Universities around the world have extensive histories. Fez, Morocco, is where you can find the school recognized by Guinness World Records as the oldest higher learning institution in the world. 

The University of al-Qarawiyyin is widely recognized as the oldest university in the world.

Founded as a mosque in 859 AD by Fatima al-Fihri, it was later added to Morocco’s university system in 1963. 

THE OLDEST CHURCH IN THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES LIES IN SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO

The female founder and her sister Mariam used the fortune passed down to them after their father died to create Al-Karaouine Mosque and University complex, according to the BBC. 

The complex where the school is located is made up of a mosque, university and library, according to the source. 

The school centers around education in Arabic language and Islamic literature. The school’s curriculum also includes teachings in science, mathematics and foreign language. 

Another school often recognized for its lengthy existence is the University of Bologna in Italy, which has been cited as the oldest continually operating university by several sources. 

The University of Bologna is the oldest continually operating college in Europe.  (DeAgostini/Getty Images)

THE GREAT BASIN BRISTLECONE PINE, DATING BACK ALMOST 5,000 YEARS, IS WORLD’S OLDEST TREE

This university was established in 1088 and has remained operational. 

The public university is the oldest in Europe, according to Guinness World Records. 

The university has been a place of learning for many famous alumni, including the astronomer and mathematician Nicolaus Copernicus, who enrolled at the university in 1497. 

In the 2022-23 school year, there were 96,984 students enrolled at the University of Bologna, which included 8,526 international students. 

The oldest English-speaking university is Oxford in England.  (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

THIS CONNECTICUT AMUSEMENT PARK IS THE OLDEST IN THE UNITED STATES

The school is made up of 31 departments, including architecture, engineering, economics, legal studies, mathematics, pharmacy and veterinary medical sciences. 

The University of Oxford is also a school known for its long history. The founding of this university came a few years after the establishment of the University of Bologna. 

It’s believed that teaching at Oxford, in some form, dates back to 1096, though the university’s website acknowledges that there is no clear date of origin. 

The University of Oxford in England is considered to be the oldest university in the English-speaking world. 

Harvard University was founded in 1636, making it the oldest in the United States.  (Blake Nissen for The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Even though the university’s earliest days can be dated back to around 1096, the educational institution’s popularity began to increase in 1167, when Henry II banned English students from studying at the University of Paris, according to Oxford’s website. 

As for the oldest university in the United States, that title goes to Harvard University, which was founded Oct. 28, 1636. The Ivy League school is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The acceptance rate at the university is 3%. 

Walking arm-in-arm with the Dutch queen, American World War II veteran Kenneth Thayer returned to the tiny Dutch village he and his brothers in arms from the 30th Infantry Division liberated from Nazi occupation exactly 80 years ago.

Thayer, now 99, visited Mesch, a tiny village of about 350 people in the hills close to the Dutch borders with Belgium and Germany, and was greeted by Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima for a ceremony beginning nearly a year of events marking the anniversary of the country’s liberation.

After Thayer and the king and queen were driven in a vintage military truck into the village along a mud track through orchards and fields, Maxima reached out and gave a hand of support to Thayer as he walked to his seat to watch the ceremony paying tribute to the American liberators.

American troops from the 30th Infantry Division, known as Old Hickory, were among Allied forces that liberated parts of Belgium and the southern Netherlands from German occupation in September 1944.

Thayer still recalls the day.

He said he was sent out on a reconnaissance mission the night before the liberation and saw no Germans.

“And so we went up the next day and we found that I had accidentally crossed the border and, we didn’t think anything of it, you know, it was just another day on the front line,” he said.

What felt like another day of work for soldiers who had fought their way from the beaches of Normandy, through northern France and Belgium to cross the Netherlands on their way into Germany is forever woven into the history of the village as the end of more than four years of Nazi occupation.

While Thayer was one of the guests of honour at the event, he paid tribute to his comrades who didn’t make it through the war and said he was representing them.

“It wasn’t just me… Look at the hundreds and hundreds of guys who didn’t make it. They’re not here, you know,” he said.

Residents of Mesch were among the first Dutch citizens to taste post-war freedom, at about 10am on September 12, 1944, when Thayer and other American infantry troops crossed the border from Belgium.

A day later, they reached Maastricht, the provincial capital of Limburg and the first Dutch city to be liberated.

It would take several months more for the whole country to finally be freed.

Jef Tewissen, 74, who was born in Mesch where his father was a farmer, said the gratitude is deeply rooted in the region.

“I have only heard good things from my father about the Americans,” he said after watching the king and queen walk along Mesch’s main street.

ADVERTISEMENT

The feeling, Thayer said, is mutual.

“The Dutch people were always tops with us,” he said.

ad