Teaching at Bologna began around 1088, and the school was organized as a university in the late 12th century. That’s around 30 years before the Magna Carta was written, 260 years before Gutenberg’s printing press, and 300 years before Columbus sailed the ocean blue. This list counts only institutions in continuous operation.

1. University of Bologna (Italy): 1180–1190
2. University of Oxford (United Kingdom): 1200–1214
3. University of Cambridge (United Kingdom): 1209–1225
4. University of Salamanca (Spain): 1218
5. University of Padua (Italy): 1222
6. University of Naples Federico II (Italy): 1224
7. University of Valladolid (Spain): 1241
8. University of Coimbra (Portugal): 1290
9. University of Perugia (Italy): 1308
10. Charles University (Czech Republic): 1348