This list of largest universities by enrollment 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 1 Indira Gandhi National Open University New Delhi, India 1985 Public 3 million 2 Allama Iqbal Open University Islamabad, Pakistan 1974 Public 1.8 million 3 Islamic Azad University Tehran, Iran 1982 Private 1.3 million 4 Anadolu University Eskişehir, Turkey 1958 Public 884,081 5 Bangladesh National University Gazipur, Bangladesh 1992 Public 800,000 6 Bangladesh Open University Gazipur, Bangladesh 1992 Public 600,000 7 Ramkhamhaeng University Bangkok, Thailand 1971 Public 525,000 8 University System of Ohio Ohio, United States 2007 Public 478,000 9 Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Open University Andhra Pradesh, India 1982 Public 450,000 9 University of Punjab Lahore, Pakistan 1882 Public 450,000 11 State University of New York New York, United States 1948 Public 439,000 12 California State University California, United States 1857 Public 417,000 13 University of Delhi New Delhi, India 1922 Public 400,000 14 Universitas Terbuka Jakarta, Indonesia 1984 Public 350,000 15 Universidad de Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, Argentina 1821 Public 316,050 16 State University System of Florida Florida, United States 1905 Public 301,570 (2008) 17 Osmania University Hyderabad, India 1918 Public 300,000 18 Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University Nashik, India 1989 Public 300,000 19 Spiru Haret University Bucuresti, Romania 2002 Private 300,000 20 National Autonomous University of Mexico Mexico City, Mexico 1551 Public 290,000 (Aug 14th, 2006) 21 Tribhuvan University Kirtipur, Nepal 1959 Public 272,746 22 University of South Africa Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa 1873 Public 250,000 23 City University of New York New York City, United States 1847 Public 244,000 24 Instituto Politecnico Nacional Mexico City, Mexico 1936 Public 229,070 25 Universidade Estácio de Sá Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1970 Private 215,000 25 Gujarat University Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India 1949 Public 215,000 26 Korea National Open University South Korea 1982 Public 210,978 27 University of California California, United States 1869 Public 209,080 28 Open University Milton Keynes, England, United Kingdom 1969 Public 203,744 29 University of Phoenix Phoenix, Arizona, United States 1976 Proprietary 200,000 30 Cairo University Cairo, Egypt 1905 Public 200,000 31 University of Calcutta Kolkata, West Bengal, India 1857 Public 200,000 32 University of Texas System Texas, United States 1881 Public 190,000 33 Payame Noor University Tehran, Iran 1987 Public 183,000 34 Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University Bangkok, Thailand 1978 Public 181,372 35 Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia Spain 1972 Public 180,000 36 University of Karachi Karachi, Pakistan 1951 Public 174,000 estimate 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 Wisconsin, United States 1848 Public 162,933 40 University of London London, England, United Kingdom 1836 Public 159,000 41 Cairo University Giza, Egypt 1933 Public 155,000 42 Madhya Pradesh Bhoj Open University Bhopal, India 1991 Public 150,000 43 University of Rome La Sapienza 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 Universidade Norte do Paraná Londrina, Paraná, Brazil 1972 Private 130,000 47 Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala Guatemala City, Guatemala 1676 Public 124,000 48 Centre national d'enseignement à distance France 1939 Public 120,000 49 Universidad Nacional de Córdoba Córdoba, Argentina 1613 Public 113,558 50 Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Pennsylvania, United States 1982 Public 110,428 51 Texas A&M University System Texas, United States 1948 Public 103,449 52 Shanghai Television University Shanghai, China 1960 Public 101,218 53 University of Bologna Bologna, Italy 1088 Public >100,000 54 Universiti Teknologi MARA Shah Alam, Malaysia 1956 Public 100,000 55 Universidad Complutense de Madrid Madrid, Spain 1499 Public 98,142 56 Indiana University Indiana, United States 1820 Public 98,543 57 Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey Monterrey, Mexico 1943 Private 95,777 58 Netaji Subhas Open University Kolkata, West Bengal, India 1997 Public 95,027 59 University of Wales Wales, United Kingdom 1893 Public 95,000 60 Polytechnic University of the Philippines System Manila, Philippines 1904 Public 70,000