List of oldest universities in continuous operation

This is a list of the oldest universities in the world that are still operating today. A university is counted here based on the date when academic historians generally agree that a school became one, even if it was a different kind of institution before that. In this list, the word "university" refers to schools with special structures and legal features that developed in Europe. These features set the university apart from other places of higher learning in the past, even though those places are sometimes called universities today.

The main list includes institutions that historians generally recognise as universities (from the Latin studia generalia) before 1500. The second part of the list gives the oldest university based on the medieval European model in each country, or in parts of countries where independent sources identify more than one university system. To be included, an institution must still be operating and must have kept its continuity throughout its history. Some early universities, such as the University of Paris, were founded around the start of the 13th century but were abolished by the French Revolution in 1793, so they are not included. Some institutions were re-founded later with new beginnings. For example, the modern University of Paris came into existence in 1896, after the Louis Liard law disbanded Napoleon's University of France system.

The word "university" comes from the Latin universitas magistrorum et scholarium, which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars." The University of Bologna in Bologna, Italy, is the world's oldest university in continuous operation. Teaching there began around 1088, and the school was organised into a university in the late 12th century. It was also the first university in the sense of a higher-learning institute that awarded degrees. Many medieval universities can be traced back to Catholic cathedral schools or monastic schools. These schools appeared as early as the 6th century and operated for hundreds of years before they were formally established as universities in the high medieval period.

Some ancient places of higher learning, such as those in ancient Greece, Africa, ancient Persia, ancient Rome, Byzantium, ancient China, ancient India and the Islamic world, are not generally recognised by historians as universities. This is because they differ in culture, history, structure and law from the medieval European university, which the modern university evolved from. For this reason, they are not included in this list. Universities and ancient higher-learning institutions of these kinds include the University of al-Qarawiyyin, University of Ez-Zitouna and Al-Azhar University. These were founded as mosques in 859, 698 or 734, and 972 respectively. They developed associated madrasas. The dates when organised teaching began are uncertain, but teaching was recorded by 1129 for al-Qarawiyyin, and in the 13th century for Ez-Zitouna and Al-Azhar. They became universities in 1963, 1956 and 1961 respectively.

Medieval origins

Main article: Medieval university

The university as an institution has deep roots in medieval society, and it also helped shape that society. Academic historian Walter Rüegg says the university is a European institution, in fact the European institution above all others. He gives several reasons, including that it is a community of teachers and students with certain rights, such as administrative autonomy, the power to decide its curricula (courses of study) and research goals, and the power to award publicly recognised degrees.

Rüegg says the university was created in medieval Europe, a Europe shaped by papal Christianity.

Modern spread

From the early modern period onward, the university spread from the medieval Latin West across the world. It eventually replaced all other higher-learning institutions and became the leading place for higher education almost everywhere.

The spread happened in stages. It began in Southern and Western Europe (from the 11th or 12th century), then reached Central and Northern Europe (from the 14th or 15th century), the Americas (from the 16th century), Australia (from the 19th century), and finally Asia and Africa (from the 19th or 20th century). The exception was the Philippines, where the University of Santo Tomas was set up in the 17th century.

Founded as universities before 1500

Main article: List of medieval universities

This list includes medieval universities founded before 1500 that have continued without a break since then. Universities that stopped existing, or that merged into or split away to form an institution regarded as newly established, are not included. Some have closed for short periods. For example, the University of Siena was closed from 1805 to 1815 during the Napoleonic Wars, and universities in the Czech Republic and Poland were closed during Nazi occupation, from 1938 to 1945.

Universities are dated from when scholars say they first met the definition of a university. For universities such as Bologna and Oxford, which grew out of teaching in individual schools or existed in another form before becoming universities, the date in the list is later than the date the institutions give for their founding.

Oldest universities by country or region after 1500 still in operation

Many universities began at schools and colleges that were founded much earlier but were not classed as universities when they started. The notes for each institution usually explain this. In some countries, especially the US and those influenced by its culture, higher education institutions that would normally be called universities are called colleges instead. In those cases, both the oldest institution that would normally be regarded as a university and the oldest institution to actually be called a university are given. In many parts of the world, the first university to have a presence was based elsewhere, often the University of London through the affiliation of a local college. Where this differs from the first locally established university, both are given.

Europe had 143 universities in 1789, but the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars took a heavy toll, reducing the number to 83 by 1815. The universities of France were abolished, and over half of the universities in Germany and Spain were destroyed. By the mid 19th century, Europe had recovered to 98 universities. In the United States, the colonial colleges awarded degrees from their foundation, but none were formally named as universities before the American Revolution, which led to various claims to be the first university in the United States. The earliest Canadian institutions were founded as colleges, without degree-awarding powers, and gained degree-granting authority and university status later.

Africa

Asia

Europe

South America

Main article: List of colonial universities in Latin America

North America

See also: Colonial colleges, First university in the United States, and List of colonial universities in Hispanic America

Oceania