This article contains a list of the oldest existing universities in continuous operation in the world. To be included in this list, an educational institution must have satisfied the traditional definition of a university at the time of its founding. This definition limits the term "university" to institutions with distinctive structural and legal features that developed in Europe, and which make the university form different from other institutions of higher learning in the pre-modern world. Thus, for the list below, the university must have been founded before 1500 in Europe or be the oldest university derived from the medieval European model in a region. It must also be still in operation, with institutional continuity retained throughout its history, and so some early universities, mos