I'd like to add that after looking at the source suggested by Mike Burbridge ( http://www.webometrics.info/en/node/54) that the number quoted there would give me cause to think that 23729 is too many. It lists Denmark as having 80 universities, while in fact it has 8 (http://www.dkuni.dk/English/The-Danish-Universities). Germany is listed as having 412 in the first source, while Wikipedia states the number to be "about 70".

That said, it really depends on whether you mean "universities" or "institutions of higher education". The former is definitely a much smaller subset of the latter, but I assume that this question refers to "classical" universities.

Dear Dr. Ali Al-Bemani, Many sources provide and claim authenticity of their data about number of higher education institutions. Even the Wikipedia and UNSECO are not complete in one sense or the other.

For me and which I consider most authentic one is as below. I am also providing the WEB link for this source.

"The revised twenty-fifth edition of World List of Universities and Other Institutions of Higher Education includes more information on each institution in over 180 countries. There are over 16,000 institutions listed with up-to-date information verified from the governing body of education in each country. Details on institutions include: name of institution in both English and the local language, postal address, website, email and telephone and fax numbers, officers' names with direct contact details, list of faculties, departments and major subject areas."

http://www.amazon.com/World-List-Universities-25th-Edition/dp/1403992525

Thanks Dr Afaq

there seems to be no research yet establishing the actual number of universities in the world. I have searched extensively on net and keep getting different figures but not giving up yet

Dear Mrs. Laurie Bridges,

Yes, I agree with you that there are various data-sets available through different sources. What I feel that if you collect the data country-wise it will be more authentic and comprehensive. As an example let me present the data about India, which I have collected through two resources; the one University Grants Commission and the other, Ministry of education (Ministry of Human Resources and Developments). The statistics on collected data is as below:

- 700 degree-granting institutions,

- 35,500 affiliated colleges and

- More than 20 Millions enrolled students. 

Dear Mr. Ali Al-Bemani,

Here's a link that gives a somewhat detailed outline of the total universities around the world. The total list is arranged by countries with the best ranking universities and the count is 23,887 worldwide. This information is true as of January 2015.

Kind Regards

Dr. Nayyar Ahmed

How many institutions of higher education are there in the world? - ResearchGate. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_many_institutions_of_higher_education_are_there_in_the_world#55b603d460614b9d548b4571 

Hi Nayyar - do you have the link please. I too am trying to find out and this would be really useful! Thanks Mike

Found it - as of July 2015 there are apparently 23729 universities in the world (see http://www.webometrics.info/en/node/54). Hope (a) this helps and (b) its accurate!

I thank you all. But still I think they are more than listed here. 

Mr Al-Bemani, after soliciting so much input, how about sharing some of your perceptions here?

I'd like to add that after looking at the source suggested by Mike Burbridge ( http://www.webometrics.info/en/node/54) that the number quoted there would give me cause to think that 23729 is too many. It lists Denmark as having 80 universities, while in fact it has 8 (http://www.dkuni.dk/English/The-Danish-Universities). Germany is listed as having 412 in the first source, while Wikipedia states the number to be "about 70".

That said, it really depends on whether you mean "universities" or "institutions of higher education". The former is definitely a much smaller subset of the latter, but I assume that this question refers to "classical" universities.

Ali Al-Bemani is evidently not wishing to contribute to the discussion; his imperious tone to the question was suggesting as much.

Thanks to Mike and Morten for your insights!

Cheers, Walter

• http://www.webometrics.info/en/node/24

Dear Dr. Ali

Exactly 26368 universities from all over the world (January 2017 edition)

http://www.webometrics.info/en/node/54

Regards

I must concur with Morten Bormann Nielsen (see above) about the inflated numbers reported in webometrics. There are 95 universities in Canada (see https://www.univcan.ca/universities/member-universities), but 352 according to webometrics.info. The latter figure probably includes colleges, but it just exemplifies the difficulty of comparing education systems in different countries (for instance, colleges are not the same thing in Canada and the US).

Note that there are 2,836 universities (four year public and private) in the US, not 3,281 as in the webometrics data, which causes me to challenge the validity of those numbers. My numbers are taken directly from IPEDS (Title IV only, but institutions have to be Title IV to be "real"). These are from 2017-18 (just released yesterday).

@Carlos : there is no reference to support this number in the quoted article, nor have I found any mention of this (or a different) number in the Shangai Ranking page. So, like one says, the jury is still out on this issue. As a complement to my previous answer, I note that Webometrics, which now covers 28 000 "universities", explicitly include in this term other types of higher education institutions (HEIs), like community colleges (http://www.webometrics.info/en/Methodology). This easily explains the Canadian results: the 355 HEIs are mostly community colleges (for instance, in the province of Quebec, there are about 50 colleges but less than 20 universities).

Dear Ali Al-Bemani

why don't you go to pray then go to the café have a shisha, espresso and a glass of water?. For sure you have two wives and enjoy the life mate. Dont make yourself busy with university issues!!

Have fun mate

I’m having fun Farhad

Don‘t worry

Good luck Dr.

great to hear from you :-)

FOLLOWING!

so many !! Why ?

Dear Freeman Dizayee, I think you are bit jealous of Ali Al Bemani.

The number in the webometrics includes campuses. For example, the university of the Philippines has several campuses and satellite schools but in the webometrics it is listed separately. Also the webometrics numbers includes colleges.