a. [f. as next + -arian.] Of or pertaining to, characteristic of, obtaining in, a university.
1834. F. Malony, in Fraser’s Mag. X. 317/1. Awfully ludicrous were the dying convulsions of the old universitarian system.
1858. [J. Thompson], Almæ Matres, 43–4. No wars between privileges collegiate and universitarian will effect anything, unless you, as responsible agents, work along with them.
1872. Mrs. Oliphant, Mem. Montalembert, II. 44. The desire that this universitarian teaching should be above reproach.
Hence Universitarianism, the educational method or system characteristic of or prevailing in a university; advocacy of or preference for this.
1889. Jrnl. Educ., 1 Sept., 479/1. At the risk of being accused of classicism, or universitarianism, I must confess that I do believe in a certain amount of classical work.
