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

In 1988, 430 rectors signed the Magna Charta Universitatum there to mark its 900th birthday.

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

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

A medieval legend that Alfred the Great founded it in the 9th century was believed until the 18th century.

Q 05/05

By 2025, how many British prime ministers had been educated at Oxford?

A) 19

B) 31

C) 24

D) 28

Answer · why

B) 31

Its Bodleian library group, with 11 million volumes on 120 miles of shelving, is Britain's second-largest library.