Abstract
Over the last several centuries, the concept of university is undergoing dramatic change, the change being ever dynamic. Quite a few new generations of universities emerged and one notices a clear contrast between the ancient and the modern ones, including the ones set up during the medieval times. While searching for new and innovative modes of developing universities today in the twenty-first century, there is a lot that one can learn from a reading of the history of some of the ancient universities, in their nature, scope, coverage, planning, funding, spread, teacher-student relations, institution-community relations and many other aspects. Concentrating on ancient universities of India, the article draws a few important lessons relevant for development of universities in the twenty-first century.