Research on the Higher Education Ideas in Ancient Greece and its Modern Values

Abstract

Higher education institutions of ancient Greece, represented by the philosophy schools which rose in 387 BC in classical Athens and its history ended in 529 AD, it played a significant role in higher education history. The ideas, systems and structures of higher education institutions had been completed in the form of philosophy schools during these 916 years’ development. Here, the core ideas of them have been reviewed and analyzed at two main aspects: The virtue cultivation, the practical ideas of liberal arts education, the free view reflected in this process worthies our attention too. The continuous research back on them will help us to deepen our understanding of the origin of the university ideas and the development of its systems, and also it will promote the modern value of its spiritual heritages. In practice, universities are the main forces of the modern higher education, while we focus on the system development of the universities, attention should still be drawn that it is the place for virtue cultivation and the truth and freedom pursuing, which are the core parts for the university ideas, they should be well maintained and carried on in the development of the modern universities.