The idea of a university

Professor Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
My View - The Sun Daily
March 11, 2015

DISCUSSIONS on the idea of a university are often stifled by the word "university" itself, what it is and what it is intended for.

"University" as an idea came about in the 11th century when Europe coined the word from the Latin, universitas. It was used for the first time to refer to University of Bologna, or Universitas Bononiensis, in Italy, the birthplace of the European Renaissance. Established in 1088, the University of Bologna became the first "university" in Europe. Some even claimed that it is the first university in the world, since no other institution was labelled "university" as such.

In India, Nalanda had been in existence as a centre of learning several centuries before Bologna. Nalanda was recognised for its illustrious contribution to education based on a different construct to meet its socio-cultural and religious needs, like Bologna. For example Nalanda did not subscribe to being the "trustee of the European humanist tradition".

There were numerous other examples in the east and during the early days of the Greeks, such as the Akademia in Athens. Like Nalanda, all are buried by the sands of time with the exception of the University of Qarawiyyin in Fez, which was founded in 859 by a woman named Fatima al-Fihri. Built on a waqaf (public endowment) concept, it started as a madrasah to be the centre of learning mainly for religious studies. Being a waqaf rooted in the community seems to have assured the university of its survival. Unesco has recognised it as the first institution to award degrees (ijazah). This illustrates that there are different models to provide education to the community depending on the context.

Essentially, they are no more than a platform or a vehicle – a form of social innovation – to deliver education as a public good, just like hospitals, with the advancement of the community as the overarching world-view. For this reason, they are deeply committed to the well-being of the community based on the values and norms that they acculturated to enable quality of life to emerge from them in meeting the needs of humanity over generations. In that sense, they are "whole", "borderless" and "globalised". 

The aspirations of learning were to link civilisations, people and cultures as did Baitul Hikmah (House of Wisdom) of 10th century Baghdad when it vitally connected the lost world of knowledge of the Greco-Romans to that of the Latin West. While adding its own body of knowledge, it also inherited much from the ancient cultures of Persia, China and India. The world of knowledge thus has always been unified coming from diverse sources and interpretations because the ultimate purpose is to be in harmony with the world around it in the most sustainable and balanced way possible. It may not be perfect but it is not out of control either as it is today. This is how "education" was perceived and institutions of learning were organised to ease this understanding in experiential ways as part of living. Learning and living are never separated but mutually reinforcing where knowledge and practice go hand in hand. The microcosm and macrocosm are "one".

Thus to understand the idea of the university is to embrace the very purpose of education and its ethos with the world-view to sustain the close relationship between humanity and nature by advocating right values practised in the right way. Education is always for sustainable development of people vis-a-vis its surrounding as the larger part of a shared global community. Unfortunately, this is now lost, and the university itself is becoming unsustainable let alone its complex relationship with the surrounding and humanity. Over the last decade, education for sustainable development had to be reintroduced as "universities" and "knowledge" were retooled for wealth creation feeding the frenzy of human greed leading to crises. To this extent, intellectuals like Noam Chomsky in articulating the "destruction" of the US university system lamented how much the lofty idea of a "university" is being debased to that of a Wal-mart!

The writer was a guest panellist at the UKM-KITA roundtable on the idea of a university held last week. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com