academia

Etymology

New Latin acadēmīa, from Ancient Greek Ἀκαδημία (Akadēmía), a grove of trees and gymnasium outside of Athens where Plato taught; from the name of the supposed former owner of that estate, the Attica hero Akademos. Doublet of academy and Akademeia; see also academe. Modern sense of “the world of universities and scholarship” recorded from 1956.

noun

1. (collective) The scientific and cultural community engaged in higher education and research, taken as a whole.
   Academia continues to provide scientific education, despite attempts to turn it into a system of professional schooling.
   Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete. 2013-07-20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845
2. Continuous study at higher education institutions; scholarship.
   Not every university graduate wishes to pursue academia.