Scholars and students have always been great travelers.
The official case for "academic mobility" is now often stated in
impressive terms as a fundamental necessity for economic and social progress in
the world, and debated in the corridors of Europe, 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.
Mobility of this kind meant also mobility of ideas, their transference
across frontiers, 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. (1) 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.
In the twentieth century, and particularly in the last 20 years, the old
footpaths of the wandering scholars have become vast highways. (2) The
vehicle which has made this possible has of course been the aero plane, making
contact between scholars even in the most distant places immediately feasible,
and providing for the very rapid transmission of knowledge.
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. (3) 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. (4) 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 co-operation, and
provide them with their most satisfactory stimulus. But as the
specializations have increased in number and narrowed in range, there has been
an opposite movement towards interdisciplinary studies. (5) 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.