What are the Oldest Universities in the World?
The list of the oldest universities in the world varies, depending on how one defines a university. If a university is considered to be a degree granting institution, all of the world’s oldest universities are located in Europe, where the practice of granting certification was widespread by the 1100s. However, many institutions of advanced learning in Asia and Africa are far older than European universities, and rightly belong on a list of the world’s oldest universities when one thinks of them as institutions of learning. Alas, many ancient centers of learning no longer exist. The University of Nalanda, for example, a seat of Buddhist learning in India, was founded in the fifth century BCE, but closed in the 1100s. For the purpose of this list, we are only counting continuously operating institutions of learning, some of which offered degrees later than others. In all instances, the exact date of foundation is sometimes difficult to establish, since many universities organized themsel
