List of modern universities in Europe (1801–1945)


The list of modern universities in Europe contains all universities that were founded in Europe after the French Revolution and before the end of World War II. Universities are regarded as comprising all institutions of higher education recognized as universities by the public or ecclesiastical authorities in charge and authorized to confer academic degrees in more than one faculty. Temporary foundations are also included. Where institutions not meeting the definition of a University are included these are indicated by footnotes.
At the outset of the 19th century, European universities had been severely affected by the Napoleonic Wars, their number falling in the brief span of time between 1789 and 1815 from 143 to 83. By 1840 their number recovered to 98 universities with approximately 80,000 students and 5,000 professors. Notwithstanding the trend towards specialized institutions of higher learning – in France, for instance, the universities had been suppressed and replaced by Grandes écoles –, the size of the student and professor bodies multiplied over the next hundred years, attaining a size of 600,000 and 32,000 members respectively at around two hundred universities. In total, the period saw about 220 universities in existence that are listed below.

List

The list is sorted by the date of recognition. At places where more than one university was established, the name of the institution is given in brackets.

19th century

RecognizedUniversityModern country
1803RennesFrance
1804Kazan Russia
1804KharkovUkraine
1805Clermont-Ferrand France
1808Lyon France
1808RouenFrance
1810Berlin Germany
1810LjubljanaSlovenia
1811Oslo Norway
1816WarsawPoland
1816LiègeBelgium
1816/17GhentBelgium
1817Leuven Belgium
1817LilleFrance
1818BonnGermany
1818Bucharest Romania
1822LampeterWales
1823CorfuGreece
1825Karlsruhe Germany
1826London England
1828Dresden Germany
1829London England
1829Copenhagen Denmark
1829StuttgartGermany
1831NamurBelgium
1831HannoverGermany
1832DurhamEngland
1833ZurichSwitzerland
1834BernSwitzerland
1834Leuven Belgium
1834Brussels Belgium
1834KyivUkraine
1836London England
1836MadridSpain
1836Chemnitz Germany
1837Athens Greece
1842Delft Netherlands
1845BelfastNorthern Ireland
1845CorkIreland
1845GalwayIreland
1851Manchester England
1854Dublin Ireland
1854Kampen Netherlands
1854Kampen Netherlands
1855ETH ZurichSwitzerland
1858Brussels Belgium
1860IașiRomania
1863BelgradeSerbia
1864BucharestRomania
1864OdessaUkraine
1868Moscow Russia
1868Munich Germany
1869ZagrebCroatia
1870Aachen Germany
1871NewcastleEngland
1872Sciences PoFrance
1872GenevaSwitzerland
1872AberystwythWales
1872Cluj-Napoca Romania
1874LeedsEngland
1875CzernowitzUkraine
1875AngersFrance
1875Lille France
1875LyonFrance
1875ParisFrance
1875BirminghamEngland
1876BristolEngland
1877Darmstadt Germany
1877ToulouseFrance
1877StockholmSweden
1876WageningenNetherlands
1879SheffieldEngland
1880Amsterdam Netherlands
1880Manchester England
1881NottinghamEngland
1881DundeeScotland
1883LiverpoolEngland
1883CardiffWales
1884BangorWales
1886DeustoSpain
1887Athens Greece
1888SofiaBulgaria
1889FribourgSwitzerland
1890LausanneSwitzerland
1893WalesWales
1894Apeldoorn Netherlands
1894Ilmenau Germany
1896MonsBelgium

20th century

RecognizedUniversityModern country
1901ReadingEngland
1902SouthamptonEngland
1904ComillasSpain
1905BelgradeSerbia
1907London England
1908Rome Italy
1909NeuchâtelSwitzerland
1909SaratovRussia
1911ReykjavíkIceland
1911PortoPortugal
1912DebrecenHungary
1913MogilevBelarus
1913Rotterdam Netherlands
1914FrankfurtGermany
1915MurciaSpain
1915Rostov-on-DonRussia
1916Nizhny NovgorodRussia
1917Turku Finland
1917PermRussia
1918TbilisiGeorgia
1918DniproUkraine
1918SmolenskRussia
1918Petrograd Russia
1918Moscow Russia
1918VoronezhRussia
1919Warsaw Poland
1919BratislavaSlovakia
1919BrnoCzech Republic
1919HamburgGermany
1919LjubljanaSlovenia
1919PoznańPoland
1919RigaLatvia
1919Moscow Russia
1919Cluj-NapocaRomania
1919TilburgNetherlands
1920ErewanArmenia
1920Turku Finland
1920Sofia Bulgaria
1920Milan Italy
1920LublinPoland
1920Bucharest Romania
1920TimișoaraRomania
1920SamaraRussia
1920YekaterinburgRussia
1920SwanseaWales
1921MinskBelarus
1921Moscow Russia
1921Moscow Russia
1921PécsHungary
1921SzegedHungary
1922KaunasLithuania
1923Nijmegen Netherlands
1923BariItaly
1923TbilisiGeorgia
1924Milan Italy
1924TriesteItaly
1925ThessalonikiGreece
1927Geneva Switzerland
1930Lisbon Portugal
1934AarhusDenmark
1937Bratislava Slovakia
1937Iași Romania
1940Salamanca Spain
1940ChișinăuMoldova
1948Berlin Germany
1968Dortmund Germany
1971BremenGermany