The problem with collegiate universities

Say that you are founding a new university, how would you design it? What if one of the professors come up with this idea: split the university into 30 communities with mixed majors, and build dinning halls, libraries, lecture rooms, offices in each community. As a member of community A, you cannot use the facilities in community B. Since there is still a need for research, aside with these communities, also install departments, and call the communities and department the “University”. What do you think about this idea?

But surprisingly there are universities on earth that have this silly system. It’s not even one university, to my knowledge there are at least three! Oxford is one of them. (The others are Cambridge and Durham.)

I do not like the collegiate system; it is so inefficient. Colleges as well as departments each have their own admin staff, its own dinning hall, its own library, and its own lecture rooms. For me, the library is the biggest problem.

If I want to use a book, usually it turns out that there are not that many copies in the university, and they tend to be in one of the rich colleges. So what do I have to do to read it? I need a special permission from the librarian of the college to read the book, and I cannot take the book out for research. It makes me feel really angry when I search books in Oxford, and find two books that are in the other colleges, nobody is using them and I cannot take them out for research.

The college system has a long history. I guess about 900 years in the case of Oxford. Some people say it is one of the advantages that Oxford offers. It is true that the college system has advantages, but I think this 900-years-old system needs a revamp. At least, I believe every student of the university should be allowed to access/borrow the books in the college libraries. In the end what are universities for?

~ by hwasungmars on January 19, 2008.