Revision as of 18:38, 17 May 2011

University of Fresia
Location	Gallenfeld, Fresia
Motto	Learning. Apprenticing. Doing.
Established	211 FI
Affiliation	Council of Princes
Chancellor	Dermott Ironbroth, III
Colors	Blacksmith

The University of Fresia is one of the few universities in Fresia and located in the de-facto Fresian capital of Gallenfeld. It is supported through gifts, tuition, and the Fresian Council of Princes.

History

Around 200 FI, some of the more worldly members of the Council of Princes raised concern at the lack of higher learning institutions in Fresia. The smaller institutes scattered throughout the duchies were primarily church-funded and thus more tailored in the training of clerics and other Alexandrian church professions. The Council agreed to establish a central, slightly more secular university and formed the University of Fresia.

In order to attract students from more prosperous areas, specifically from Gildenhome in the north, the University commissioned a variety of smiths and artisans to apprentice their trade at the university- giving it a more practical spin than the usually pedantic offerings at other universities.

Areas of Study

When a student enters the University, he or she chooses either the Journeyman's or Baccalaureate degree program. Both programs take about roughly six years and all students within their degree program have the same required courses, also called the trivium. As the Journeyman's degree focuses primarily on apprenticeship of a particular craft, there are far less formal courses.

Journeyman Degree

This is essentially an advanced apprenticeship program. The most common apprenticeship is that of a smith or metalworker, hence the school's mascot being the blacksmith. Students are apprenticed under a master and receive most of the training there. It differs from the common practice of apprenticeship by also requiring courses pertinent to the apprenticeship. The trivium for a Journeyman is arithmetic, metallurgy, and crafting.

Baccalaureate Degree

This is a general education program consisting of the trivium grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The program does shift slightly depending on if a student plans on going into arcane or clerical arts. Logic for arcane arts consists of learning arcane magic while logic for clerical arts consists of learning clerical magic. Students desiring neither of these have a standard logic set more focused on arithmetic and geometry.

Masters & Magisters

3-6 more years. A Magister degree also then allows a graduate to teach while a Master of Craft certifies a graduate to be proficient enough to apprentice another. All candidates study a general quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry (including geography and natural history), music/art, and astronomy. Philosophy and history, as well as specialized programs for both clerical and arcane arts, may be studied as well.

Magister Degree

While there is only one Magister degree, like the baccalaureate degree there are three study paths: general, clerical, arcane. The general degree focuses primarily on the quadrivium, while the others on the magic of choice.

Master of Craft

This essentially certifies a graduate that he or she has advanced beyond journeyman status and is now a master of their chosen craft. From here a graduate may take on an apprentice and receive full membership in a chosen trade or craft guild or organization.

Doctorate Degree

3-6 more years. Due to the "economical" nature of the university, only two doctorate degrees are offered: Theology and Arcana.

Doctorate of Theology

For clerics, usually reserved for those who are already teaching or those who wish to assume a more supporting advisory role in the Alexandrian church.

Doctorate of Arcana

For arcana magic users, usually sought by those who are already teaching or those whose primary interests lie in forms of magical research.

Noteworthy Faculty, Students & Alumni

Where U of F lacks in money and prestige, it makes up for in bravado- reflecting the general Fresian culture of independence and pride to overcompensate for a lack of wealth.

• Stromglut Balin - Dwarven metalsmith and faculty member who insists he is the ultimate authority on ball bearings, including constructing his entire metallurgy classroom on a giant lazy susan.

• Sunne Zerfweig - Former art faculty member known for her in-depth of analysis of war face painting as a unique form of Fresian art.

• Waldthear Polmando - Former faculty member and author of a controversial paper examining whether divine magical power was essentially made of the same energies that fueled arcane magic.

• Gertrude Zapadri (nee Faoreder) - Alumna and creator of the popular chain charm bracelets that later assisted her husband, Muil Zapadri, in becoming the wealthiest halfling merchant in Arabelle in the late 800s, early 900s FI.