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The Modern European University

In modern times, fully immersed in the logic of the nation state and the creation of a single national market (i.e., from the beginning of the 19th century onwards), the so-called Napoleonic university, in the context of the birth of the new European university, explicitly took over the task of training professionals. The name came from the ancient word and custom of professing, sometimes involving a specific ceremony, which signified becoming a member of a group and to devoting themselves to a certain practical knowledge, considered necessary for society based on a decision of the State.

The orientation of the Napoleonic university was one of two basic strategic directions among the nascent modern European universities. Its original objective was practical knowledge: to train the professionals needed by society needed. This stood in contrast to the option proposed by Humboldt in Germany, which was much more oriented towards training scientists and humanists. The Napoleonic schools thus began to grant licences for the legitimate exercise of the professions that had been recognised by society. Thus, the universities offered «certification», with schools staffed by «professors» – professionals who were trained to teach – not necessarily «masters» (the former magistri, dedicated to research and the cultivation of knowledge). New structures, entirely dedicated to study and research, were created for those who wished to devote themselves to scientific research, and only eventually to teaching.

This approach had a very direct impact on the new societies of southern Europe and contributed to solving the new practical problems of a nation state that had become a unified political space populated by citizens with equal rights, decisively influencing the world of the professions and its future in Spain to this day.