Universities as places arose from the need for seekers and sharers of knowledge to gather to ensure access to scholars and books. In the 21st century, do we still need to go to and be at a university to study and achieve?

The first universities educated clergy and monks, they evolved during the Middle Ages from the ‘studia generale’, which taught – in Latin – the seven liberal arts of grammar, logic, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy and music. The earliest example was Bologna, founded in the 11th century to teach law. Discussion and exploration of questions was the key method of developing the quest for knowledge. The term ‘university’ meant the entire group of persons engaged, in a certain place, in jointly pursuing learning and knowledge-generating activities. Are you still here? We’ve got universities as being: about dialogue, about communities, about scholarly pursuits, and in buildings, usually in a significant city.

The newer ideal of rational and objective intellectual enquiry – that is, scientific research – started in the 17th century. At this time local languages began to be used. Halle, in Germany, was the first of such modern universities in 1694. Universities founded in the later 18th and 19th centuries, gradually shifted towards secular learning and research, following the German model. They start to sound familiar at this point, don’t they? Now we’ve added: scientific research as well as teaching, and accessible language.

There was a tradition of supported independent study. The big advantage for students, teachers and researchers, of being on a university campus, was access to a whole range of real physical resources. Libraries have always been important. Other kinds of physical resources can be crucial, too, such as museums and art collections. And for science education, universities provide laboratories and equipment for experiments. Many of these are substantial, innovative and much admired. So now we add: artefacts in museums and art galleries, books in libraries, and equipment and laboratories.

Universities have always been places for gatherings. Students learnt not only about the disciplines but also how to question and build their knowledge by creating and extending arguments. Dialogue and criticism between teachers and learners and between learners and visitors is a key part of university life. We value finding like-minded others for understanding, reinforcement and application of our ideas, but also new challenges and diversity, sometimes through uncomfortable truths.

Therefore, at this point we include: the lecture theatre, the seminar room, the clubs, the bar, the refectory, and diversity.

In 1867, Cambridge University began extension studies, moving outside their walls. Degree programmes appeared in the local community, leading to the setting up of extra-mural studies departments and to programmes of continuing education. The Open University took these ideas further by demolishing the walls entirely to offer degree courses any time and any place, using a variety of media and technologies as they became available. However, even at the OU, until 1992 students were supposed to be resident in the UK.

Can you see why it is so difficult, even in 2005, to imagine a university without a real physical place that you can walk around in? Have I just killed off ‘E-talk’ for ever and ever?

Hold on just a minute … in practice, learning and knowledge construction happens in people’s heads! Please stay with this for a moment longer. Let’s consider the key intentions that lie behind the physical places and their powerful symbolism.

The networked and digital 21st century has given us approaches to all aspects of university life and learning outside the confines of a physical place, through the Internet, broadcast and many mobile technologies. Some of these may be less grand than those handsome campus buildings and structures, but they are more accessible. Online components may be less ‘in your face’ and more ‘in your hand’ or ‘on your screen’. They may not bring such kudos to the university or be likely to last for centuries. They may even be harder to explain and unfamiliar to those of us born in the 20th century. But they are available now, wherever and whenever we wish. We can access more resources online than our predecessors could in a lifetime of travel. We can communicate with many more people than ever before.

Maybe it’s time to get beyond what a library looks like, how it feels to touch a book and whether we need another cafe on a campus in which to talk? We could consider equivalence, surrogacy and improvements on the 1,000 years of place-based higher education.

Dr Gilly Salmon is Professor of E-learning and Learning Technologies at the University of Leicester. Prior to this appointment, she worked at the Open University Business School for 15 years. Gilly can be contacted at gilly.salmon@le.ac.uk

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