What Is the Oldest University in the World?

Higher education has a history that dates back thousands of years. Today, universities are central to academic life all over the planet. But what are the oldest universities in the world? In this article, we’ll explore the most ancient institutions of higher learning on a journey that will take us from medieval Europe to ancient Egypt.

What are the criteria for our list?

First of all, what counts as a university? For the purposes of this list of the oldest universities in the world, we’re defining a university not just as a higher education institution, but one with the distinctive organisational and administrative structures common to the institutions for which the term ‘university’ was invented in medieval Europe.

As the historian Walter Rüegg has put it:

“The university is a European institution; indeed, it is the European institution par excellence. There are various reasons for this assertion. As a community of teachers and taught, accorded certain rights, such as administrative autonomy and the determination and realisation of curricula (courses of study) and of the objectives of research as well as the award of publicly recognised degrees, it is a creation of medieval Europe.”

That means all of the universities in our main list were founded – you guessed it – in medieval Europe. We’ve dated their founding to when they first began to operate as universities (though they may have done other kinds of teaching, e.g. in a purely ecclesiastical setting, beforehand).

What about other ancient higher education institutions, including those from outside Europe? Don’t worry, we’ll cover those later in this article!

Another caveat – the universities in this list have all been in more or less continuous operation since they were founded. (Some do have occasional gaps of ten or twenty years when they were closed during times of war, for instance.)

There are early European universities which were founded, abolished, and then re-founded more than a century later. They’re not included in our main list but we do address them further on in this piece.

That’s enough quibbling for now – on with the oldest universities in the world!

Oldest Universities in the World

Our list is presented in reverse order – read on to find out the oldest!

University of Valladolid

Country: Spain

Founded: 1293

The University of Valladolid was founded some time in the 13^th century – though when, exactly, is something of a mystery.

One popular tradition states that it was founded in the 1240s, when the Estudio General de Palencia, considered the first University in Spain and created earlier in the century by Alfonso VIII, was relocated to Valladolid.

The first definite reference to Valladolid as a university in its own right dates from 1293 and it received papal recognition in 1346.

Today, it is a public university with campuses in four cities: Valladolid, Palencia, Soria and Segovia. 

University of Coimbra

Country: Portugal

Founded: 1290

The oldest university in Portugal and one of the oldest in the world, Coimbra was originally founded in Lisbon in 1290 by King Dinis of Portugal. It relocated a number of times before permanently relocating to Coimbra in 1537.

The University is now a UNESCO World Heritage site in recognition of its historic buildings. It is known for its Praxe, the body of ritual and custom developed over the centuries to which students and faculties are supposed to adhere.

University of Siena

Country: Italy

Founded: 1240

The University of Siena claims to have been founded in 1240 by the Comune di Siena, though this is controversial – some historians date the founding to 1246, when scholars from the University of Bologna migrated to Siena under political pressure from Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor.

In any case, between the 1250s and 1350s, the university closed and re-opened several times as scholars came to and from Bologna. It was granted an Imperial Bull in 1357 and has been in near-continuous operation ever since (except for a period during the Napoleonic Wars).

Today, nearly a third of Siena’s population are students at the university. It is well regarded for its degrees in law, medicine, and economics and management.

University of Naples Federico II

Country: Italy

Founded: 1224

Founded by Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor who played a major role in the histories of the Universities of Bologna and Siena, Naples is one of the oldest universities in the world and is the oldest state-funded university in continuous operation.

Initially dedicated to training secular administrative staff (unlike most medieval European universities, which featured Theology as a major part of the curriculum), today the University of Naples is one of the largest universities in Europe, with a wide-ranging curriculum.

University of Padua

Country: Italy

Founded: 1222

Founded just two years earlier than Naples, the University of Padua was created by scholars and students leaving the University of Bologna in search of greater academic freedom.

It is the second oldest university in Italy and played a major role in the Italian Renaissance – indeed, Nicolaus Copernicus was educated at Padua. It has also historically been known for its specialism in medicine, having begun teaching the discipline around 1250, and hosting public dissections at its anatomical theatre from 1595 to 1872.

University of Salamanca

Country: Spain

Founded: 1219

The oldest university in the Hispanic world, Salamanca was founded by Alfonso IX of Leon in 1218. The university played a major role in the academic studies which contributed to the European colonisation of the Americas in the 15^th and 16^th centuries, and was a centre of the moral debates surrounding the colonisation.

Today, Salamanca is the most popular Spanish university with international students, and has a total student body of 30,000.

University of Cambridge

Country: United Kingdom

Founded: 1209

The second oldest university in the UK, Cambridge was founded in 1209 by scholars leaving Oxford. According to Roger of Wendover, a monk from St Albans writing in the 1220s, an Oxford scholar killed a local woman but could not be found. Three other scholars (who protested ignorance of the crime) were then hanged by the town authorities, causing an exodus of academics and students.

Today, Cambridge is one of the most prestigious universities in the world and ranks highly in global league tables. You can read more about the history of Cambridge in our detailed guide.

University of Oxford

Country: United Kingdom

Founded: 1096

The second oldest university in the world, and the oldest in the UK and the English-speaking world, Oxford was founded in 1096. Many of its scholars left after the ‘hanging of the clerks’ incident in 1209 which led to the founding of Cambridge. However, it regained its footing when a papal bull granted various legal powers to the university in 1214, and it expanded its authority over the course of the 13^th century.

Along with Cambridge, it is the most famous and prestigious university in the UK, and one of the highest-ranking universities in the world. You can read more about the history of Oxford University in our in-depth guide.

University of Bologna

Country: Italy

Founded: 1088

The University of Bologna is the oldest university in the world. Teaching at Bologna beyond the ecclesiastical schools began around 1088, with law schools developing over the second half of the 12^th century. By the 1180s, the university had become more organised, with the different schools integrated into a central institution.

One of the most prestigious universities in Italy, it played a central role in the Italian Renaissance. It has also racked up a number of other firsts: it was the first university to award a degree to a woman, to have a woman in a teaching position, and to have a woman as a salaried professor. Today, Bologna is one of the largest universities in Europe, with a student body of 90,000.

Oldest Non-Continuous Universities in Europe

As mentioned above, our main list includes only universities in (more or less) continuous operation since their founding. If we included universities which closed for more than a century before being re-founded, then two French institutions would make the list.

The University of Paris was founded in 1150 and was one of the leading universities in Europe during the Middle Ages, specialising in Theology and Philosophy. It was closed in 1793 during the French Revolution. From 1806 to 1896, it was replaced by the University of France. A new University of Paris existed from 1896 to 1970, before this was split into thirteen autonomous universities.

The University of Montpellier, meanwhile, was founded in 1220. Like other French universities, it was suspended during the French Revolution, but re-opened in 1810. However, it was re-organised in 1969 into three different universities, though two of its successor universities re-merged in 2015 to recreate the University of Montpellier.

Other Contenders for Oldest University

If we expanded our narrow definition of university to include any higher education institution, there would be a number of other contenders for the oldest university in the world – including many outside Europe. Let’s take a look:

Al-Azhar University

Country: Egypt

Founded: 970 CE

Al-Azhar University was founded in 970 CE by the Fatimid Caliphate as a centre of Islamic learning. Its scholars studied the Qur’an, Islamic law, logic, grammar, rhetoric, and astronomy. It was granted university status in 1961.

University of al-Qarawiyyin

Country: Morocco

Founded: 859 CE

Al-Qarawiyyin has a similar history to Al-Azhar University. Founded as a madrasa, or centre of Islamic learning, in 859 CE in Fez, Morocco, it was not until 1963 that Al-Qarawiyyin was awarded university status

Both UNESCO and the Guinness World Records have named al-Qarawiyyin as the oldest university or oldest continually operating higher education institution in the world.

Nalanda

Country: India

Founded: 427 CE

Nalanda was a centre of higher learning in Bihar, India, between 427 and roughly 1200 CE. Like other, older institutions in the Indian subcontinent, it focused on Buddhist theological studies, though it also educated students in medicine, mathematics, fine arts, astronomy, and politics.

University of Constantinople

Country: Turkey

Founded: 425 CE

The University of Constantinople was founded in 425 CE to educate churchmen and civil servants for the Byzantine Empire. It was reorganised into a corporation of students in 849. Although it was preceded as an centre of higher learning by several institutions, in its second organisational form, it could be seen as the first institution to closely resemble the medieval university – for instance, in its self-administration, academic independence, and capacities for research and teaching.

Academy of Gondishapur

Country: Iran

Founded: 3^rd century CE

Established in the third century CE under the Sassanid kings of Persia, the Academy of Gondishapur was a major centre of medical learning by the sixth and seventh centuries. It also specialised in philosophy, theology, and science. It had fallen into ruins by c. 1000 CE.

Taixue

Country: China

Founded: 1^st century CE

Taixue was an ancient Chinese academy created by the Han Dynasty. Like the later University of Constantinople, its purpose was to educate civil servants for the imperial bureaucracy. It held 30,000 students and scholars during the second century.

Later renamed the Guozijian, it was not finally abolished until 1905.

Plato’s Academy

Country: Greece

Founded: 387 BCE

The ancient Greek philosopher Plato founded an institution called the Academy in 387 BCE. It is widely considered the first higher education institution in the West, where subjects including science, mathematics, history, philosophy, and astronomy, were studied and taught. Like the school of Plato’s pupil Aristotle, which met at the Lyceum gymnasium, it was destroyed in 86 BCE during the siege of Athens by the Roman general Sulla.

Taxila

Country: Pakistan

Founded: 5^th century BCE

Ancient Taxila was a Buddhist centre of learning in present-day Pakistan. It consisted of several monasteries, where religious teaching was most likely carried out one-to-one between masters and students. Some (much later) accounts suggest it may have been founded in the fifth century BCE.What

Per-Ankh

Country: Egypt

Founded: 2000 BCE

The Ancient Egyptians had a number of learning centres attached to temples, known as Per-Ankh, meaning ‘house of life’. Here, the children of elites and clergy would be educated, so that they could go on to join intellectual professions – such as astronomy, medicine, architecture, diplomacy, and theology. These are the oldest institution which can plausibly be described as a centre of higher learning.