CIES Secretariat Florida International University 312 ZEB Miami, FL 33199
Number 150
Historical Foundations of International Education
Kwabena D. Ofori-Attah, Ph.D.
Capital University
Columbus, OH
Students all over the world have often taken advantage of the availability of schools outside their own country to acquire education credentials. This practice has a long history. In Ancient Europe, students often travelled from their native country to attend school where learning facilities were adequate. Among the Ancient Greeks, students often travelled among the various city states to acquire knowledge from outstanding teachers, who were called the Sophists. The Greek Sophists were professional educators who roamed the Greek city states teaching their students courses such as rhetoric, debate, and philosophy. They did not have established schools and so they moved from city to city to practice their profession. The Greek Sophists were noted for charging exorbitant fees for their services. Although they charged high fees for their services, they were never short of international students.
Among the ancient Greek teachers, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle still stand out of the pack. These great educators taught all sorts of courses including, astronomy, biology, chemistry, geometry, logic, philosophy and above all, politics. Plato set up his Academy in and later after his death, Aristotle also set up his own school, the Lyceum to offer education to all sorts of students in the Ancient world. These two famous educational institutions attracted students all over the Ancient Greek city states, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa for more than 400 hundred years.
In the 5th century a woman, Aspasia, travelled from her native country of Miletus and settled in Athens to share her intellectual skills with the Greeks. Aspasia was a highly educated woman and so when she settled in Athens, she set up a school for girls of all classes. However, most of her students came from upper class families since at the time, education was expensive enterprise. Moreover, society did not favor the education of women at the time.
One of the famous international students was Alexander the Great, who was tutored by Aristotle. At the peak of his power, Alexander the Great spread Greek civilization, culture, politics, and education in several places including several countries in the Middle East such as Iran and Egypt and parts of Asia. The city of Alexandria in Egypt, which he founded for over a thousand years served as the center of learning in the Ancient world. This library at Alexandria served as the largest in the Ancient world and scholars all over the Ancient world poured into the library to study. As the scholars met in Egypt and other places to study, they shared and exchanged ideas that ultimately proved to be beneficial to all the scholars concerned. Through international education, the art of writing, reading and computing spread throughout the Ancient world and beyond through the work of such scholars as Archimedes and Herodotus, who visited Egypt during this period and left indelible marks on the intellectual traditions of the city and region.
The Arabs were also pioneers in international education. Apart from their great contribution in the Byzantine Empire, Arab scholars travelled far and wide in Asia and perfected the numerals we use today. They also established 17 universities in Moorish Spain in which led to the development of the modern European, and eventually, American universities. These universities allowed Muslims, Jews, and Christians alike from all over the known world to study and research at these institutions.
A great promoter of international education was Charlemagne or Charles the Great. Charlemagne was the Emperor of Franks. He was so interested in education that he set up schools in his own palace and looked to England for a great teacher, Alcuin of York to manage the palace schools.
"International education has a long tradition, a tradition that started at the dawn of modern history..."
Constantinople was another great center for international education during the Middle Ages. Constantinople was a city that had outstanding education system, including the University of Constantinople, that attracted scholars all over Asia, Africa, Europe, and other parts of the world to engage in various academic activities especially medicine, mathematics and science.
Another city in Africa that made a significant contribution to International education before colonialism in the continent was Timbuktu. The city had a university, Sankore University, which offered unique academic facilities for international scholars from Europe, Asia, and Africa.
In a sense, colonialism in Africa, Asia, and the Americas, accelerated the pace of international education. European educators in Africa and Asia often sent students abroad for education. Some of these students returned to their native countries to help spread Western education. Others, however, stayed in Europe and became part of the intelligentsia of the host nation.
International education has a long tradition, a tradition that started at the dawn of modern history. Through international education, scholars all over the world have been able to share in the intellectual traditions of others, beginning from the ancient to modern times. Today, the United States, France, Great Britain, Australia, Russia, Italy, Japan, India, and South Africa serve as leaders in the arena for international education and global studies, making it possible for millions of international students and scholars to acquire new academic and intellectual skills.
Kwabena D. Ofori-Attah, Ph.D.
Department of Education
Capital University, Columbus, OH
Email: kofori-attah@adelphia.net
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