INTRDUCTION

The origin of older universities in the developed world can be traced in Europe to as far back as twelfth century. Most of them developed from cathedral and monastery schools and other centres of learning under the guidance of academic leaders whose fame spread far beyond their immediate environment, enabling them to attract scholars and students from far and near. Their rates of development varied and it is sometime difficult to know when they actually became full fledged universities. The University of Bologna is believed to be the oldest having been founded in the early twelfth century even though it existed as a law school since the ninth century. The University of Paris with a slight different structure from that of Bologna developed in the late twelfth century. These schools and centres, which where founded mainly to serve the professions, provided unified teaching of law, medicine and theology providing Ministers of Religion and other statesmen and professionals. Some of these schools originated as break-away groups caused often by disagreements with the mode of instruction or content of curriculum in the host school.