SoMe useLess FactS on uNi

Ever wonder how some practices and terminology in our university come about??? Was reading about the long and rich history of Cambridge university and made some discoveries. This stirred me to probe further. So, here are the findings:

How does matriculation come about?

'Enrolment with a licensed master...... was called matriculation because of the condition that the scholar's name must be on the master's matricula or roll,......' http://www.cam.ac.uk/cambuniv/pubs/history/

Why is academic dress a GOWN?

'12th/13th Centuries: Origin of academic dress - the dress of the scholar (student or teacher) is the dress of a cleric. Long robes are needed for warmth in unheated buildings; likewise, the hood provided warmth for the tonsured head. Eventually, a skull cap replaces the hood. '
http://graduation.tamu.edu/history.html

'Academic dress appears to have originated at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge'
http://www.commencement.neu.edu/dress.html

Why is there variations of academic dress in a university?

Cambridge university: ' It was also desirable to mark the stage in a scholar's progress by a ceremony of admission (graduation) to the different grades, or degrees, of membership. ....... grades of scholar became differentiated by a series of variations on the gown, hood and cap. '
http://www.cam.ac.uk/cambuniv/pubs/history/

Why is our head called DEAN?

Religious: 'title accorded to persons holding cartain positions of authority within a religious heirarchy.'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_(religion)

In Cambridge: 'Most of the scholars of the University were at first clerks or clergymen,in holy orders of some sort, and expecting careers in the Church or in the Civil Service (as diplomats, judges or officers of the royal household).'
http://www.cam.ac.uk/cambuniv/pubs/history/independance.html
' Except in Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, the term Dean does not, in Cambridge, indicate an academic office. The Dean is usually the College officer responsible for Chapel services, or in some cases, for College discipline.'
http://www.cam.ac.uk/cambuniv/pubs/works/appendix1.html

Deduction: We can see that dean was orginally a clerical position. It eventually bacame an academic positon because some older universities were religious-based.

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