The earliest example of a university depends primarily on how you define the word. The earliest universities, when taken to mean an institution of higher learning with teachers, scholars, and students that awards degrees at every level of learning, would be 9th century madrasahs of the medieval Middle East. The word madrasah literally means "a place where teaching/learning is done." Regardless of cultural context, all forms of a university have had this purpose.

Western European universities started springing up after the madrasahs with notable ones like Oxford beginning in the 12th century and Cambridge in the 13th. The University of Paris got its start in 12th century as well. Multiple scholars like George and John Makdisi argue that the earlier madrasahs influenced their European counterparts.

One possible explanation for the influence is the Crusades which brought Europeans in contact with Middle Eastern culture and customs. Also, Islamic Spain and the Emirate of Sicily in modern day Italy would have also been points of contact with Muslim culture. While influence in creating universities may have come from Muslim influence, European higher institutions of learning were initially tied to the Catholic Church.

For this reason, universities in Europe can be considered a continuation of the desire for learning maintained by the monks who studied in early monasteries. Evntually, however, universities would also be founded by kings as time passed by.

Whether Church-formed or Royalty-formed, most of these universities were built on the foundation of an already existing school after that school became primarily associated with higher learning. These European universities would have admitted students after they had completed both the trivium and the quadrivium.

The trivium included the following subjects: grammar, rhetoric and logic or diaclectic - essential subjects carried over from Greek and Roman academic study. In addition to the arts related to public address, students would have studied arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy, which combination of study was known as the quadrivium. While many of these subjects are still taught today, modern universities have shifted their focus from simply imparting old knowledge to developing more knowledge through research.

Modern universities focus their efforts on pushing research in each field represented to the limits. In the United States, for example, professors who seek tenure are expected to publish, conduct research or compose in their fields of study. One factor of a wide increase in knowledge over the last couple of centuries can be attributed universities shifting to research during the 18th and 19th centuries.