ABSTRACT
The academies clearly faced major difficulties in their attempts to achieve the sort of educational standards offered by the universities. By and large, both ministers and secular rulers agreed that the best way forward lay in investing as much as possible to try and attract famous professors in order to reap the financial benefits of visiting students. A local centre of learning also offered young citizens an opportunity for training without the dangers of foreign travel, and it allowed the magistracy and ministers to keep an eye on them while they pursued their courses. Yet while there was agreement on the need to provide funds for local academies, conflict persisted between lay and clerical authorities over the relative importance of secular and theological studies. Some, like Calvin and his ministerial colleagues in Geneva, saw the Academy's role as that of a seminary, whereas the magistrates sought to increase its international reputation (and revenues) by fostering more lucrative subjects such as jurisprudence.9
