In the British context, until the 20th century Oxford and Cambridge were both pretty right leaning (partly reflecting their origins as very religious and even more elitist establishments)
There is still a particular type of academic conservative (and usually Conservative though not as reliably as was once the case) that you only find at those two institutions. And, of course, stronger in some colleges than others.
and as per my understanding German universities were pretty conservative as late as the interwar years.
The politics of German academia is an interesting historical subject. Although a lot of the important foundational figures were conservatives (Ranke for instance), as it developed in the early and mid 19th century it became a stronghold of liberalism and German Nationalism, and at the time the two were very much compatible. As the century wore on and German Unification progressed, a large number of liberals swung rightwards as the general nationalist ideology that they were also followers of did and nationalist political movements of the extreme-right that had no direct link with liberalism that was a default feature of earlier generations of nationalists began to emerge. These were both well-represented in academia, but so was the older liberal tradition and so, despite deliberate discrimination, were socialist elements. The careers of Theodor Mommsen and Heinrich von Treitschke make for an interesting and revealing contrast, particularly as both also pursued parallel political careers.
The general crisis of the Weimar Republic caused radicalisation and polarisation much as in the rest of society. Initially academia was the main recruiting ground for the new DDP, but that bubble soon burst with many of its academic and intellectual supporters swinging to the Left with many of those that remained then proceeding on the long march rightwards that was gloomily typical of many liberals during the period. The more right-wing element in academia became increasingly fierce and rejected the legitimacy of the new political system entirely, but they were outstripped in terms of radicalism by large parts of the student body who became some of the most enthusiastic followers of the new NSDAP. About the period of Nazi rule there's not much worth saying, except that, strangely, academics known to have left-wing political views were often allowed to continue to teach but, importantly, in stunted and constrained manner and under if not constant supervision then the fear of it, and the fear of what denunciation meant. An interesting figure with respect to both periods is Werner Sombart, though he wasn't exactly a typical one.
Postwar West German academia was a curiosity in political terms because there were a lot of academics with conservative views (often acquired as a reaction to the political upheavals and horrors of the first half of the century) who were also SPD voters and often
members. They tended to take a 'send in the tanks, do we still have tanks?' view as to student radicals. This phenomenon was strongest in the humanities, particularly in History and Literature. These people contrasted very strongly with more radical elements, prominent from the 1960s, who, thanks to the strange two-party system created and facilitated by the pressures of the Cold War, were
also SPD voters and often members. The rehabilitated and 'denazified' pre-war right-wing elements tended at first to support the FDP if the latter term was somewhat justified and various small right-wing parties if not: soon they coalesced around the CDU as the big tent grew. This fact is not entirely unrelated to the emergence of the curious phenomenon noted earlier. As to the politics of Postwar East German academia there really isn't anything worth saying at all.
