The Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino (St. Thomas Aquinas University) founded in 1538 in Santo Domingo, in the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, present-day Dominican Republic, was the first institution of higher education in the western hemisphere.
The Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino (St. Thomas Aquinas University) was founded during the reign of Charles I of Spain. It was the first (unofficial) institution of higher education in the western hemisphere.