The Idea of a University Defined and Illustrated

Do we know what university actually is? Why it should exist?

Of course we are all aware of what a university is and what its purpose is. We know that university is the institution that allows people to enroll in higher education studies. But does the education students get at the university is enough to say that they are really educated?


John Henry Newman wrote this book with the intention to define the meaning and the importance of the university. According to him, university is a place of teaching universal knowledge. Its object is intellectual and it represents an extension of knowledge, not advancement.

The author writes about the questions and problems that remain through the years, such as: What is the purpose of education? Or is the knowledge received at university enough to claim that the student is educated?

He also deals with the issues on the place of the religious and moral values in the university, the character of the academic community, the relation of religion and science, the cultural role of literature, and so on.