74% of students choose a university based on its reputation.
That’s the same level of consideration they give to making sure it has the right program
or study.
Developing that reputation takes time, and a few universities have had centuries.
Some are so old that they existed before the term university was even popularized.
Many of the first were founded as areas of religious study.
These long histories give an air of mystery and importance to certain universities.
They also turn them into valuable historic travel destinations.
Keep watching to learn about the oldest universities in the world.
Harvard University: 1636 The most prestigious University in America
is also the oldest.
It was founded by Puritans who migrated to the new world and wanted to train clergy members.
Harvard was initially called New College, but they decided to name it after John Harvard
when he donated half of his money to its library after his death.
He’d be proud to know of its current status as one of the best places in the world for
law, medicine, or business degrees.
University of Perguia: 1308 This was one of the earliest public universities.
It existed for years but was quickly recognized by Pope Clement V.
Numerous other popes graduated here, and its other notable alumni include Luca Pacioli,
the father of accounting.
Its average enrollment is 28,000 students.
University of Vienna: 1365 Duke Rudolf IV founded this university under
the Holy Roman Empire.
It’s one of the oldest and most resilient places of teaching in the world.
The university was attacked by the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century and the Nazis during
WWII.
It’s still standing and remains a popular choice among Italy’s many historic locations
of higher learning.
There are over 1180 courses at the University of Vienna.
They’re split up over 15 facilities.
Sapienza University of Rome: 1303 Popes often oversaw or recognized universities,
but Pope Boniface VII created this one for that sole purpose.
He wanted to make sure that he could see what type of theology it was promoting because
he wasn’t able to do so for the ones founded in Bologna or Padua
University of Coimbra: 1290 This university was first set up in Lisbon,
the capital of Portugal.
Kings demanded its relocation several times before it ended up in Coimbra.
For decades it was the only operating university in Portugal.
The student community is small at just over 24,000, but the university itself is rich
in Roman-era history.
It was even added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site List in 2013.
Visitors and students can enjoy its beautiful buildings, open courtyards, and city-wide
views.
University of Sienna: 1240 This university sits in the small town of
Sienna in the Tuscany region of Italy.
Enrollment numbers sit above 20,000, and that’s almost half of the city’s population.
This is another university deemed historically important enough to become a UNESCO World
Heritage site.
Over 163,000 tourists come to experience the surrounding food, art, and museums.
University of Toulouse: 1229 This French university was formed in the culturally
rich city of Toulouse.
It was part of the Treaty of Paris in 1229.
It originally only taught theology but then added law and medicine courses.
The term “continuously operating” is a bit generous here.
The University of Toulouse was closed due to the French Revolution but came back like
a true fighter.
It’s now more than a single building.
It’s made up of small successor universities that exist under an association known as the
UFTMP.
These buildings include the National Polytechnic Institute and the Toulouse Business School.
There are over 100,674 students.
Notable alumni and laureates include astronaut Thomas Pesquet and Jean Tirole, winner of
the Nobel Memorial Prize in 2014.
The university is also known for classic French food.
You can eat a meat and bean stew known as a cassoulet ad confit de canard, a duck cooked
and preserved in its own fat.
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Keep watching to learn about more of the oldest universities in the world.
The University of Naples Federico II: 1224 Frederick II was the emperor of the Holy Roman
Empire when he founded this university.
Naples is Italy’s third largest city and also one of its oldest.
The student community is around 80,000, and they can choose from a range of programs.
They’re split into 13 faculties, including Science and Technology, Life Science, and
Social and Human Science.
There are also 13 schools and departments.
Thomas Aquinas is one of the university’s most famous alumni.
Three Italian presidents have graduated from the university, as well as Samantha Cristoforetti,
the first Italian woman in space.
University of Padua: 1222 This early Italian university was founded
when teachers and students at Bologna felt restricted by what they could teach.
That freedom allowed it to become the birthplace of many discoveries in astronomy, law, medicine,
and philosophy.
Its botanical garden is one of the oldest academic gardens in the world.
It runs nine museums as well as an anatomical theatre.
It’s been in operation since 1595 and is the largest surviving one in Europe.
The university has around 62,500 students.
One of its most famous alumni is Nicolaus Copernicus, the astronomer who discovered
the sun is at the center of the solar system.
University of Cambridge: 1209 A group of scholars established this university
in the United Kingdom as a way to break away from Oxford.
Today, it ranks seventh in the world and has the largest endowment of any university outside
the US.
It also has the world’s oldest publishing house and second-largest university press,
the Cambridge University Press.
There are around 23,247 students, 5,340 of which come from outside of the United Kingdom.
They’re given access to over 15 million books from its 100 libraries.
Charles Darwin, Stephen Hawking, and over 116 Nobel laureates read from them.
University of Paris: 1160-1250 This university is also known as la Sorbonne
and was formed as part of the cathedral school of Notre Dame de Paris.
It suffered the same fate as many French universities during the French Revolution and had to cease
operation from 1793-1896.
After that, it was split into 13 separate institutions that all maintain a high reputation.
The University of Paris managed to gather an impressive student base throughout the
years.
It has educated 2 popes, writer and philosopher Voltaire, and 49 Nobel laureates including
Marie and Pierre Curie.
University of Salamanca: 1134 This university began as a Cathedral School
but then got royal approval to become a university.
It’s now the oldest one in Spain since the University of Palencia went defunct.
It was also the location where Christopher Columbus made his case for royal support for
a trip to the Indies.
The University now has 26,746 students across nine campuses.
It’s a public institution known for the humanities as well as its science labs.
It ranks #172 in Europe and #13 in Spain.
Aristides Royo, president of Panama, graduated here.
There’s a mysterious 16th-century caving of an astronaut among the university’s facade
that no one’s been able to identify.
Oxford: 1096 This respected university is the oldest in
the UK and sits fifth in the overall world rankings.
The alumni list is impressive, including 28 prime ministers, 20 archbishops, 12 saints,
27 Nobel laureates, and 50 Nobel prize winners, to name a few.
There are 38 buildings and a range of academic departments split among four divisions.
All students must also be a member of a college or a hall.
There are currently 24,300 of them enrolled in Oxford.
It’s often referred to along with Cambridge as Oxbridge.
Originally lessons at Oxford were taught in Latin.
True to its reputation, the word snob is also thought to have originated here.
It was an abbreviation of the Latin phrase sine nobilitate which translates to without
nobility.
University of Bologna: 1088 This Italian university is the oldest in the
Western world.
Its Latin motto translates to Nourishing Mother of the Studies.
It’s so old that it essentially invented the term university.
The word unversitas comes from corporations of students and masters.
Disputes between the Pope and the Roman Empire began this school with a focus on law.
It once only taught doctorate programs but has since diversified itself, though there
are still doctorate programs in its 11 schools.
There are 87,760 students, 6,400 of which are international.
Graduates include three popes and several Italian politicians.
Al-Azhar University: 970 This building didn’t gain university status
until 1961 but has remained in operation since before the first century.
It was first referred to as a madrasa, a building that focuses on began teaching Islam and Islamic
culture.
It didn’t have any entrance exams or other requirements They later added on secular subjects.
Al-Azhar has been a location of political upheaval during its centuries of operation.
A new dynasty overtook it in the 12th century and destroyed over 100,000 texts.
Its current library is regarded highly in importance and size in the country.
It’s second only to the Egyptian National Library and Archives.
It managed to survive and thrive since.
There are over 2 million students.
They learn Islamic culture and religion as well as other subjects.
University of Al Quaraouiyine: 859 This is the second-oldest continually-operating
university in the world.
It was also the first one to give out degrees.
The lessons focus on Islamic religion and Arabic grammar.
Education resembles ancient times when students sit around a sheikh who prompts them to read
and asks them questions about what they don’t understand.
It was added to Morrocco’s state university system in 1963.
There are 8000-9000 students who can earn degrees in subjects such as religion, legal
science, grammar, Arabic grammar and linguistics, and law.
One impressive fact about this university is that it has always let in and was founded
by a woman.
Fatima al-Fihri was the daughter of a wealthy merchant and used her inheritance to create
it.
Ez-Zitouna: 737 AD This is the oldest university in continuous
operation.
It was established in Tunisia as a madrasa and then became a full-fledged university.
Additional subjects included science, philosophy, math, and art.
Where did you go to college or university?
Let us know in the comments.