Top 10 Oldest Universities Still Operating - AnyRank

1

University of al-Qarawiyyin

Country / region: Morocco
Founding year: 859
Continuity / caveat: Broad higher-learning institution standard; modern university status came later

2

Al-Azhar University

Country / region: Egypt
Founding year: 970
Continuity / caveat: Originated as a mosque and Islamic learning center; modern university status came later

Rank	University	Country / region	Founding year	Continuity / caveat
1	University of al-Qarawiyyin	Morocco	859	Broad higher-learning institution standard; modern university status came later
2	Al-Azhar University	Egypt	970	Originated as a mosque and Islamic learning center; modern university status came later
3	University of Bologna	Italy	1088	Often treated as the oldest continuously operating university in the Western university tradition
4	University of Oxford	United Kingdom	1096	No clear foundation date; teaching existed by 1096
5	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom	1209	Officially dates its foundation to 1209
6	University of Salamanca	Spain	1218	Founded by Alfonso IX as the scholas Salamanticae
7	University of Padua	Italy	1222	Founded by students and teachers leaving Bologna
8	University of Naples Federico II	Italy	1224	Founded by Frederick II through an imperial charter
9	University of Siena	Italy	1240	Traces the Studium Senese tradition to 1240
10	University of Valladolid	Spain	1241	1241 is a traditional / early-reference date; definition is more contested