Morocco’s Al Quaraouiyine: World’s Oldest Operating University Recognized by Guinness

It is the University of Al Quaraouiyine in Fez. Built in 859 under the reign of the Idrisid dynasty, the university has seen the passage of the greatest Arab philosophers such as Averroes (Ibn Rushd) or Avempace (Ibn Bajja), as well as Ibn Khaldun.

It is considered today as the oldest university still in operation. The University of Bologna founded in 1088 is the second oldest, followed by the University of Paris (1160), the University of Oxford (1167) and that of Cambridge in 1209.