colleges and universities: Nineteenth Century

In the 19th cent. many governments reorganized and nationalized universities, as in Italy after unification (1870), in Spain (1876), and in France, where 17 autonomous regional universities were established after 1876. By 1900 many universities were secularized in administration and curriculum, and religious tests had been largely eliminated (in England by act of Parliament in 1871). Through the centuries, the majority of women were educated in separate institutions; however, since 1870 the benefits of coeducation have impelled nearly all universities to admit both sexes.

In the United States, modern universities developed during the late 19th cent. from the expansion of private colleges and the establishment of state tax-supported universities. Largely as a result of the Morrill Act (1862), public lands were granted to the states for the formation and support of state agricultural and mechanical schools (see land-grant colleges and universities). Another important influence at that time was the founding of institutions (e.g., Johns Hopkins Univ.) devoted to graduate study and research. They were modeled on the German universities, with their separate graduate and professional schools each devoted to a particular area of study.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries
• Early Years to 1900
• Nineteenth Century
• Early History
• Bibliography

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