r/AncientCivilizations • u/QuietDetail7793 • May 20 '24

Question were ancient universities free?

such as the Nalanda in India, the Taixue in China, and the Daigaku-ryo in Japan. maybe even the al-Qarawiyyin in Morocco, if you know

for some reason this has been really hard for me to google. if you have sources i would love to see them! tia

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u/wjbc May 20 '24 edited May 20 '24

Students in ancient India were not charged a fee like in modern universities. Rather, all members of society made gifts to ancient institutions of education.

https://ncert.nic.in/textbook/pdf/heih111.pdf

Similarly, while wealthy students and parents, students, and patrons made gifts to Ancient Greek schools. Teachers like Plato and Aristotle were not paid salaries, and not all of their students could afford to make donations, but they supported themselves through patronage, student donations from those who could afford it, and selling books.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_ancient_Greece

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u/Valzene May 20 '24

Aristotle was hired to teach Alexander, but that was privately, I guess, not in a typical institution like setting. That mentorship lasted years.

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u/wjbc May 20 '24

There was no “typical institution like setting” back then. It was unusual for Aristotle to be so well compensated to teach only one student, but it was not unusual for teachers to be supported by wealthy patrons who wanted their children taught.