The First University in The World

The University of Al-Karaouine or Al-Qarawiyyin (other transliterations of the name include Qarawiyin, Kairouyine, Kairaouine, Qairawiyin, Qaraouyine, Quaraouiyine, Quarawin, and Qaraouiyn) is a university located in Fes, Morocco which was founded in 859. The madrasa has been (and still is) one of the leading spiritual and educational centers of the Muslim world.

The Al Karaouine madrasa played a leading role in the cultural and academic relations between theIslamic world and Europe in the middle ages. The cartographer Mohammed al-Idrisi (d. 1166), whose maps aided European exploration in the Renaissance is said to have lived in Fes for some time, suggesting that he may have worked or studied at Al Karaouine. The madrasa has produced numerous scholars who have strongly influenced the intellectual and academic history of the Muslim and Jewish worlds. Among these are Ibn Rushayd al-Sabti (d. 1321), Mohammed Ibn al-Hajj al-Abdari al-Fasi (d. 1336), Abu Imran al-Fasi (d. 1015), a leading theorist of the Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence, Leo Africanus, a renowned traveler and writer, and Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon.

I would like add some photos, but i dont know why its not working

Amazing! I'de like to add some other interesting as well as important information about the founder of the firsy University in the world…the founder is a woman called Fatima Afihri …

 Daughter of Mohammed al-Fihri, Fatima al-Fihri, also called Umm al Banine, ‘Mother of the Boys’, is known for creating the oldest academic degree-granting university in existence today, the University of Qarawiyyin.

Fatima and her family were among several families who moved from Tunisia to Morocco during the reign of the Moroccan King Idriss II.

After her husband and her brothers died, she and her sister Mariam inherited a large fortune. Both women wanted to devote their money to pious work that would benefit the community in order to receive the blessing of God. To this end, Fatima built the Al Qarawiyyin mosque, while Mariam built the Al-Andalus mosque. From the 10th to the 12th century, the Al Qarawiyyin mosque developed into a university which became an important centre of education and one of the first Islamic and most prestigious universities in the world. 

refrence:

 http://www.wisemuslimwomen.org/muslimwomen/bio/fatima_al-fihri/

First university in the world depends on how you define "university."  The oldest university in the sense of a degree granting institution that identifies as a university is that in Bologne, which was based of the old cathedral school there.  However, while the western system of higher education has come to define the "university" as we know it today throughout the whole world, that does not mean that we must limit our consideration of early universities to those found in Western Europe.  

Pre-1500 CE institutions, like the aforementioned cathedral schools, like Nalanda, Nanjing (China) al Azhar, Al Kairaouine, and others were all ancient centers of higher learning, even if the types of learning they pioneered ultimately did not lead directly to the "university" system, they greatly contributed to it both in their lands and in the world discourse.  All of the places mentioned here are super cool, and I hope to visit them someday.

It's very cool that al-Kairaouine was founded by a woman.  

 Pope Sylvester II Studied in this University

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Sylvester_II

It is the oldest University in the world recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records 

Thank you for the Photos and the Extra information about the founder ,  imaginary-

i think in the old time  there  is  not  Universry