University is a place where several people gather in order to study. This idea of bringing people together in a specific place to study in an organized and systematic way began in 388 B.C. It was in Athens that Plato, a Greek philosopher, founded what can be considered the first university in ancient Europe.
It was called the academy because it was close to the sanctuary of a Greek hero named Academus. At the first academy or university, people gathered to study subjects of mathematics, astronomy, physics, natural sciences and philosophy.
The main objective of the academics was to find answers about the functioning of the world and human nature. Contrary to the traditional conception of the time when every explanation of the world was conceived with mythologies and the desire of the gods, some scholars argued that the phenomena were systemic and natural.
By distancing themselves from the idea of an organized world managed by gods, the first university students sought alternative explanations unveiling rules of nature. Starting from the observation of physical phenomena and social interactions.
At that time the studies were not in classrooms. People gathered to discuss things, exchange perceptions and knowledge, in a less formal environment. The method of study as we know it today, with universities divided into departments, courses and classrooms, emerged in 859 with the University of Karueein in Morocco.
In Brazil in 1808 the first university was inaugurated in Bahia, with a medical course. The first Brazilian university was the UFPR, Federal University of Paraná, in 1912.
The difference between college and university is that in the university there is a variety of areas of study and research. In the college, the studies are in a single area of knowledge, as is the case of the medical school, law school, etc.. In other words, within a university there are several colleges or areas of knowledge.