University of Carbury

The University is a federation of 45 different colleges and private halls, all connected under the umbrella of Carbury. The central university maintains the libraries, laboratories, and museums on the behalf of the colleges, as well as setting the major academic divisions - Humanities, Natural Philosophy, and Theology. These divisions each have their own faculty and departments which handle teaching and research. The University is led by the Chancellor and the Faculty Council (which is made up of all tenured faculty).

The individual colleges are independent, self-governing entities within the University. They are responsible for the admission and care of students, including housing, food, and discipline. Each college is led by a Head, who is typically also a tenured member of the University faculty.

Private halls have the same status as colleges, but are also a part of another institution which provides funding and direction. They tend to be smaller than the colleges, and often are focused on a particular area of study. They pay the University for their membership into the federation, and for the use of the central facilities. The Church of Albion maintains a private hall for the training of promising young clerics, and the Ministry of Correspondence sponsors a hall for those who may enter their service after graduation.

Both colleges and halls will often create positions within their structure designated for the study of certain topics they find interesting. These positions (sometimes called fellowships) are funded by the sponsoring institution, and their occupants are considered a part of the Faculty. Receiving a fellowship is a good step towards tenure, but not a guarantee.

Chairs are university level positions responsible for a particular department or academic field. These are always held be tenured professors, typically for decades.

Over the centuries, there have been many fellowships and chairs created for dealing with extremely specific interests and fields of study. They are rarely ever discontinued, and some of them are particularly esoteric or obscure. Many people find themselves alternatively laughing or perplexed when reading through a comprehensive list of these posts.

The University sees itself as the gatekeeper to the higher echelons of society, and the arbiter of who shall succeed in Albion, and who shall fail. Half of all the clergy in the Empire were educated at Carbury, and four out of five bishops are alumni. Similar ratios can be found in the Civil Service, and in major institutions such as the Bank of Albion. People in positions of power will often assist an applicant who came from their college or hall, promoting them over those who do not have such a connection.

Carbury also sees itself as integral to building the future of the Empire (and by extension, the world). They are the institution of Sir Edwin Harlowe, whose Principia Arcana rocked the world by laying out the principles of Universal Magic. Their faculty continues to research magic in all its forms, as well as every other subject they can conceive of. The first Taloi were constructed in a Carbury laboratory, and it was Carbury-educated engineers who recognized the value of the railroad and invested in its development. Every day, the faculty of the University is expanding the knowledge of humanity further, and what they learn will be the makings of the future.

The University prides itself on being one of the oldest institutions in the Empire. It was founded in 1131, when King Thomas II of High Albion granted a charter to Carbury College. Its purpose was to prevent students from going to the continent for their educations, as Thomas believed that too many of them returned with foreign notions and foreign spouses that disrupted the kingdom. He would later go on to make a list of schools in Elbid that he found particularly upsetting, and banned any citizen of High Albion from attending them.

In 1214 Exchequer College was founded to address failings in the mathematical skills of the servants of the crown. It entered into an arrangement with Carbury College to share facilities. This arrangement later evolved into the University system when the first Chancellor was elected in 1246. Over the next several decades, the University grew rapidly, and at the end of the century it was a confederation of seven colleges - Carbury College, Exchequer, Yondervale, Arkwright, Shadowcross, Werton, and Royal.

In the centuries that have passed since then, the University has continued to thrive and grow, adapting to every change history has brought. It became a center of theological study when King Edmund VII split from the Church and founded the Church of Albion. When the kingdoms of Alba and High Albion merged to form the Empire, it graciously established Braewick College to accept Alban citizens into the University community. Researchers such as Edwin Harlowe led the nation and the world in the study of Magic, and their discoveries created the world as it stands today. And during the Dragon Wars, the scholars of Carbury provided essential knowledge and expertise that assisted in the Empire's victory.