University College London

University College London (UCL) is a public research university in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It is considered to be one of the most prestigious universities in the world[5] and ranks highly in both national and international league tables.

Founded in 1826 as London University, UCL was the first university institution established in London and the first in England to be entirely secular, to admit students regardless of their religion, and to admit women on equal terms with men.[6] The philosopher Jeremy Bentham is commonly regarded as the spiritual father of UCL, as his radical ideas on education and society were the inspiration to its founders, although his direct involvement in its foundation was limited. UCL became one of the two founding colleges of the University of London in 1836. It has grown through mergers, including with the Institute of Neurology (in 1997), the Eastman Dental Institute (in 1999), the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (in 1999), the School of Pharmacy (in 2012) and the Institute of Education (in 2014).

UCL's main campus is located in the Bloomsbury area of central London, with a number of institutes and teaching hospitals elsewhere in central London, and satellite campuses in Adelaide, Australia and Doha, Qatar. UCL is organised into 11 constituent faculties, within which there are over 100 departments, institutes and research centres. UCL has around 36,000 students and 11,000 staff (including around 6,000 academic staff and 980 professors) and had a total income of £1.02 billion in 2013/14, of which £374.5 million was from research grants and contracts.[1] Measured by number of students it is both the largest higher education institution in London and largest postgraduate institution in the UK.[7][8] UCL is responsible for several museums and collections in a wide range of fields, including the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology and the Grant Museum of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy.

UCL is ranked 20th in the world (and 4th in Europe) in the 2014 Academic Ranking of World Universities,[9] joint 5th in the world (and joint 3rd in Europe) in the 2014 QS World University Rankings[10] and 22nd in the world (and 5th in Europe) in the 2014/15 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.[11] For the period 1999 to 2009 it was the 13th most-cited university in the world (and most-cited in Europe).[12] There are 32 Nobel Prize winners and three Fields Medalists amongst UCL's alumni and current and former staff. UCL alumni include the "Father of the Nation" of each of India, Kenya and Mauritius, the inventor of the telephone, and one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA. All five of the naturally-occurring noble gases were discovered at UCL by William Ramsay.

UCL is part of three of the 11 biomedical research centres established by the NHS in England and is a founding member of the Francis Crick Institute and UCL Partners, the world's largest academic health science centre.[13] UCL has hundreds of research and teaching partnerships, including a major collaboration with Yale University, the Yale UCL Collaborative. UCL is a member of numerous academic organisations including the G5,[14] the League of European Research Universities and the Russell Group and forms part of the 'golden triangle' of British universities.[15]

Contents  [hide] 
1 History
1.1 1826 to 1901
1.2 1901 to 2005
1.3 2005 to 2010
1.4 2010 to present
2 Campus and locations
2.1 Bloomsbury
2.2 Other sites
3 Organisation and administration
3.1 Governance
3.2 Faculties and departments
3.3 Finances
3.4 Terms
3.5 Logo, arms and colours
3.6 Secularism
3.7 Memberships, affiliations and partnerships
4 Academics
4.1 Faculty and staff
4.2 Research
4.3 Medicine
4.4 Admissions
4.5 Foundation programmes
4.6 Libraries
4.7 Museums and collections
4.8 Rankings and reputation
5 Student life
5.1 Student body
5.2 UCL Union
5.3 Sport
5.4 Mascot
5.5 Rivalry with King's College London
5.6 Student campaigns
5.7 Student housing
6 Notable people
6.1 Notable faculty and staff
6.2 Notable alumni
6.3 Heads of state, government and international organisations
7 See also
8 Notes
9 References
10 External links
History[edit]
Main article: History of University College London
1826 to 1901[edit]

The London University as drawn by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd and published in 1827–1828 (now the UCL Main Building)
UCL was founded on 11 February 1826 under the name London University as a secular alternative to the religious universities of Oxford and Cambridge.[16][17] London University's first Warden was Leonard Horner, who was the first scientist to head a British university.[18]


Henry Tonks' 1923 mural The Four Founders of UCL
Despite the commonly held belief that the philosopher Jeremy Bentham was the founder of UCL, his direct involvement was limited to the purchase of share No.633, at a cost of £100 paid in nine installments between December 1826 and January 1830. In 1828 he did nominate a friend to sit on the council, and in 1827 attempted to have his disciple John Bowring appointed as the first professor of English or History, but on both occasions his candidates were unsuccessful.[19] This suggests that while his ideas may have been influential, he himself was less so. However Bentham is today commonly regarded as the "spiritual father" of UCL, as his radical ideas on education and society were the inspiration to the institution's founders, particularly the Scotsmen James Mill (1773–1836) and Henry Brougham (1778–1868).[20]

In 1827, the Chair of Political Economy at London University was created, with John Ramsay McCulloch as the first incumbent, establishing one of the first departments of economics in England.[21] In 1828 the university became the first in England to offer English as a degree subject[22] and the teaching of Classics and medicine began. In 1830, London University founded the London University School, which would later become University College School. In 1833, the university appointed Alexander Maconochie, Secretary to the Royal Geographical Society, as the first professor of geography in the UK. In 1834, University College Hospital opened as a teaching hospital for the university medical school.[23] In 1836, London University was renamed University College, London, when, under a Royal Charter, it worked with the recently established King's College, London, to create the federal University of London. The Slade School of Fine Art was founded in 1871 following a bequest from Felix Slade.[24] In 1878 UCL became the first British university to admit women on equal terms to men.[25] In 1898, Sir William Ramsay discovered the elements krypton, neon and xenon whilst professor of chemistry at UCL.