ABSTRACT
The idea of the university has stood for universal themes, of knowing, truthfulness, learning, human development and critical reason. Through its affirming and sustaining of such themes, the university came to stand for universality in two senses: the university was neither partial in its truth criteria nor local in its significance. The idea of universal features of human life has taken something of a battering, not least through the assaults of post-structuralism and postmodernism. This universalism has been shot down on amid postmodernism, and on globalization. Global universities may be seen as a vehicle for the imposition of Western modes of reason. The university was expected to serve universal interests of truth-seeking, of knowledge garnering, and of learning. The mediaeval universities were universal institutions both in their members and in their communicative structure. It stood for important aspects of human life, aspects that were universal in character.
