List of oldest universities in continuous operation

This is a list of the oldest universities in continuous operation. It includes universities founded before 1500.

Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt, founded 988
University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy, founded 1088
University of Oxford, Oxford, England, founded about 1096
University of Paris, Paris, France, founded 1150
University of Modena, Modena, Italy, founded 1175
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, founded about 1208
Salamanca University, Salamanca, Spain, founded 1218
University of Padua, Padua, Italy, founded in 1222
University of Naples, Naples, Italy, founded 1224
University of Siena, Siena, Italy, founded 1240
University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal, founded 1285
Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain, founded 1293
University of Rome, Rome, Italy, founded 1303
University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy, founded 1343
University of Prague, Prague, Czech Republic, founded 1348
University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy, founded 1361
Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland, founded 1364
University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, founded 1365
University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary, founded 1367
University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany, founded 1386
University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany, founded 1388
University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy, founded 1391
University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany, founded 1409
St. Andrews University, St. Andrews, Scotland, founded 1412
Universität Rostock, Rostock, Germany, founded 1419
Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, founded 1425
Poitiers University, Poitiers, France, founded 1431
University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, founded 1450
University of Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, founded 1457
Basel University, Basel, Switzerland, founded 1460;
Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, founded 1477
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, founded 1479
Eberhard Karls University, Tubingen, Germany, founded in 1477
University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, founded 1494

By contrast, the earliest university in the Western Hemisphere is the National Autonomous University in Mexico, founded in 1551; the oldest in the United States is the University of Pennsylvania, founded in 1749 (the oldest college is Harvard College, founded in 1636); the oldest in Canada, Université Laval, founded 1663; the oldest in Australia is University of Sydney, founded 1850.