University

===Definition===
The original [[Latin]] word ''universitas'' refers in general to "a number of persons associated into one body, a society, company, community, guild, [[corporation]], etc".<ref>{{Citation | last1 = Lewis | first1 = Charlton T. | last2 = Short | first2 = Charles | title = A Latin Dictionary | place = Oxford | publisher = Clarendon Press | orig-year = 1879 | year = 1966 }}</ref> As urban town life and [[Middle Ages|medieval]] [[guild]]s developed, specialized associations of [[student]]s and [[teacher]]s with collective legal rights (these rights were usually guaranteed by charters issued by [[prince]]s, [[prelate]]s, or their [[town]]s) became denominated by this general term. Like other guilds, they were self-regulating and determined the qualifications of their members.<ref>Marcia L. Colish, ''Medieval Foundations of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 400-1400,'' (New Haven: Yale Univ. Pr., 1997), p. 267.</ref>

In modern usage, the word has come to mean "an institution of higher education offering tuition in mainly non-vocational subjects and typically having the power to confer degrees".<ref>{{Citation | contribution = university, n. | year = 2010 | title = OED Online | edition = 3rd | contribution-url = http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/214804?rskey=Owl6ZY&result=1&isAdvanced=false | access-date = 27 August 2013 | place = Oxford | publisher = Oxford University Press | title-link = OED Online | archive-date = 30 April 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210430120926/https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/214804?rskey=Owl6ZY&result=1&isAdvanced=false | url-status = live }}</ref> The earlier emphasis on its corporate organization is no longer the primary feature by which a modern university is recognised.<ref>{{Citation | contribution = university, n. | year = 2010 | title = OED Online | edition = 3rd | contribution-url = http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/214804?rskey=Owl6ZY&result=1&isAdvanced=false | access-date = 27 August 2013 | place = Oxford | publisher = Oxford University Press | quote = ...In the Middle Ages: a body of teachers and students engaged in giving and receiving instruction in the higher branches of study … and regarded as a scholastic guild or corporation. | title-link = OED Online | archive-date = 30 April 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210430120926/https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/214804?rskey=Owl6ZY&result=1&isAdvanced=false | url-status = live }} Compare {{Citation | contribution = University | year = 1989 | title = Oxford English Dictionary | edition = 2nd  | place = Oxford | publisher = Oxford University Press | quote = The whole body of teachers and scholars engaged, at a particular place, in giving and receiving instruction in the higher branches of learning; such persons associated together as a society or corporate body, with definite organization and acknowledged powers and privileges (esp. that of conferring degrees), and forming an institution for the promotion of education in the higher or more important branches of learning….| title-link = Oxford English Dictionary }}</ref>

The original Latin word referred to degree-awarding institutions of learning in [[Western Europe|Western]] and [[Central Europe]], where this form of legal organisation was prevalent and from where the institution spread around the world.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ridder-Symoens |first=Hilde de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Z1VBEbF0HAC |title=A History of the University in Europe: Volume 1, Universities in the Middle Ages |date=1992 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-54113-8 |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:CCSM-UNMSM Casona de San Marcos y Parque Univesitario.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The [[National University of San Marcos]] in [[Lima]], [[Peru]], was established in 1551, making it the oldest university in the [[Americas]], as well as one of the oldest in the [[Western world|Western World]] in [[List of colonial universities in Hispanic America|continuous operation]].]]

====Academic freedom====
An important idea in the definition of a university is the notion of [[academic freedom]]. The first documentary evidence of this comes from early in the life of the [[University of Bologna]], which adopted an academic charter, the ''[[Authentica habita|Constitutio Habit]]a'',<ref>Malagola, C. (1888), Statuti delle Università e dei Collegi dello Studio Bolognese. Bologna: Zanichelli.</ref> in 1155 or 1158,<ref name="Rüegg, W. 2003 pp 4-34">{{cite book |last = Rüegg|first = W. |year =2003|chapter = Chapter 1: Themes|pages = 4–34 |editor-first= H. |editor-last=De Ridder-Symoens|title = A History of the University in Europe|volume= 1|publisher= Cambridge University Press|isbn= 0-521-54113-1}}</ref> which guaranteed the right of a traveling scholar to unhindered passage in the interests of education. Today, this is claimed as the origin of "academic freedom".<ref>Watson, P. (2005), Ideas. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, page 373</ref>  This is now a widely accepted concept in international research. On 18 September 1988, 430 university rectors signed the ''[[Magna Charta Universitatum]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www2.unibo.it/avl/charta/charta.htm |title=Magna Charta delle Università Europee |publisher=.unibo.it |access-date=28 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101115001914/http://www2.unibo.it/avl/charta/charta.htm |archive-date=15 November 2010  }}</ref> marking the 900th anniversary of Bologna's foundation. The number of universities signing the ''Magna Charta Universitatum'' continues to grow, drawing from all parts of the world.