Universities ranked by their founding date, recognising the oldest continuously operating institutions of higher education. The University of Bologna, founded in 1088, is widely recognised as the world's oldest university in continuous oper...

About: Oldest Universities in the World

Overview of the data behind this chart

Key Findings

Auto-computed highlights from this dataset

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University of Siena leads with 1,240 in All Time.

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Average value in All Time: 1,170 · median: 1,180.

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Gap in All Time: University of Siena is 1.1× larger than University of Bologna.

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Oldest Universities in the World

Data Insights Below

Data Insights

Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart

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Data Points

8 categories · 1 year

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Top Value

1,240

University of Siena

Founded (Year) · All Time

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Metrics

Founded (Year)

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Period

All Time

Single year snapshot

Category Rankings

Ranked by All Time value · vs. All Time

#	Category	All Time	All Time	Change
🥇	University of Siena	1,240	1,240	+0%
🥈	University of Naples	1,224	1,224	+0%
🥉	University of Padua	1,222	1,222	+0%
4	University of Cambridge	1,209	1,209	+0%
5	University of Paris	1,150	1,150	+0%
6	University of Salamanca	1,134	1,134	+0%
7	University of Oxford	1,096	1,096	+0%
8	University of Bologna	1,088	1,088	+0%

Statistical Summary — All Time

1,240

Maximum

1,088

Minimum

1,170

Average

1,180

Median

What This Data Shows

Auto-generated trend summaries per category

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University of Bologna

Recorded 1,088 Founded (Year) in All Time.

Source

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University of Oxford

Recorded 1,096 Founded (Year) in All Time.

Source

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University of Salamanca

Recorded 1,134 Founded (Year) in All Time.

Source

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University of Paris

Recorded 1,150 Founded (Year) in All Time.

Source

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University of Cambridge

Recorded 1,209 Founded (Year) in All Time.

Source

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University of Padua

Recorded 1,222 Founded (Year) in All Time.

Source

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University of Naples

Recorded 1,224 Founded (Year) in All Time.

Source

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University of Siena

Recorded 1,240 Founded (Year) in All Time.

Source

Full Data Table

8 records across 1 year

8 sourced

Category	Metric	All Time
University of Bologna	Founded (Year)	1,088
University of Oxford	Founded (Year)	1,096
University of Salamanca	Founded (Year)	1,134
University of Paris	Founded (Year)	1,150
University of Cambridge	Founded (Year)	1,209
University of Padua	Founded (Year)	1,222
University of Naples	Founded (Year)	1,224
University of Siena	Founded (Year)	1,240