The autonomy of the university in medieval times

This chapter focuses on the governance and autonomy of medieval universities. After an introduction, the two archetypes of university models which emerged in Bologna (student-led) and Paris (master-led) are analysed. These greatly influenced the emergence and evolution of governance arrangements. The third section makes a distinction between external and internal governance and describes how the respective governance arrangements of the two archetypes developed in a tug of war between the three main powers or stakeholder groups: the popes, the kings and the masters or students. This is followed by a brief analysis of funding arrangements and the role of universities in and for medieval society. The conclusions show that some of the governance arrangements of the medieval university have survived until today. However, it is also pointed out that the autonomy of the medieval university consisted of a number of different aspects than the autonomy of the modern university today.