Oldest universities
Cornell was founded in 1865, and planning for our 150th birthday (aka sesquicentennial) is already in full swing. So how does our age compare with other universities?
The Italian University of Bologna was founded in 1088, and is considered the first university in the world. So this year they’re celebrating their 924th birthday, which means they’ve celebrated 6 sesquicentennials! Teaching at Oxford began around 1096.
In the United States, here are the oldest schools of higher education:
- Harvard University: 1636
- The College of William & Mary: 1693
- Yale University: 1701
- University of Pennsylvania: 1740
- Princeton University: 1746
- Columbia University: 1754
- Brown University: 1764
- Rutgers: 1766
- Dartmouth College: 1769
Also of note: MIT was founded in 1861. Stanford was founded in 1891 and its first President was Cornellian David Starr Jordan, M.S. ’72.