Meaning, Idea and History of University/Higher Education: Brief Literature Review

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to trigger scholarly debates over the meaning, idea, and history of the university or HEIs. It is also to manifest the prevalence of multiple forms of HEIs and to question why the narrative of one form of HEIs/university meaning, idea and history predominate the discourse. In spite of historical evidences that confirm the existence of higher learning institutions elsewhere, some scholars argue that it was only in Western Europe that higher learning originally and "indisputably" emerged and survived since the medieval period. History, however, attests that there were other forms of universities or higher learning institutions, for instance, in Asia, Africa, and the Arab world. This unfair conclusion is the product of the "coloniality of power" and requires deconstruction. This is not well addressed in the literature. This discussion is qualitatively developed on the basis of related literature review. The Meaning of Higher Education/University In consideration of goals and national and institutional diversifications, it is not an easy task to define both modern higher education and a university. Higher education covers a wider range of higher learning institutions including the university. These higher learning institutions could be organized in different ways, commonly within a university and in a separate institution as university and other tertiary learning institutions. For instance, a university, from the British perspective, is an institution with its power to award its own degree and is preeminent in the field of research (Allen, 1988). Generally, higher education is a set that constitutes the university, which is a subset of higher education. However, in some contexts, higher education and university are used interchangeably (Assié-Lumumba, 2005). Nevertheless, they do not cover the same reality. Higher education