Education of university

Antecedents[edit]

See also: Ancient higher-learning institutions

Scholars occasionally call the University of al-Qarawiyyin (name given in 1963), founded as a mosque by Fatima al-Fihri in 859, a university,^{[16][17][18][19]} although Jacques Verger writes that this is done out of scholarly convenience.^[20] Several scholars consider that al-Qarawiyyin was founded^[21][22] and run^{[23][24][25][26][27]} as a madrasa until after World War II. They date the transformation of the madrasa of al-Qarawiyyin into a university to its modern reorganization in 1963.^[28][29][23] In the wake of these reforms, al-Qarawiyyin was officially renamed "University of Al Quaraouiyine" two years later.^[28]

Some scholars, including George Makdisi, have argued that early medieval universities were influenced by the madrasas in Al-Andalus, the Emirate of Sicily, and the Middle East during the Crusades.^[30][31][32] Norman Daniel, however, views this argument as overstated.^[33] Roy Lowe and Yoshihito Yasuhara have recently drawn on the well-documented influences of scholarship from the Islamic world on the universities of Western Europe to call for a reconsideration of the development of higher education, turning away from a concern with local institutional structures to a broader consideration within a global context.^[34]