The original Latin word universitas refers in general to a number of persons associated into one body, a society, company, community, guild, corporation, etc.[13][page needed] As urban town life and medieval guilds developed, specialized associations of students and teachers with collective legal rights (these rights were usually guaranteed by charters issued by princes, prelates, or their towns) became denominated by this general term. Like other guilds, they were self-regulating and determined the qualifications of their members.[14]

In modern usage, the word has come to mean an institution of higher education offering tuition in mainly non-vocational subjects and typically having the power to confer degrees.[15] The earlier emphasis on its corporate organization is no longer the primary feature by which a modern university is recognized.[16]

The original Latin word referred to degree-awarding institutions of learning in Western and Central Europe, where this form of legal organisation was prevalent and from where the institution spread around the world.[17]

Graduation ceremony on Convocation day at the University of Oxford. The Pro-Vice-Chancellor in MA gown and hood, Proctor in official dress and new Doctors of Philosophy in scarlet full dress. Behind them, a bedel, a Doctor and Bachelors of Arts and Medicine graduate.Academic freedomAn important idea in the definition of a university is the notion of academic freedom. The first documentary evidence of this comes from early in the life of the University of Bologna, which adopted an academic charter, the Constitutio Habita,[18] in 1155 or 1158,[19] which guaranteed the right of a traveling scholar to unhindered passage in the interests of education. Today, this is claimed as the origin of academic freedom.[20] This is now a widely accepted concept in international research. On 18 September 1988, 430 university rectors signed the Magna Charta Universitatum,[21] marking the 900th anniversary of Bologna's foundation. The number of universities signing the Magna Charta Universitatum continues to grow, drawing from all parts of the world.[citation needed]