Some universities have been teaching continuously for nearly a thousand years. These are the oldest still-operating universities in the world, ranked by founding year — each a living link to the medieval origins of higher education.
| Rank | Founded | University | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1088 | University of Bologna | Italy |
| 2 | 1096 | University of Oxford | United Kingdom |
| 3 | 1209 | University of Cambridge | United Kingdom |
| 4 | 1222 | University of Padua | Italy |
| 5 | 1293 | Universidad Complutense de Madrid | Spain |
| 6 | 1303 | Sapienza University of Rome | Italy |
| 7 | 1348 | Charles University | Czechia |
| 8 | 1364 | Jagiellonian University | Poland |
| 9 | 1365 | University of Vienna | Austria |
| 10 | 1386 | Heidelberg University | Germany |
The world’s oldest university: Bologna, 1088
Founded in 1088, the University of Bologna is widely recognised as the oldest university in continuous operation anywhere in the world. The very word “university” comes from the Latin universitas — the student guilds that organised there. Nearly a thousand years later, it still enrols students. See it among universities in Italy.
Why so many of the oldest are in Italy and the UK
The medieval European university was born in a cluster: Bologna, then Oxford and Cambridge, then Padua. Italy and the United Kingdom between them hold most of the pre-1300 entries. Explore universities in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe on our map.
Studying at a historic university today
Many of these thousand-year-old institutions are still among the best in the world — and several sit in countries with low or free tuition. If history matters to you, weigh it against cost: see our guide to the cheapest countries to study abroad, estimate your budget with the cost calculator, and browse 21,000+ universities worldwide.
Founding dates are drawn from public registries (ROR, UNESCO WHED, Wikidata). A few institutions absorbed older colleges, so some dates are debated; we list the most widely accepted founding years.