List of oldest universities in continuous operation

This is a list of the oldest universities in continuous operation. It includes universities founded before 1500.

• Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt, founded 988
• University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy, founded 1088
• University of Oxford, Oxford, England, founded about 1096
• University of Paris, Paris, France, founded 1150
• University of Modena, Modena, Italy, founded 1175
• University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, founded about 1208
• Salamanca University, Salamanca, Spain, founded 1218
• University of Padua, Padua, Italy, founded in 1222
• University of Naples, Naples, Italy, founded 1224
• University of Siena, Siena, Italy, founded 1240
• University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal, founded 1285
• Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain, founded 1293
• University of Rome, Rome, Italy, founded 1303
• University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy, founded 1343
• University of Prague, Prague, Czech Republic, founded 1348
• University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy, founded 1361
• Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland, founded 1364
• University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, founded 1365
• University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary, founded 1367
• University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany, founded 1386
• University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany, founded 1388
• University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy, founded 1391
• University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany, founded 1409
• St. Andrews University, St. Andrews, Scotland, founded 1412
• Universität Rostock, Rostock, Germany, founded 1419
• Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, founded 1425
• Poitiers University, Poitiers, France, founded 1431
• University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, founded 1450
• University of Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, founded 1457
• Basel University, Basel, Switzerland, founded 1460;
• Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, founded 1477
• University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, founded 1479
• Eberhard Karls University, Tubingen, Germany, founded in 1477
• University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, founded 1494

By contrast, the earliest university in the Western Hemisphere is the National Autonomous University in Mexico, founded in 1551; the oldest in the United States is the University of Pennsylvania, founded in 1749 (the oldest college is Harvard College, founded in 1636); the oldest in Canada, Université Laval, founded 1663; the oldest in Australia is University of Sydney, founded 1850.

See also: Medieval university