Changes

By the late Medieval and Early Modern Period, the number of universities began to grow rapidly in Europe, where by the 18th century there were probably around 143 universities. This does not include other forms of higher education institutions that did not call themselves universities, such as academies. The University of Paris began to develop the idea of faculties that differentiated areas of study. The topics of focus that began to develop in universities were philosophy, where still the traditional title for PhDs is doctor of philosophy, medicine, logic, theology, law, mathematics, astronomy, and grammar. These branches of study were seen to be related to a humanistic perspective, as many required translation of ancient works in addition to a focus on the discipline.<ref>For more on the early modern universities, see: Kirwan, Richard, and Jonathan Davies. 2013. Scholarly Self-Fashioning and Community in the Early Modern University. Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate.</ref>

Early universities were rigid and heavily influenced by Aristotle's notion of the sciences and learning. However, scholars began to experiment with new ways of learning and experimentation. Disciplines began to break away from a heavy influence of humanistic influences. This led to the eventually very divergent development of the sciences from the humanitieswithin an education system. By the 18th century, universities also began developing research journals, encouraging scholars to publish and circulate their findings with other scholars. In Germany, Wilhelm von Humboldt developed ideas of academic freedom, seminars, and laboratories as a way for universities to foster debate, knowledge, and new scientific inquiry.<ref>For more on Humboldt's developments, see: The University according to Humboldt: History, Policy, and Future Possibilities. 2015. 1st edition. New York, NY: Springer Science+Business Media.</ref>

During the 19th century, public universities available for the masses became more widespread. It was only in the 19th century that religion began to become less of an important focus in the curriculum. This gradually made universities secular higher education institutions and, with the development of the Industrial Revolution, many universities began to more greatly focus on the sciences as it industrialization began to develop as a form of competition between the Western world. In Britain, the concept of the civic university was seen as an engine for developing a secular, economic potential that used the masses by giving them access to education.<ref>For more on the development of mass education in the 19th century, see: Brockliss, L. W. B, and Nicola Sheldon. 2012. Mass Education and the Limits of State Building, C. 1870-1930. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.</ref>

The British Empire and later other European Empires empires began to transplant the European model of education around the world. While the United States began to adopt some of the German model for a research university, much of the rest of the world also was instilled with European concepts. These then became pervasive and entrenched within countries such that when colonial powers diminished in the 20th century, the university systems they either founded or had fostered as educational models were largely kept in places such as India, Kenya, and in the Middle East.<ref>For more on the British model and spread of universities during the period of European empires, see: Pietsch, Tamson. 2015. Empire of Scholars: Universities, Networks and the British Academic World, 1850-1939. Manchester: Manchester University Press.</ref>