According to Associate Professor Wang Hsiou-huai of NTU's Center for Teacher Education, Western universities originally trained elites. In Britain, the mission of a university was to produce literate, cultivated intellectuals. On the European mainland, German universities focused on research, striving to discover and disseminate new knowledge.
台大師資培育中心副教授王秀槐指出，早期的西方大學以培育菁英份子為主，無論是英國的劍橋或牛津大學，都以培育具有人文素養的知識份子為職志；歐陸德國的大學則以研究為主，以創造及傳授新知為主要目標。