The history of universities in their social context is not a merely antiquarian study; it is the soundest basis for consideration of the contemporary university and its problems. The most frequent debate, that of the ivory tower, is really a question of the form and efficiency of the university's articulation with society at large. The adaptability of organs to new demands can seldom be reliably determined without reference to the elasticity or lack of it in the past. The relations of the university with the wider world go far to explain stability, change, growth, decay, and variety within the institutions. Student and alumni variety may explain the different function of formally similar organizations. Administrative organs may change rapidly with the change of personnel and trustees or advisors. A change in outside society may have profound repercussions within. For the purposes of understanding the university as a social organism, the study of British universities in the nineteenth century is most important, for it is this growing system that formed the basis of the systems of higher education in much of the twentieth century world. (Author/MSE)