In The Idea of the University, Ambrose King, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, has some lucid points to make about how the idea of the university has gone through various phases during the course of Western history.
現代大學脫胎於西方中世紀的宗教學苑，隨著社會的演變而調整步伐，大學的理念與性格也有所不同，但卻從來不曾失去其理想性。香港中文大學教授金耀基在《大學之理念》一書中，對西方大學理念變化的幾個階段有著精闢的論述。