to any uniform plan of organization. In all these institutions there is a combination of graduate with undergraduate study, and in many of them departments of pure science exist alongside of professional schools; but it would be impossible to select any one of them as the typical American university, and difficult to group them on any purely educational basis.

From the beginning, as the oldest charters explicitly declare, the furthering of morality and religion, not merely in a general way, but in accordance with the belief of some Christian denomination, was an avowed purpose of the founders; and divinity schools are still maintained at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.

The Development of Universities in Africa
Graduates and other professionals were a rare commodity at independence. Sub-Saharan Africa had only about 20 Universities in 1960, with about 14 of these being in South Africa.

There was therefore the need for rapid training of the requisite manpower to replace the expatriate staff in the Civil Service and other Public Services. Industrialization and other forms of economic activity also required the rapid training of professional, technical and other types of human resources. Even countries like Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Sierra Leone where higher education including university education had existed since the late nineteenth century, there was still the need for similar rapid expansion of education at all levels after independence.

Governments therefore had to provide fully or partially free education at primary, secondary and university levels, since the Governments were the largest employers and beneficiaries of products of all sectors of education. The rapid expansion of university education after independence, has resulted in sub-saharan Africa now supporting over 160 universities.

Enrollment has increased from 120,000 in 1960 to over two million by the turn of the millenium. Thus, from the ancient pre-colonial universities of Al Azhar in Cairo, through to the pre-independence institutions, namely Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone (1827), Universities of Ghana and Ibadan, Addis Ababa, Fort Hare in South Africa and Makerere in Uganda, African universities have really come a very long way.