The College de France, founded in the 16th century by Francis I., was from the first regarded with hos tility by the Sorbonne. As a school of gratuitous instruction in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, it not only held its ground, but at the Revolution ultimately survived the universities. As reconstituted in 1831 it became chiefly known as an institution for the instruc tion of adults, and its staff of professors has comprised from time to time the names of not a few of the most distinguished scholars and men of science in the country.
In Switzerland the universities shared in the conflicts handed down from the days when the Helvetic republic had been first created. In 1832, Basle having joined the League of the Catholic Cantons, the Confederates divided the canton into two, and agreed to raise the flourishing Hochschule, which already existed at Zurich, to the rank of a university—a measure which may be said to mark a turning-point and a new epoch in the his tory of the higher education of the republic. The gymnasium of Berne, originally established under the teaching of Ulrich Zwingli, developed, in 1834, into a university with all the facul ties. As early as 1586 Lausanne had been a noted school for the education of Protestant ministers, but it was not until 1806 that chairs of philosophy and law were established, to which those of natural science and literature were added in 1836, and, somewhat later, that of medicine. It was not, however, until 1891 that Lausanne was formally constituted a university. At Geneva, the famous academy of the 16th and 17th centuries, long distinguished as a centre of Calvinistic teaching, became merged, in 1876, in a university, where the instruction (given mainly in the French language) was carried on by a staff of 41 professors. With this was also incorporated an earlier school of science, in which De Saussure and De Candolle had once been teachers. Fribourg, founded in 1889, began with only two faculties—those of law and philosophy, to which one of theology was added in the following year.
In Spain, by the act of 1857, the system was placed under the control of the minister of education, while the king dom was divided into ten university districts—Madrid, Bar celona, Granada, Oviedo, Salamanca, Santiago, Seville, Valencia, Valladolid and Saragossa—the rector of the universities in each district representing the chief authority. The degrees to be con ferred at each were those of bachelor, licentiate and doctor. Each university received a rector of its own, selected by the Govern ment from among the professors, and a precise plan of instruction was prescribed in which every hour had its appointed lecturer and subject. Philosophy, natural science, law and medicine were to be
studied at all these universities, and at the majority a school of chemistry was subsequently instituted. But at Salamanca, Val ladolid, Seville and Saragossa no school of chemistry was insti tuted, and at the first three that of medicine ultimately died out. No provision was made for instruction in theology, this being relegated to the seminaries in the episcopal cities. The University of Manila, in the Philippines, was opened in 1601 as a school for the nobility, and ten years later the famous College of St. Thomas was founded by the Dominican order; but it was not until 1857 that the university, properly speaking, was founded by royal Spanish decree.
In pre-war Austria the uni versities were largely modelled on the same system as those of the German empire. Vienna has long been chiefly distinguished for its school of medicine, which enjoyed, in the last century, a reputa tion almost unrivalled in Europe. The University of Graz, the capital of Styria, was founded in 1586, and has long been one of the most flourishing centres, with nearly 2,000 students, chiefly in law and philosophy. The University of Salzburg, founded in 1623, was suppressed in 181o; that of Lemberg (Lwow), founded in 1784 by the emperor Joseph II., was re moved, in 1805, to Cracow, and united to that university. In 1816 it was opened on an independent basis. In the bombardment of the town in 1848 the university buildings were burnt down, and the site was changed to what was formerly a Jesuit convent. Lwow is now Polish.
The universi ties of the Hungarian kingdom before the World War were three in number:—Budapest, originally founded by Tyrnau in 1635, under the auspices of the Jesuits, now possessing four faculties— theology, jurisprudence, medicine and philosophy; Kolozsvar (Klausenburg), once the chief Magyar centre, founded in 1872 and comprising four faculties, but where mathematics and natural science supply the place of theology. It is now known as Cluj, and is in Rumania. Zagrab (Agram), the Slovak university, now in Yugoslavia, originally founded by Maria Theresa in 1776 and reopened in 1874 with three faculties, viz., jurisprudence, the ology and philosophy. The chief centre of Protestant education is the college at Debreczen, founded in 1531, which, in past times, was not infrequently subsidized from England. In 1914 it was raised to the dignity of a university.