[A] Mobility of this kind meant also mobility of ideas, their
transference across frontiers, and their simultaneous impact upon many groups of
people. The point of learning is to share it, whether with students or with
colleagues; one presumes that only eccentrics have no interest in being credited
with a startling discovery, or a new technique. It must also have been
reassuring to know that other people in other parts of the world were about to
make the same discovery or were thinking along the same lines, and that one was
not quite alone, confronted by inquisition, ridicule or neglect.
[B] Scholars and students have always been great travelers. The case for
“academic mobility” is now often stated in impressive terms as a fundamental
necessity for economic and social progress in the world, but it is certainly
nothing new. Serious students were always ready to go abroad in search of the
most stimulating teachers and the most famous academies; in search of the purest
philosophy, the most effective medicine, the likeliest road to gold.
[C] Apart from the vehicle itself, it is fairly easy to identify the main
factors which have brought about the recent explosion in academic movement. Some
of these are purely quantitative and require no further mention: there are far
more centers of learning, and a far greater number of scholars and
students.
[D] But as the specializations have increased in
number and narrowed in range, there had been an opposite movement towards
interdisciplinary Studies. These owe much to the belief that one cannot properly
investigate the incredibly complex problems thrown up by the modern world, and
by recent advances in our knowledge along the narrow front of a single
discipline. This trend has led to a great deal Of academic contact between
disciplines, and a far greater emphasis on the pooling of specialist knowledge,
reflected in the broad subjects chosen in many international
conferences.
[E] Frequently these specializations lie in areas
where very rapid developments are taking place, and also where the research
needed for developments is extremely costly and takes a long time. It is
precisely in these areas that the advantages of collaboration and sharing of
expertise appear most evident. Associated with this is the growth of specialist
periodicals, which enable scholars to become aware of what is happening in
different centers of research and to meet each other in conferences and
symposia. From these meetings come the personal relationships which are at, the
bottom of almost all formalized schemes of cooperation, and provide them with
their most satisfactory stimulus.
[F] In the twentieth century,
and particularly in the last 20 years, the old footpaths of the wandering
scholars have become vast highways. The vehicle which has made this possible has
of course been the aeroplane, making contact between scholars even in the most
distant places immediately feasible, and providing for the very rapid
transmission of knowledge.
[G] In addition one must recognize
the very considerable multiplication of disciplines, particularly in the
sciences, which by widening the total area of advanced studies has produced an
enormous number of specialists whose particular interests are precisely defined.
These people would work in some isolation if they were not able to keep in touch
with similar isolated groups in other countries.
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