REVIVING ACADEMIC CULTURE AND ETIQUETTE

1. REVIVING ACADEMIC CULTURE AND ETIQUETTE Professor Is-haq OLOYEDE Vice Chancellor, University of Ilorin Paper Presented at the 25th AVCNU Conference 19TH -22ND April, 2010, holding at Osun State University Oshogbo

3. What is a University? The word university is derived from the Latin universitas magistrorum et scholarium, roughly meaning "community of teachers and scholars�[1]. The term University may also be applied to a place of advanced study which has continued its role uninterrupted through the ages. university may also be regarded as an institution which remains entirely independent of any external powers [2] .

4. Origin of Universities Some of the oldest institutions of higher learning appear to be from the far East. There is the Shangyang, "higher school," China, established in the Yu period: 2257-2208 BC, Imperial Central School, established sometime in Zhou Dynasty: 1046-249 BC, Takshashila University, Taxila, Pakistan, 7th c. BC, Nalanda University, Bihar, India, 5th c. BC "famous center of Buddhist scholarship� [3]

5. Origin of Universities-contd The subsequent ones are better dated University of Magnaura, Constantinople, 848 Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt, 988. In Europe some of the earliest Universities are: University of Bologna (1088), the University of Paris (c. 1150, the University of Oxford (1167), the University of Palencia (1208), the University of Cambridge (1209), the University of Salamanca (1218), the University of Montpellier (1220), the University of Padua (1222), the University of Naples Federico II (1224), and the University of Toulouse (1229)

6. The University Mandate Three key activities define the mandate of universities; these are Knowledge generation, Knowledge dissemination, and knowledge application. Each of these operates on the different platform of learning

7. Knowledge Generation In this regard the university is a place where a scholar traces the outlines of a discipline and within this framework carries out precise research for the sake of knowledge. Hence knowledge generation advances the cognitive functions. The creation of knowledge itself is made up of three planks; these are consolidation of knowledge (synthesizing), extension of knowledge and creation of knowledge

8. Knowledge Dissemination The knowledge dissemination mandate makes a university to be a place where a scholar, while carrying out his research, transmits his knowledge to a group of pupils who follow him freely, this being done outside the influence of state or religion. The knowledge dissemination mandate is thus related to our affective functions

9. Knowledge Application To the extent that the University is for knowledge application, it is also a place where society may, if necessary, turn to for research and exploitation of its knowledge. This has to do with the psychomotor functions. Furthermore, the learning approaches have undergone a systematic evolution from the medieval period to the contemporary times

10. Approach to Learning-Medieval Period During this period the renaissance of philosophical thought focused scholars� attention on methodology and logic, this lead to the development of centres of judicial and theological hermeneutics. The University of Bologna began as a law school teaching the Roman law of peoples which was in demand across Europe for those defending the right of incipient nations against Empire and Church. Bologna�s special claim to Alma Mater Studiorum is based on its autonomy, its awarding of degrees, and other structural arrangements, making it the continuously-operating institution independent of kings, emperors or any kind of direct religious authority unlike the University of Al-Azhar

11. Approach to Learning-Immediate past The end of the medieval period marked the beginning of the transformation of universities that would eventually result in the modern research university. From about the 17th and 18th the experimental and observational science replaced traditional scholastic methods. Man began to probe more into the immediate environment and seeking an understanding of the way things worked using that to his advantage. During this period the disciplines of, medicine, physics and mathematics all flourished. By the 18th century, universities published their own research journals and by the 19th century, the German and the French university models had arisen.

12. Approach to Learning-Contemporary times Currently our learning approach is that of the applied sciences. This has led to the rapid expansion of Engineering and Information & Communication Sciences. In Britain the move from industrial revolution to modernity saw the arrival of new civic universities with an emphasis on science and engineering, a movement initiated in 1960 by Sir Keith Murray (chairman of the University Grants Committee) and Sir Samuel Curran, with the formation of the University of Strathclyde. The British also established universities worldwide, and higher education became available to the masses not only in Europe. In a general sense, the basic structure and aims of universities have remained constant over the years [4]

13. What conclusions do we draw here? It is important that any system of higher education recognizes the evolutions of these eras of learning and ensure that we produce graduates that would operate successfully within their own era. The implication is that irrespective of the primary discipline, a university must ensure that their graduates are schooled in cotemporary concepts. Hence just as most scholars of the medieval times are masters in the liberal arts of their day, today�s scholars must be properly schooled in cross cutting skills like computing/information technology and the applied sciences

14. NORMS AND VALUES

15. Historical Time Lines 12th Century The Birth of Academic Freedom and Institutional Autonomy 13th Century Faculties and Salaries 14th and 15th Century The Artists 16th and 17th Century The Turning Points

16. Magna Charta Universitatum [5]A consolidation of history & Purpose of Universities On the occasion of the ninth centenary of the University of Bologna on the 18th September 1988, the Rectors of 380 Universities subscribed to the Magna Charta Universitatum Europeum. This was four years before the abolition of boundaries between the countries of the European community. This Charta was developed against the backdrop of the fact that peoples and States should become more than ever aware of the part that universities will be called upon to play in a changing and increasingly international society

17. Magna Charta UniversitatumThe Fundamental Principles The university is an autonomous institution at the heart of societies differently organized because of geography and historical heritage; it produces, examines, appraises and hands down culture by research and teaching. To meet the needs of the world around it, its research and teaching must be morally and intellectually independent of all political authority and economic power. Teaching and research in universities must be inseparable if their tuition is not to lag behind changing needs, the demands of society, and advances in scientific knowledge.

18. Magna Charta UniversitatumThe Fundamental Principles Freedom in research and training is the fundamental principle of university life, and governments and universities, each as far as in them lies, must ensure respect for this fundamental requirement. Rejecting intolerance and always open to dialogue, a university is an ideal meeting-ground for teachers capable of imparting their knowledge and well equipped to develop it by research and innovation and students entitled, able and willing to enrich their minds with that knowledge. A university is the trustee of the European humanist tradition; its constant care is to attain universal knowledge to fulfill its vocation. It transcends geographical and political frontiers, and affirms the vital need for different cultures to know and influence each other

19. Magna Charta UniversitatumThe Means To preserve freedom in research and teaching, the instruments appropriate to realize that freedom must be made available to all members of the university community. Recruitment of teachers, and regulation of their status, must obey the principle that research is inseparable from teaching.

20. Magna Charta UniversitatumThe Means Each university must - with due allowance for particular circumstances - ensure that its students' freedoms are safeguarded, and that they enjoy conditions in which they can acquire the culture and training which it is their purpose to possess. Universities - particularly in Europe - regard the mutual exchange of information and documentation, and frequent joint projects for the advancement of learning, as essential to the steady progress of knowledge.

21. Magna Charta UniversitatumThe Resolution The Rectors, on behalf of their Universities, undertake to do everything in their power to encourage each State, as well as the supranational organizations concerned, to mould their policy sedulously on this Magna Carta, which expresses the universities' unanimous desire freely determined and declared

22. ACADEMIC CULTURE AND ETIQUETTE

23. Academic Dogma It was Robert A Nisbet who noted in his book, The Degradation of the Academic Dogma that stated that: �All major institutions are built around dogmas, and by extension, so is social life, generally. We could not live without dogmas, which are no more that a system of principles or ideals widely believed to be not merely true of right but beyond the necessity of the more or less constant verifications we feel obliged to give to so many other aspects of our lives�. Some of the common dogmatic beliefs today include justice, democracy and freedom. It is also one such set of dogmas that has translated into what we are referring to broadly as Academic Culture and Etiquette.[6]

24. Academic culture- Attitudinal Issues [7-9] Critical Thinking Neutrality Evidence based conclusions Communication Skills Depth (Comprehensiveness) Frugality Pride (Self esteem) Elegance

25. Academic culture- Attitudinal Issues Virtuous Well informed Humble (Student and not scholar Collegiality Critical Openness Accuracy

26. Academic culture- Professional Dimensions Mentorship (Guided freedom) Academic freedom Tenure Institutional autonomy Research and Teaching [10] Academic Dress Academic procession

27. Academic Gown (Dress): One of the Externalities Academic dress or gown is probably the most distinctive identity of the academic community. This is a traditional form of clothing for academic settings, primarily tertiary and sometimes secondary education, worn mainly by those that have been admitted to a university degree (or similar) or hold a status that entitles them to assume them (e.g. undergraduate students at certain old universities).

28. Academic Gown (Dress): One of the Externalities It is also known as academicals and, in the United States, as academic regalia. Contemporarily, it is commonly seen only at graduation ceremonies, but formerly academic dress was, and to a lesser degree in many ancient universities still is, worn on a daily basis. The Burgon Society was founded in 2000 to promote the study of academic dress [11]

29. Anatomy of the Academic Dress The academic dress generally consists of a gown (also known as a robe) with a separate hood, and a cap (generally either a mortarboard, a tam, or a bonnet) which are distinctive to each institution. Formal or sober clothing is typically worn beneath the gown so, for example, men would often wear a dark suit with a white shirt and tie, or clerical clothing, military or civil uniform, or national dress, and women would wear equivalent attire

30. Anatomy of Academic Dress

31. Academic dress - Germany

32. The Gown The modern gown is derived from the roba worn under the cappa clausa, a garment resembling a long black cape. In early medieval times, all students at the universities were in at least minor orders, and were required to wear the cappa or other clerical dress, and restricted to clothes of black or other dark colour The gowns most commonly worn, that of the clerical type gowns of Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Master of Arts (MA), are substantially the same throughout the English-speaking world. Both are traditionally made of black cloth.

33. The Gown In the Commonwealth, gowns are worn open, while in the United States it has become common for gowns to close at the front, as did the original roba. Some gowns may have 'strings' (i.e. grosgrain ribbons) attached to them behind the lapels. These in the past were tied together to hold the gown together but are now merely indicators of rank

34. The Hood The hood was originally a functional garment, worn to shield the head from the elements. In the English tradition, it has developed to an often bright and decorative garment worn only on special occasions. Hoods comprise two basic patterns: full shape or simple shape. The colour and lining of hoods in academic dress represents the rank and/or faculty of the wearer. The hood is nearly always worn with a gown.

35. The Cap The academic cap or square, commonly known as the mortarboard, has come to be symbolic of academia. In some universities it can be worn by graduates and undergraduates alike. It is a flat square hat with a tassel suspended from a button in the top center of the board. Properly worn, the cap is parallel to the ground, though some people, especially women, wear it angled back. The mortarboard may also be referred to as a trencher cap (or simply trencher).

36. The Cap In many universities, holders of doctorates wear a soft rounded headpiece known as a Tudor bonnet or tam, rather than a trencher. As with other forms of headgear, in the Commonwealth, academic caps are not generally worn indoors by men (other than by the Chancellor or other high officials), but are usually carried. In some graduation ceremonies caps have been dispensed with for men, being issued only to women, who do wear them indoors, or have been abandoned altogether. There is, in some European Universities, a tradition of throwing the cap off into the sky as soon as the degree is awarded

37. The Tassel The tassel comprises a cluster of silk threads which are fixed together and fastened by a button at one end, and fixed at the centre of the headpiece. The loose strands are allowed to fall freely over the board edge. Often the strands are plaited together to form a cord with the end threads left untied. The tassel worn on the mortarboard or a tam seems to provide, by tradition, the greatest opportunity for latitude in American academic dress. It has been black, or represented the university's colors, or the colors of the specific college, or the discipline.

38. The Tassel Regarding the positioning of the tassel, it is to be moved from one side to the other on graduating. This is a modern innovation to mark the transition to graduate status. This practice has the benefit of taking less time than more traditional indicators such as the individual conferring of the hood or a complete change of dress part-way through the ceremony (as at Oxford in the United Kingdom). It is expected that for undergraduate to begin the commencement ceremony with their tassels on the right. Switching the tassel to the left may be done individually or as a group. For doctoral and masters students, the tassel commonly begins and remains on the left

39. Dress for university officials Officers of the universities generally wear distinctive and more elaborate dress. The Chancellor and the Vice-Chancellor should have their dress made of damask lay type gown (sometimes with a long train) trimmed with gold or silver lace and frogs. They wear a velvet mortarboard, similarly trimmed with gold braid and tassel. This form of dress is not strictly 'academical' but it is typical dress for those in high positions. In general, officials do not wear hoods with their gowns

40. Dress for university officials Members of the Board of Trustees or other governing body officers of a college or university, regardless of their degrees, are entitled to wear doctor's gowns, faced only with black velvet and black velvet bars on the sleeves. However, their hoods (see, below) may be only that of a degree actually held by the wearer, or one specially prescribed for them by the institution.

41. Dress for university officials

42. Intercollegiate Colours

46. Academic procession It was in the course of one Convocation Ceremony that I also appreciate the degradation that has happened to our academic culture. On that occasion, the Registrar did not stand from her seat until the last person to perform a function on the podium has taken his seat. While the seeming delay lasted, a number of people were already suggesting to the Registrar to quickly get up and perform the next function. I watched with keen interest to see what the Registrar would do. I am grateful that this particular registrar knew the Academic culture

47. Academic procession � Preliminary Procession The commencement procession is usually composed of the following divisions: the speakers, trustees, administrative officers, and other members of the platform party; the faculty; and candidates for degrees, with candidates for advanced degrees in the lead and others in groups according to the degrees for which they are candidates.

48. Academic ProcessionCommencement Ceremony The essential elements of the ceremony are the conferring of degrees and the commencement. Earned degrees are usually conferred in ascending order, with baccalaureate degrees first and doctorates last. Honorary degrees are conferred, with individual citations, after the earned degrees.

49. Some norms about procession You do not robe or unrobe in public But you can be dressed publicly for honours You do not cross a procession Persons not properly robed should not be part of the procession

50. PLATFORMS AND OUTLETS

51. Platforms There are different platforms and outlets for exchange of knowledge. However, as it has been with other aspects of the academic culture, the understanding of the meaning and purposes of the various outlets has become blurred. Many, today, use many of the terminologies wrongly. We shall therefore endeavour to consider some of these terms

52. The various platforms and outlets Conferences Seminar Workshops Consultation Colloquium Encounter Round Table

53. Conclusion For all the Vice-Chancellors, scholars and guests here present, we have made a critical appraisal of the University Culture. We must protect that culture from every form of degradation and we pursue higher degrees of competitiveness in world ranking of Universities. We salute the efforts of our heroes past and we can only repeat at this juncture the words which have marked tradition, and which may be heard whenever universities mark a solemn celebration: VIVAT FLOREAT CRESCAT (VFC)

54. References Marcia L. Colish, Medieval Foundations of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 400-1400, (New Haven: Yale Univ. Pr., 1997), p. 267 Eco U. (ND). Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna .The Origin of Universities. http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/OriginUniversities.html (Accessed 18/04/2010) .Oxford Dictionary of National Biographies. 2010 Observatory: Magna Charta Universitatum. http://www.magna-charta.org/magna.html (Accessed 18/04/2010) Nisbet RA The Degradation of the Academic Dogma. 1997. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, New Jersey The Foundation for critical thinking: Our concept of critical thinking. http://www.criticalthinking.org/aboutCT/ourConceptCT.cfm (Accessed 18/4/2010) Gallagher, Clarence. (2004). Collegiality in the East and the West in the First millennium. A Study Based on the Canonical Collections. The Jurist, 2004, 64(1), 64-81 Debreczeni P: CARDS Project 2002 �Higher Education Mobility: Diploma Recognition Policy and Legislation� 'Institutional Autonomy and Accountibility' (Report to the European Commission) Eugene RR. (1996). Making a Place for the New American Scholar (New Pathways Series) Stylus Publishing Wikipedia Free Online Encylopedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_dress (Accessed 18/4/2010) Shaw, George W. (1966, 1995), Academical Dress of British and Irish Universities. Chichlester: Philmore & Co. Ltd. ISBN 0-85033974-x .Sullivan. (1959) The Academic Costume Code, Historical Overview