Universities are said to be the 'powerhouses' of modern society. They educate leaders and advance our basic knowledge of nature and society. Yet historically they have been vulnerable when meeting the challenges of dynamic industrial democracies or indeed of modern totalitarian states. Today universities are at the centre of society's attention and must therefore balance a great number of contradictory demands and pressures. Can this be done within the structure and ethos of an historic institution called a 'university', or are such institutions now passé and merely part of a bureaucratically managed higher education 'system'? These essays discuss the ways in which universities have coped with complexity since 1800, while retaining their basic 'idea'. Special attention is accorded to the role of the State and the autonomous professions in defining the mission of universities and in their struggle for individuality in the face of mounting pluralistic and bureaucratic pressures.

"...the essays in The European and American University Since 1800...provide important assessments of how ideas and policy interventions by governments brought about change." Campbell F. Lloyd, Journal of Urban History

"...the various chapters provide useful insights....it is hard to imagine the reader who would not find some new insights in a collection of papers as diverse as this one." East/West Education

"...a serious historical and sociological overview of the subject....worth browsing through, if only to gain some understanding of the widely different fundamental assumptions underlying European and American universities." Journal of Academic Librarianship

"The topics addressed in this volume hold considerable importance for contemporary public policy and university politics, just as they represent key dynamics in the shaping of the modern university....Consumed slowly and deliberatley, it constitutes a satisfying meal. The richness and complementary flavors may be difficult to appreciate second-hand, but the patient, highly motivated reader should find the intellectual investment worthwhile." Janet Rasmussen, Scandanavian Studies

"This book ...takes history very seriously and is the sworn enemy of oversimplified assessments of university development, past and present...This is a substantive anthology." Histoire sociale