University College London

University College London
Other name
UCL
Former names
London University (1826–1836)
University College, London (1836–1907)
University of London, University College (1907–1976)
University College London (1977–2005; remains legal name)
MottoLatin: Cuncti adsint meritaeque expectent praemia palmae
Motto in English
Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
TypePublic research university
Established1826; 198 years ago (1826)
(University status 2023)
Endowment£156.8 million (2023)[1]
Budget£1.933 billion (2022/23)[1]
ChairVictor L. L. Chu[2]
VisitorSir Geoffrey Vos
(as Master of the Rolls ex officio)[3]
ChancellorAnne, Princess Royal
(as Chancellor of the University of London)
President and ProvostMichael Spence
Academic staff
9,910 (2022/23)[4]
Administrative staff
6,275 (2022/23)[4]
Students51,810 (2022/23)[5]
Undergraduates25,675 (2022/23)[5]
Postgraduates26,135 (2022/23)[5]
Other students
895 (studying wholly overseas; 2021/22)
Location
London, England

51°31′29″N 00°08′01″W / 51.52472°N 0.13361°W / 51.52472; -0.13361
CampusUrban
ColoursPurple and blue celeste[6]
Affiliations
Websiteucl.ac.uk

University College London (branded as UCL[7][8][9]) is a public research university in London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of London, and is the second-largest university in the United Kingdom by total enrolment[10] and the largest by postgraduate enrolment.

Established in 1826 as London University (though without university degree-awarding powers) by founders inspired by the radical ideas of Jeremy Bentham, UCL was the first university institution to be established in London, and the first in England to be entirely secular and to admit students regardless of their religion.[11][12] It was also among the first university colleges to admit women alongside men in 1878, two years after University College, Bristol.[13] Intended by its founders to be England's third university, politics forced it to accept the status of a college in 1836, when it received a royal charter and became one of the two founding colleges of the University of London, although it achieved de facto recognition as a university in the 1990s and formal university status in 2023. It has grown through mergers, including with the Institute of Ophthalmology (in 1995), the Institute of Neurology (in 1997), the Royal Free Hospital Medical School (in 1998), 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 has its main campus in the Bloomsbury area of central London, with a number of institutes and teaching hospitals elsewhere in central London and has a second campus, UCL East, at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, East London. UCL is organised into 11 constituent faculties, within which there are over 100 departments, institutes and research centres. UCL operates 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, and administers the annual Orwell Prize in political writing. In 2022/23, UCL had a total income of £1.93 billion, of which £527 million was from research grants and contracts.[1] The university generates around £10 billion annually for the UK economy, primarily through the spread of its research and knowledge (£4 billion) and the impact of its own spending (£3 billion).[14]

UCL is a member of numerous academic organisations, including the Russell Group and the League of European Research Universities, and is part of UCL Partners, the world's largest academic health science centre.[15] It is considered part of the "golden triangle" of research-intensive universities in southeast England.[16] UCL has publishing and commercial activities including UCL Press, UCL Business and UCL Consultants.

UCL has many notable alumni, including the founder of Mauritius, the first Prime Minister of Japan, one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA, and the members of Coldplay. UCL academics discovered five of the naturally occurring noble gases, discovered hormones, invented the vacuum tube, and made several foundational advances in modern statistics. As of 2024, 32 Nobel Prize winners[17] and three Fields medallists[18] have been affiliated with UCL as alumni or academic staff.

  1. ^ a b c "Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 July 2023" (PDF). University College London. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  2. ^ "UCL Council". University College London. August 2022. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  3. ^ "UCL Officers". University College London. Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  4. ^ a b "Who's working in HE?". www.hesa.ac.uk. Higher Education Statistics Agency.
  5. ^ a b c "Where do HE students study? | HESA". hesa.ac.uk. Higher Education Statistics Agency.
  6. ^ "Working with our brand: Visual identity" (PDF). UCL. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 December 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2022. Mid Purple and Blue Celeste are UCL's traditional colours
  7. ^ "Making an Impact: the UCL style guide" (PDF). UCL. 2005. p. 44. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 April 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2018. UCL should always be referred to as 'UCL'. "University College London" can only be used as part of the postal address.
  8. ^ Sutherland, John (29 July 2005). "What's in a name?". The Guardian.
  9. ^ "Working with our brand" (PDF). UCL. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 December 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2019. UCL is the university's official name
  10. ^ "Where do HE students study?". Higher Education Statistics Agency. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  11. ^ Harte, Negley; North, John (2004). The World of UCL 1828–2004. London: UCL. pp. 29–32. ISBN 978-1-84472-025-5.
  12. ^ "Students defend freedom of expression at University College London". The Secular Society. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  13. ^ Georgia Oman (28 January 2020). "Suffrage, Arson, and the University of Bristol". Doing History in Public.
  14. ^ Richard Adams (27 June 2022). "University College London generates £10bn a year for UK, says report". The Guardian.
  15. ^ "UCL Partners to become 'biggest AHSC in the world'". Health Service Journal. 17 October 2011. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  16. ^ Smaglik, Paul (6 July 2005). "Golden opportunities". Nature. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  17. ^ UCL (9 October 2024). "UCL alumnus and AI innovator awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry". UCL News. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  18. ^ "History". UCL Department of Mathematics. 21 May 2018. Fields Medal winners. Retrieved 3 November 2022.