The linkage of the formal structures of higher learning in Islam and the development of higher education in the Medieval West is discussed. Recent findings indicate a transference of instructional methodology and even some organizational forms from Islamdom to the Christian West during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Islamic models of higher education predate those in Medieval Europe by as much as two centuries. There were ample opportunities for exchange of ideas and the flow of information about Islamic higher education to the West through Spain, Sicily, and Byzantium. Also, both Islam and the Christian West shared a classical Greek heritage. Both Arabic and Latin academic communities showed a parallel structure of instructional methodology. For both Islamic and Christian scholars, scholastic methodology arose from the tension between faith and reason. Scholastic methodology appeared first in legal studies and later in theological studies. As a result of the control of higher education by scholastic methodology, humanistic studies declined in both Islam and the Christian West. Organizational forms in Islamic and Christian higher education are also considered, including the founding of colleges through endowments. (SW)