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List of oldest universities in continuous operation 

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Map of medieval European universities
Map of medieval European universities

This is a list of the oldest extant universities in the world. To be listed on this page, an educational institution must satisfy the definition of a university at the time of founding; it must have been founded before 1500 or be the oldest university in a region; and it must have been operational without a significant interruption ever since.

Because the awarding of academic degrees for advanced studies was historically most prevalent in Europe and the Middle East, and the modern definition of a university includes the ability to grant degrees, most of the oldest institutions of higher learning that have always satisfied the modern definition were either European or Near Eastern.[1][2] If, however, the definition were broadened to include ancient institutions that did not originally grant degrees but now do, then this list would expand significantly to include many other institutions from both Europe and other parts of the world. For instance, Academy of Gundishapur in Iran established ca. 2200 years ago (around 200 BC), funded by Sassanid king, Shapur I, which is still in operation or Nanjing University (Imperial Nanjing Institute), which exists to this day, originally founded in 258 in China, as well as many other universities. However, they did not award degrees in the strictest sense, instead, it prepared students for standardized exams that would bestow upon them a rank in the scholar-gentry.

Contents

Religious institutions

Further information: Madrasah

The university as an autonomous, self-governing educational institution was preceded by the religious college/university, whose origins lie in the medieval Islamic world. The madrasah was a medieval Islamic college of law and theology, usually affiliated with a mosque. Philosophy and the secular sciences were often excluded from the curriculum, which was mainly focused on religion,[3] but this varied among different institutions, with some only choosing to teach the "religious sciences", and others teaching both the religious and the "secular sciences", usually logic, mathematics and philosophy. Some madrasahs further extended their curriculum to history, politics, ethics, music, metaphysics, medicine, astronomy and chemistry. In contrast to the madrasah, the Jami`ah was an institution that had individual faculties for different subjects and could house a number of madrasahs within it, with the most notable example being Al-Azhar University,[1] which had individual faculties[4] for a theological seminary, law and jurisprudence, Arabic grammar, astronomy, philosophy, and logic.[1] Professors at Al-Azhar also delivered lectures on medicine during the time of Saladin.[5] Another notable example was Mustansiriya University which offered courses dealing with philosophy, mathematics and the natural sciences.[6]

The madrasahs differed from medieval universities of Europe in several important respects, e.g., in that instruction was presented by a small group of teachers or even by a single teacher. The crucial difference is that the degree took the form of a license (ijazah) which "was signed in the name of the teacher, not of the madrasa".[7] In other words, "the authorization or licensing was done by each professor, not by a group or corporate body, much less by a disinterested or impersonal certifying body".[3] As a result, the concept of a degree from a specific university was replaced with multiple licenses from individual scholars working within the same religious college/university. Islamic "universities" that operated within this framework of multiple licenses include:

Year Current Location Name Other notes
859 Flag of Morocco Fes, Morocco University of Al-Karaouine Recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's oldest continuously-operating, degree-granting university.[8]
975 Flag of Egypt Cairo, Egypt Al-Azhar University A degree-granting Jam'iah ("university" in Arabic)[1] with individual faculties[4] for a general college and theological seminary, Law and Jurisprudence, Grammar, Astronomy, Philosophy, and Logic.[1] Professors at Al-Azhar also delivered lectures on Medicine during the time of Saladin.[5]
1233 Flag of Iraq Baghdad, Iraq Mustansiriya University Established by the Abbasid Caliph al-Mustansir in 1233, and, in addition to the religious subjects, offered courses dealing with philosophy, mathematics and the natural sciences.[6] The college/university was incorporated into the Baghdad University in 1962, and, in 1963, it was reopened as Al-Mustansiriya University.
1327 Flag of Mali Timbuktu, Mali University of Sankore Foundation of the school was financed by Kankan Musa who paid for the Granada architect Abu Ishaq es Saheli from Egypt to build mosques and palaces throughout the empire.
1453 Flag of Turkey Istanbul, Turkey Istanbul University Founded as a philosophical and theological higher education institution, refounded 23 July 1846 as a Darülfünun (House of Multiple Sciences), and refounded again on 1 August 1933 as a Üniversitesi (Arts and Sciences University).
See also: Yeshiva and Medieval university (Asia)

Regarding the definition of university, which includes the ability to grant degrees in a wide range of fields, the categorization of many of the oldest learning institutions as de facto ancient universities in continuous operation could be controversial and problematic. For example, if the definition were broadened to include ancient institutions that did not originally grant degrees, were strictly religious schools for centuries or vanished without trace for long periods of time, then such categorization may agree with specific points of view which are not widely accepted.

Founded before 1500

Year Current Location Name Other notes
1088 Flag of Italy Bologna, Italy University of Bologna The first university founded in the Western World.
1096 Flag of England Oxford, England University of Oxford Exact date uncertain, teaching existed since 1096, founded before 1167. Teaching suspended in 1209 (due to town execution of two scholars) and 1355 (due to the St. Scholastica riot)
1150 Flag of France Paris, France University of Paris Exact date uncertain, founded before 1150. Teaching suspended in 1229. Split into 13 universities in 1970.
1209 Flag of England Cambridge, England University of Cambridge Founded by scholars leaving Oxford after a dispute.
1218 Flag of Spain Salamanca, Spain University of Salamanca The oldest university in current operation of Spain. Faculties of Theology and Canon Law became Pontifical University of Salamanca in 1852.
1222 Flag of Italy Padua, Italy University of Padua Founded by a large group of students and professors leaving University of Bologna for more academic freedom. Suspended in 1237-61, 1509-17, 1848-50.
1224 Flag of Italy Naples, Italy University of Naples Federico II Founded by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. Closed in 1435-51, 1451-65, 1474-78, 1480-87, 1496-1507, 1527-29, 1531, 1547, 1562, 1585, etc.[9]
1240 Flag of Italy Siena, Italy University of Siena Originally called 'Studium Senese'. Closed in 1402-1404 and 1808-14.
1290 Flag of Portugal Coimbra, Portugal University of Coimbra Founded in Lisbon as a Studium Generale, it was based there in 1290-1308, 1338-54, and 1377-1537.
1303 Flag of Italy Rome, Italy University of Rome La Sapienza Founded by Pope Boniface VIII, but became a state university in 1935. According to the Catholic Encyclopaedia, the university "remained closed during the entire pontificate of Clement VII".
1308 Flag of Italy Perugia, Italy University of Perugia Attested by the Bull of Pope Clement V.
1321 Flag of Italy Florence, Italy University of Florence moved to Pisa from 1473 to 1497 and from 1515 to 1860
1343 Flag of Italy Pisa, Italy University of Pisa There is no record of the university between 1403 and 1476.
1346 Flag of Spain Valladolid, Spain University of Valladolid Claims continuity with University of Palencia, founded in 1212 in Palencia [1]
1348 Flag of the Czech Republic Prague, Czech Republic Charles University of Prague Three of four faculties closed in 1419, joined with Jesuit university and renamed Charles-Ferdinand U. in 1652, split into German and Czech part in 1882, Czech branch closed during Nazi occupation (1939-1945), German branch closed in 1945.
1361 Flag of Italy Pavia, Italy University of Pavia Closed for short periods during the Italian Wars, Napoleonic wars, and Revolutions of 1848.
1364 Flag of Poland Kraków, Poland Cracow Academy Development stalled early, re-established from 1400 onwards. Closed after the German occupation of Poland in 1939 but reopened clandestinely three years later.
1365 Flag of Austria Vienna, Austria University of Vienna Modelled on the University of Paris.
1386 Flag of Germany Heidelberg, Germany Ruprecht Karls University of Heidelberg Transferred to Neustadt an der Haardt in 1576-83, suppressed between 1632 and 1652, and moved out to Frankfurt am Main and elsewhere in 1689-1700.[10]
1391 Flag of Italy Ferrara, Italy University of Ferrara There was no teaching in 1794-1824 and 1848-50.[2]
1398 Flag of Korea Seoul, Korea South Sungkyunkwan University Founded as a successor to Gukjagam. Became modern university in 1895.
1409 Flag of Germany Leipzig, Germany University of Leipzig Founded when German-speaking staff left Prague due to the Jan Hus crisis
1410 Flag of Scotland St. Andrews, Scotland University of St. Andrews Founded by a Papal Bull
1419 Flag of Germany Rostock, Germany University of Rostock During the Reformation, "the Catholic university of Rostock closed altogether and the closure was long enough to make the refounded body feel a new institution".[11]
1425 Flag of Belgium Leuven, Belgium Catholic University of Leuven1 The oldest university in the low countries and oldest still existing Catholic university in the world. Transferred to Brussels in 1788, shut down by the French Republic in 1797, reopened in 1816, reorganized in 1834. Since 1968 split between the French-speaking Université Catholique de Louvain and the Dutch-speaking Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
1434 Flag of Italy Catania, Italy University of Catania The oldest in Sicily.
1450 Flag of Spain Barcelona, Spain University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona was closed by the Bourbon dynasty and transferred to Cervera after the War of the Spanish Succession (from 1714 until 1837). Plans to open the University of Cervera did not get underway until 1715 and it did not start its academic work until 1717.
1451 Flag of Scotland Glasgow, Scotland University of Glasgow Founded by a Papal Bull
1456 Flag of Germany Greifswald, Germany University of Greifswald Teaching existed since 1436. Closed down during the Protestant Reformation (1527-39).
1457 Flag of Germany Freiburg, Germany Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg Temporarily transferred to Constance in 1686-98 and 1713-15.
1460 Flag of Switzerland Basel, Switzerland University of Basel
1472 Flag of Germany Munich, Germany Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich Founded in Ingolstadt in 1459, transferred to Landshut in 1800, moved to Munich in 1826.
1477 Flag of Germany Tübingen, Germany Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen
1477 Flag of Sweden Uppsala, Sweden University of Uppsala Teaching lay mainly dormant between 1515 and 1593.
1479 Flag of Denmark Copenhagen, Denmark University of Copenhagen
1495 Flag of Scotland Aberdeen, Scotland University of Aberdeen King's College was founded in 1495 and Marischal College in 1593; they merged in 1860
1499 Flag of Spain Madrid, Spain Complutense University of Madrid Claims continuity with Estudio de Escuelas Generales de Alcalá, founded in 1293 in Alcalá de Henares
1499 Flag of Spain Valencia, Spain University of Valencia

Post-1500, oldest universities by country or region

The majority of European countries had universities by 1500. After 1500, universities began to spread to other countries all over the world:

Hanoi College of Fine Arts 1925

Caveat

The actual date a university started to function is often rather hazy and differs a good deal from legend, or from the date its ancestor-institution was founded. For example, it is generally admitted today that Oxford's foundation cannot be precisely dated, but must lie somewhere in the mid-to-late 12th century. However, the notion that a college could be empowered to give the bachelor's degree is a modern American one; by European terms, Harvard College had already adopted the powers (if not the style) of a university in 1642. The University of Pennsylvania was simply the first U.S. institution to call itself a university; but neither it, Harvard, or any of the seven other Colonial American colleges were nearly as large or diverse as European universities of the time. The first U.S. university to create a modern graduate school and award a Ph.D. degree was Yale University, in 1861.

See also

References and notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Alatas, Syed Farid, "From Jami`ah to University: Multiculturalism and Christian–Muslim Dialogue", Current Sociology 54(1): 112-32 
  2. ^ Makdisi, George (April-June 1989), "Scholasticism and Humanism in Classical Islam and the Christian West", Journal of the American Oriental Society 109(2): 175-182 [175-77] 
  3. ^ a b Toby E. Huff. The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China and the West. Cambridge University Press, 2003. Pages 77-78.
  4. ^ a b Goddard, Hugh (2000), A History of Christian-Muslim Relations, Edinburgh University Press, p. 99, ISBN 074861009X 
  5. ^ a b Necipogulu, Gulru (1996), Muqarnas, Volume 13, Brill Publishers, p. 56, ISBN 9004106332 
  6. ^ a b Dodge, Bayard (October-December 1964), "Reviewed Work(s): History of Islamic Origins of Western Education by Mehdi Nakosteen", Journal of the American Oriental Society 84(4): 429-431 [430] 
  7. ^ William J. Courtenay, Jürgen Miethke, David B. Priest. Universities and Schooling in Medieval Society. Brill Academic Publishers, 2000. ISBN 9004113517. Page 96.
  8. ^ The Guinness Book Records, Published 1998, ISBN 0-5535-7895-2, P.242
  9. ^ Grenler, Paul F. The Universities of the Italian Renaissance. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004. Pages 43-44.
  10. ^ See: Ridder-Symoens, Hilde de. A History of the University in Europe. Cambridge University Press, 2003. Page 83.
  11. ^ Quoted from: Chadwick, Owen. The Early Reformation on the Continent. Oxford University Press, 2003. Page 257.
  12. ^ "http://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/gen03/b03_02_j"
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