https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Al_Quaraouiyine
If it is the oldest then why is not Plato's academy considered? I am 99% sure that there were centers of learning in the Sumerian culture, early Chinese, Indian etc.
Also from the link I provided there is the following quote
Some scholars, noting certain parallels between such madrasas and European medieval universities, have proposed that the latter may have been influenced by the madrasas of Islamic Spain and the Emirate of Sicily.[17][unreliable source?] Other scholars have questioned this, citing the lack of evidence for an actual transmission from the Islamic world to Christian Europe and highlighting the differences in the structure, methodologies, procedures, curricula and legal status of the "Islamic college" (madrasa) versus the European university.[18][19][20]
Also from searching for the answer to this, the top comment here gives the idea that Al Quaraouiyine and Bologna are not comparable.
Ok, I think you're going to get a bunch of different answers to this question and I'm sure a number of them will be valid. Honestly, I think that one cannot equate the University of Qaraqiyyin as it was when it was founded with the institution of the university in the same way that you can with Bologna, whose legal basis was an universitas and one can trace a much clearer line to the present conceptualization of the university.
I think your observation about centers of learning and schools (to put it generally) not necessarily being universities is a good one. Additionally, the University of Qarawiyyin is not even the oldest "school" still in operation. The first three cathedral schools established in the wake of Augustine of Canterbury's mission to convert the Angles are still in operation. It hasn't been transformed into a university like the University of Qarawiyyin, but the King's School, Canterbury is the oldest school still in operation.
Additionally, I find this to be a rather difficult pill to swallow
Other scholars have questioned this, citing the lack of evidence for an actual transmission from the Islamic world to Christian Europe and highlighting the differences in the structure, methodologies, procedures, curricula and legal status of the "Islamic college" (madrasa) versus the European university.