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 and is the largest higher education institution in London and largest postgraduate institution in the UK by enrolment.
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.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.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 one of the most selective British universities and ranks highly in national and international league tables.UCL's graduates are ranked among the most employable by international employers and 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. Additionally, founders of Ghana,Japan and Nigeria attended UCL and founder of erstwhile Czechoslovakia was a member of staff. UCL faculties have contributed to major advances in several disciplines. All five of the naturally-occurring noble gases were discovered at UCL by William Ramsay,the vacuum tube was invented by UCL graduate John Ambrose Fleming while a faculty of UCL and several foundational advances in statistics were made at UCL at the statistical science department founded by Karl Pearson.There are 32 Nobel Prize winners and three Fields Medalists amongst UCL's alumni and current and former staff.
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.UCL has hundreds of research and teaching partnerships, including a major collaboration with Yale University, the Yale UCL Collaborative. It is a member of numerous academic organisations including the G5,the League of European Research Universities and the Russell Group and forms part of the 'golden triangle' of British universities.
In 1836, London University was incorporated by Royal Charter under the name University College, London. On the same day, the University of London was created by royal charter as a degree-awarding examining board for students from affiliated schools and colleges, with University College and King's College, London being named in the charter as the first two affiliates.
The Slade School of Fine Art was founded in 1871 following a bequest from Felix Slade.in 1878 the University of London gained a supplemental charter making it the first British university to be allowed to award degrees to women. The same year, UCL became the first college to admit women on equal terms to men in the faculties of Arts and Law and of Science, although women remained barred from the faculties of Engineering and of Medicine (with the exception of courses on public health and hygiene).Women were finally admitted to medical studies under the pressure of the first world war in 1917, although after the war ended limitations were placed on their numbers.
In 1898, Sir William Ramsay discovered the elements krypton, neon and xenon whilst professor of chemistry at UCL.in 1900 the University of London was reconstituted as a federal university with new statutes drawn up under the University of London Act 1898. UCL, along with a number of other colleges in London, became schools of the University of London.While most of the constituent institutions retained their autonomy, UCL was merged into the University in 1907 under the University College London (Transfer) Act 1905 and lost its legal independence.
1900 also saw the decision to appoint a salaried head of the college. The first incumbent was Carey Foster, who served as Principal (as the post was originally titled) from 1900 to 1904. He was succeeded by Gregory Foster (no relation), and in 1906 the title was changed to Provost to avoid confusion with the Principal of the University of London. Gregory Foster remained in post until 1929.
In 1906 the Cruciform Building was opened as the new home for University College Hospital.UCL sustained considerable bomb damage during the Second World War, including to the Great Hall and the Carey Foster Physics Laboratory. The first UCL student magazine, Pi Magazine, was published for the first time on 21 February 1946. The Institute of Jewish Studies relocated to UCL in 1959. The Mullard Space Science Laboratory was established in 1967.In 1973, UCL became the first international link to the precursor of the internet, the ARPANET, sending the world's first e-mail in the same year.
Although UCL was the first university to admit women on the same terms as men, in 1878, the College's senior common room, the Housman Room, remained men-only until 1969. After two unsuccessful attempts a motion was passed that ended segregation by sex at UCL. This was achieved by Brian Woledge (Fielden Professor of French at UCL from 1939 to 1971) and David Colquhoun, at that time a young lecturer in Pharmacology.
