List of Largest Universities By Enrollment

This list of largest universities by enrollment in the world includes total active enrollment across all campuses (including off campus study). Enrollment numbers listed are the sum of undergraduate and graduate students in active enrollment. Universities included below confer degrees of bachelor-level or higher and either share a central board of governance and a single chancellor or president, or confer degrees with the same institution name.

Many of these universities, particularly those in the United States, are actually systems of separate university campuses and may not accurately represent a comparable study body. For example, the enrollment listed for the University of California is the population of the entire student body in the University of California system, which is composed of several individual campuses statewide. All University of California campuses are entitled "University of California" and then denoted further by the campus location, such as "University of California, Irvine". Other states organize their public universities differently in ways that further complicate any direct comparisons.

Rank Institution Location Founded Affiliation Enrollment Ref
1 Indira Gandhi National Open University New Delhi, India 1985 Public 3,500,000
2 Islamic Azad University Tehran, Iran 1982 Private 1,900,000
3 Allama Iqbal Open University Islamabad, Pakistan 1974 Public 1,121,038
4 Anadolu University Eskisehir, Turkey 1958 Public 1,141,180
5 Bangladesh National University Gazipur, Bangladesh 1992 Public 850,000
6 Payame Noor University Tehran, Iran 1987 Public 818,150
7 Bangladesh Open University Gazipur, Bangladesh 1992 Public 650,000
8 Universitas Terbuka Jakarta, Indonesia 1984 Public 646,467
9 Ramkhamhaeng University Bangkok, Thailand 1971 Public 525,000
10 Tribhuvan University Kirtipur, Nepal 1959 Public 500,000
11 University of Pune Pune, India 1948 Public 496,531
12 University System of Ohio Ohio, United States 2007 Public 478,000
13 State University of New York New York, United States 1948 Public 467,845
14 University of the Punjab Lahore, Pakistan 1882 Public 450,000
15 Andhra Pradesh Open University Andhra Pradesh, India 1982 Public 450,000
16 California State University California, United States 1857 Public 417,000
17 University of Delhi New Delhi, India 1922 Public 400,000
18 Sikkim Manipal University Sikkim, India 1995 Private 390,000
19 University of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, Argentina 1821 Public 316,050
20 National Autonomous University of Mexico Mexico City, Mexico 1910 Public 324,413
21 Spiru Haret University Bucharest, Romania 1991 Private 311,928
22 University System of Georgia Georgia, United States 1931, (first university est. 1785) Public 311,442
23 State University System of Florida Florida, United States 1954 Public 302,513
24 Osmania University Hyderabad, India 1918 Public 300,000
25 National University of Distance Education Spain 1972 Public 260,079
26 Rajiv Gandhi Technical University Bhopal, India 1998 Public 260,000
27 Open University Milton Keynes, England, United Kingdom 1969 Public 253,075
28 University of South Africa Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa 1873 Public 250,000
29 National Polytechnic Institute Mexico City, Mexico 1936 Public 229,070
30 Estácio de Sá University Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1970 Private 215,000
31 Korea National Open University South Korea 1982 Public 210,978
31 University of Guadalajara Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico 1791 Public 209,406
32 University of California California, United States 1869 Public 209,080
33 University of Texas System Texas, United States 1881 Public 190,000
34 Autonomous University of Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 1538. Reopened 1914. Public 180,000
35 University of Karachi Karachi, Pakistan 1951 Public 174,000
36 Ain Shams University Cairo, Egypt 1950 Public 170,000
37 University of North Carolina North Carolina, United States 1789 Public 169,792
38 Utah System of Higher Education Utah, United States 1894 Public 164,860
39 University of Wisconsin System Wisconsin, United States 1848 Public 162,933
40 Cairo University Giza, Egypt 1933 Public 155,000
41 Uttar Pradesh Technical University Lucknow, India 2000 Public 150,000
42 Madhya Pradesh Bhoj Open University Bhopal, India 1991 Public 150,000
43 Sapienza University of Rome Rome, Italy 1303 Public 147,000
44 University System of Maryland Maryland, United States 1988 Public 144,363
45 Modern University for the Humanities Moscow, Russia 1992 Public 140,000
46 Norte do Paraná University Londrina, Paraná, Brazil 1972 Private 130,000
47 University of San Carlos of Guatemala Guatemala City, Guatemala 1676 Public 124,000
48 National Centre for Distance Education France 1939 Public 120,000
49 Texas A&M University System Texas, United States 1876 Public 114,691
50 National University of Córdoba Córdoba, Argentina 1613 Public 113,558
51 Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Pennsylvania, United States 1982 Public 110,428
52 Shanghai Open University Shanghai, China 1960 Public 101,218
53 University of Bologna Bologna, Italy 1088 Public 100,000
54 MARA University of Technology Shah Alam, Malaysia 1956 Public 100,000

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