List of early modern universities in Europe

The list of early modern universities in Europe comprises all universities that existed in the early modern age (1501–1800) in Europe. It also includes short-lived foundations and educational institutions whose university status is a matter of debate. The operation of the degree-awarding university with its corporate organization and relative autonomy, which had emerged in the Christian medieval world, was continued into the new era. The number of universities which had been in existence at one time during the period rose from around eighty medieval universities to nearly two hundred. While the universitas arrived in Eastern Europe as far as Moscow, many were established further west either by the new Protestant powers or the Catholic Counter-Reformation spearheaded by the Jesuits. At the same time, the Spanish founded colonial universities and the British colonial colleges in the New World, thus heralding the spread of the university as the center of higher learning around the globe (see List of oldest universities).

A short definition of the university and its defining characteristics as they evolved in the medieval and early modern era is offered by the multi-volume History of the University in Europe of the European University Association:

The university is a European institution; indeed, it is the European institution par excellence. There are various reasons for this assertion. As a community of teachers and taught, accorded certain rights, such as administrative autonomy and the determination and realization of curricula (courses of study) and of the objectives of research as well as the award of publicly recognized degrees, it is a creation of medieval Europe, which was the Europe of papal Christianity...

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