Abstract
IN Britain To-Day of May 1945 (No. 109), Sir Charles Grant Robertson, in an article entitled "The Idea of a University", analyses some of the characteristics of British universities as a whole. He discusses their claim to contribute an interpretation of life, built up through centuries of effort and travail, which has enabled them to survive grim ordeals and emerge stronger and purified by the struggle and which embodies the fundamentals of any civilization worth the name. First, Oxford and Cambridge and, through them, the modern universities represent in an unbroken tradition and growth the medieval ideal. Secondly, no British university has been created, endowed or maintained by the State, and until 1920 the State did not contribute either to capital or to income expenditure. Thirdly, British universities are now co-educational, and the one imperative condition imposed on them is that unqualified persons should not be let loose on the community. Fourthly, the universities, if not the sole, are the main avenues to the professions and to all branches of teaching. They are second to none in the range and quality of their studies, equipment and teaching, and the demand for strengthening every form of research comes primarily from the universities, because their staffs know what can and ought to be done, and enlighten the community by doing it. Finally, after emphasizing that the freedom and independence of British universities are a sure guarantee of their capacity to meet the needs of the future, Sir Charles insists that, in accordance with the medieval ideal, a university is not a real university unless its members, pray together, work together and play together.
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British Universities. Nature 156, 263–264 (1945). https://doi.org/10.1038/156263d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/156263d0