Q 01/05

Which university, teaching since around 1088, is regarded as the oldest in continuous operation?

A) Paris

B) Bologna

C) Oxford

D) Salamanca

Answer · why

B) Bologna

The University of Bologna, teaching since about 1088, is the oldest in continuous operation; in 1988 rectors from across Europe signed the Magna Chart...

Q 02/05

In which city is al-Qarawiyyin, founded in 859 and cited by UNESCO as the world's oldest higher-learning institution?

A) Córdoba

B) Cairo

C) Baghdad

D) Fez

Answer · why

D) Fez

Al-Qarawiyyin is in Fez, Morocco; founded by Fatima al-Fihri in 859, it became a leading centre of learning in the Islamic Golden Age.

Q 03/05

The word 'university' comes from the Latin universitas, meaning what?

A) A house of masters

B) A place of books

C) A whole or community

D) A great hall

Answer · why

C) A whole or community

The full phrase universitas magistrorum et scholarium meant a community of teachers and scholars.

Q 04/05

Teaching at Oxford, the oldest university in the English-speaking world, is documented as early as which year?

A) 1096

B) 1249

C) 1167

D) 1315

Answer · why

A) 1096

Teaching at Oxford is documented as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world; a legend that Alfred the Great found...

Q 05/05

Which Oxford college did Cardinal Wolsey found in 1525 as Cardinal College?

A) Christ Church

B) Magdalen

C) Balliol

D) Merton

Answer · why

A) Christ Church

Christ Church began as Wolsey's Cardinal College in 1525; after his fall Henry VIII refounded it in 1546 as Christ Church, whose chapel doubles as Oxf...