World's 4 Oldest Universities Are in Africa, 1 Was Founded by a Woman
Many people would have thought that the oldest universities in the world would be in Europe. But no! Africa is home to the world's four oldest universities and one of these institutions was founded by a woman.
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Briefly News presents the four oldest universities in the world courtesy of Erudera, the world’s first education search platform backed by Artificial Intelligence.
1. Ez-Zitouna University (Tunisia)
Ez-Zitouna University in Tunisia is the oldest university in the world in continuous operation. The higher institution was established in 737 AD first as a Madrasa then as a university.
Source: UGC
Students are able to learn about science, philosophy, mathematics, art, among others. The university has survived many wars.
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2. Al-Qarawiyyin University (Morocco)
This Moroccan university was founded in 859 AD by a woman identified as Fatima al-Fihri. It is believed that she used the money inherited from her father to build the Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque, which subsequently developed a teaching institution that later became the University of al-Qarawiyyin.
Source: Getty Images
3. Al-Azhar University (Egypt)
Al-Azhar University, which is situated in Cairo, was established in 970 AD. According to CSIA, Al-Azhar University attracts 30,000 students a year from over 100 different countries.
Source: Getty Images
4. Sankore Mosque and University (Mali)
According to Erudera, this institution was founded in 989 by Mansa Musa, who is often described as the wealthiest individual in all human history.
Source: Getty Images
University of Ibadan emerges number one in the list of top 20 universities
Briefly News previously reported that Webometrics released the July 2021 edition of its ranking of the universities and other higher education institutions across the world.
A look at the ranking by Briefly News indicates that the University of Ibadan, Covenant University, and Obafemi Awolowo University occupied the top three spots respectively.
While two of the top three, UI and OAU, are federal universities, the remaining one, Covenant University, is private-owned.
The University of Nigeria (UNN) and the University of Lagos (UNILAG) emerged fourth and fifth in Nigeria respectively.
Briefly News gathers that the aim of the ranking is to promote academic web presence and support the Open Access initiatives.
Source: Briefly News
Kelly Lippke (Senior Editor) Kelly Lippke is a copy editor/proofreader who started her career at the Northern-Natal Courier with a BA in Communication Science/Psychology (Unisa, 2007). Kelly has worked for several Caxton publications, including the Highway Mail and Northglen News. Kelly’s unique editing perspective stems from an additional major in Linguistics. Kelly joined Briefly News in 2018 and she has 14 years of experience. Kelly has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at kelly.lippke@briefly.co.za.
Mxolisi Mngadi (Editor) Mxolisi Mngadi is an entertainment reporter. He graduated in 2002 from Damelin with a Diploma in Journalism, majoring in African and International Studies, Journalism and Electronic Media. He then started his journalism career at the Daily Sun newspaper, went on to The Citizen, and worked as a senior reporter at News24. He has been a writer for more than 15 years.
