List of universities in the United Kingdom by date of foundation

This is a list of Universities in the United Kingdom by the date of their foundation as universities.

In many cases the supposed date of foundation as a university is open to debate, particularly for the ancient universities. Modern universities have seen similar debate, with some universities having a heritage as educational institutions that pre-dates their current foundation or recognition as a university by over a hundred years, e.g. the use of 'Est 1824' on the University of Manchester logo, reflecting the initial foundations of the Manchester Mechanics' Institute and the Manchester Royal School of Medicine in that year, despite the current foundation having been established (by the merger of two existing universities) in 2004.^[1][2] For the modern (post 1800) universities, the date of achieving university status (by royal charter, act of parliament, order in council, or decision of Companies House) is given. Former universities with extant successor institutions in the UK are given in italics.