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14 CONVOCATION
characteristic will serve you better than being a lifelong learner.

Ÿ And finally, “discover your purpose.” Regardless of where you are in life, your
talents and gifts are still developing. Be open to new experiences and make
choices that align with your curiosity and passion.

I’d like to expand on this last point. To me, discovering a purpose requires us to
consider what we can achieve beyond ourselves and our immediate interests.
Ganpat University was built around a profound mission, “Social Upliftment Through
Education.” This powerful goal requires us to discover what our purpose will be. It
also puts your university into the legacy of higher education reaching back to the
earliest such institutions.

The world’s oldest university is the University of Bologna (buh-LOAN-e-yuh), located
in Italy. But you may find it interesting to know that the world’s oldest institution of
higher learning didn’t start as a school at all. It was an organization dedicated to
serving societal needs.

Started in 1088, the University of Bologna is widely accepted as the world’s first
university. Indeed, the term “university” as an institution of learning was coined as
part of the evolution of the University of Bologna.

As one of Europe’s centers of intellectual and cultural life during the onset of the
High Middle Ages, Bologna drew students from across the continent to study with
prominent scholars. Each of these scholars worked freelance rather than as a joined
entity, with students paying fees.

But the foreign students coming to Bologna to study faced a problem. The local laws
held that an individual could be held liable for the unpaid debts of a countryman. To
manage this collective punishment quandary, the various nationalities formed
together into mutual aid societies called “nations,” where the members could pool
resources when one of its members owed a debt.
Finding success with their collective actions, the “nations” took it another step
further by joining with folks from other nations to spread the risk even further.

These coalitions of nations were given the moniker “universitas” from the Latin
meaning “a whole” or “a corporation.” The universitas was democratically governed
with major decisions settled by majority vote. Additionally, the universitas handled
internal disputes and established welfare programs to support its members.

The universitas enjoyed considerable bargaining power with the city and eventually
received civil and criminal jurisdiction over its members. This collective bargaining
power translated to the students’ relationships with their professors as well. Acting
as an organized coalition rather than paying individual fees to professors, the
students could dictate class subjects, schedules, and professorial salaries.
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