ABSTRACT
The fundamental factor in determining the scope and quality of the university is secondary education. Despite the efforts of philosophers and reformers, the English universities and the endowed public schools formed a closed social and intellectual circle up to almost the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Perhaps a radical reform in America would be hastened, if the English universities showed that a graduate school, the heart of the university, can be created on the basis of freedom in an atmosphere favourable to the development of ideas. In the field of higher education, the ancient universities dominate and, as far as one can guess will long, perhaps permanently, continue to dominate. The organization of the provincial universities has been greatly influenced by American experience, modified, however, to advantage by English university tradition.
