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. Established in 1826 as London University by founders inspired by the radical ideas of Jeremy Bentham, UCL was the first university institution established in London and the earliest in England to be entirely secular, to admit students regardless of their religion and to admit women on equal terms with men. UCL became one of the two founding colleges of the University of London in 1836 and has grown through mergers, including with 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 is the largest higher education institution in London and the largest postgraduate institution in the UK by enrollment and is regarded as one of the leading multidisciplinary research universities in the world.

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 centers. 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. As of 2014, UCL had around 28,000 students and 11,000 staff (including around 6,000 academic staff and 980 professors) and had a total income of £1.18 billion in 2014/15, of which £427.5 million was from research grants and contracts. UCL is a member of numerous academic organisations and is part of UCL Partners, the world's largest academic health science center, and the 'golden triangle' of elite English universities.

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 its alumni include the "Father of the Nation" of each of India, Kenya and Mauritius, founders of Ghana, modern Japan and Nigeria, the inventor of the telephone, and one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA. UCL academics 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 Ambrosia Fleming while a faculty of UCL and several foundational advances in modern statistics were made at UCL's statistical science department founded by Karl Pearson. There are 32 Nobel Prize winners and three Fields Medalists among st UCL's alumni and current and former staff.

History:

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. London University's first Warden was Leonard Horner, who was the first scientist to head a British university.

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 Bowing appointed as the first professor of English or History, but on both occasions his candidates were unsuccessful. 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).

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. In 1828 the university became the first in England to offer English as a subject 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.

1836 to 2005

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 during 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.

William Ramsay is regarded as the "father of noble gases".

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 a school 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.

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.

UCL, The Wilkins Building in 1956

In 1976, a new charter restored UCL's legal independence, although not the power to award its own degrees. It was also under this charter that the College became formally known as University College London (thus abandoning the comma after "College", which had been in use since 1836).

In 1986, UCL merged with the Institute of Archaeology. In 1988 UCL merged with the Institute of Laryngeal & Ontology, the Institute of Orthopedics, the Institute of Urology & Phrenology and Middle sex Hospital Medical School. In 1994 the University College London Hospitals NHS Trust was established. UCL merged with the College of Speech Sciences and the Institute of Ophthalmology in 1995, the Institute of Child Health and the School of Podiatry in 1996 and the Institute of Neurology in 1997. In 1998 UCL merged with the Royal Free Hospital Medical School to create the Royal Free and University College Medical School (renamed the UCL Medical School in October 2008). In 1999 UCL merged with the School of Slavonic and East European Studies and the Eastman Dental Institute.

The UCL Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science, the first university department in the world devoted specifically to reducing crime, was founded in 2001.

Proposals for a merger between UCL and Imperial College London were announced in 2002. The proposal provoked strong opposition from UCL teaching staff and students and the AUT union, which criticised "the indecent haste and lack of consultation", leading to its abandonment by the UCL Provost Sir Derek Roberts. The blogs that helped to stop the merger, are preserved, though some of the links are now broken: see David Calhoun's blog, and the rather more stylish Save UCL blog, which was run by David Conway, a postgraduate student in the department of Hebrew and Jewish studies.

The London Centre for Nanotechnology was established in 2003 as a joint venture between UCL and Imperial College London.

Since 2003, when UCL Professor David Latchman became Master of the neighboring Birkbeck, he has forged closer relations between these two University of London colleges, and personally maintains departments at both. Joint research centres include the UCL/Birkbeck Institute for Earth and Planetary Sciences, the UCL/Birkbeck/IoE Centre for Educational Neuroscience, the UCL/Birkbeck Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, and the Birkbeck-UCL Centre for Neuroimaging.

2005 to 2010

The UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies building, which was opened in 2005

In 2005, UCL was finally granted its own taught and research degree awarding powers and all new UCL students registered from 2007/08 qualified with UCL degrees. Also in 2005, UCL adopted a new corporate branding, under which, among other things, the name University College London was replaced by the simple initial ism UCL in all external communications. In the same year a major new £422 million building was opened for University College Hospital on Easton Road, the UCL Ear Institute was established and a new building for the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies was opened.

In 2007, the UCL Cancer Institute was opened in the newly constructed Paul O'Gorman Building. In August 2008 UCL formed UCL Partners, an academic health science centre, with Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust, Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. In 2008 UCL established the UCL School of Energy & Resources in Adelaide, Australia, the first campus of a British university in the country. The School is based in the historic Torrens Building in Victoria Square and its creation followed negotiations between UCL Vice Provost Michael Worton and South Australian Premier Mike Rann.

In 2009, the Yale UCL Collaborative was established between UCL, UCL Partners, Yale University, Yale School of Medicine and Yale – New Haven Hospital. It is the largest collaboration in the history of either university, and its scope has subsequently been extended to the humanities and social sciences.

2010 to present:

The Torrens Building in Adelaide, South Australia, which houses the UCL School of Energy and Resources. In June 2011, the mining company BHP Billiton agreed to donate A$10 million to UCL to fund the establishment of two energy institutes – the Energy Policy Institute, based in Adelaide, and the Institute for Sustainable Resources, based in London. In November 2011 UCL announced plans for a £500 million investment in its main Bloomsbury campus over 10 years, and the establishment of a new 23-acre campus next to the Olympic Park in Stafford in the East End of London. It revised its plans of expansion in East London and in December 2014 announced to build a campus UCL East covering 11 acres and provide up to 125,000m2 of space on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. UCL East will be a part of the planned Olympics that plans to transform the Olympic Park into a cultural and innovation hub where UCL will open its first school of design, a centre of experimental engineering and a museum of the future, along with a living space for students.

The School of Pharmacy, University of London merged with UCL on 1 January 2012, becoming the UCL School of Pharmacy within the Faculty of Life Sciences. In May 2012, UCL, Imperial College London and the semiconductor company Intel announced the establishment of the Intel Collaborative Research Institute for Sustainable Connected Cities, a London-based institute for research into the future of cities.

In August 2012 UCL received criticism for advertising an unpaid research position; it subsequently withdrew the advert.

UCL and the Institute of Education formed a strategic alliance in October 2012, including co-operation in teaching, research and the development of the London schools system. In February 2014 the two institutions announced their intention to merge and the merger was completed in December 2014.

In October 2013 it was announced that the Translation Studies Unit of Imperial College London would move to UCL, becoming part of the UCL School of European Languages, Culture and Society. In December 2013, it was announced that UCL and the academic publishing company Elsevier will collaborate to establish the UCL Big Data Institute. In January 2015 it was announced that UCL had been selected by the UK government to be one of the five founder members of the Alan Turing Institute (together with the universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Oxford and Warwick), an institute to be established at the British Library to promote the development and use of advanced mathematics, computer science, algorithms and Big Data.

In 2015 UCL established a new School of Management focused on technology, innovation and entrepreneurship, replacing its Department of Management Science and Innovation, with plans to move to new premises in One Canada Square, Canary Wharf in May 2016.

Finances:

In the financial year ended 31 July 2014, UCL had a total income (excluding share of joint ventures) of £1.02 billion (2012/13 – £928.15 million) and total expenditure of £1.01 billion (2012/13 – £908.3 million). Key sources of income included £374.5 million from research grants and contracts (2012/13 – £325.65 million), £292.77 million from academic fees and support grants (2012/13 – £240.87 million), £182.44 million from Funding Council grants (2012/13 – £191.16 million) and £5.1 million from endowment and investment income (2012/13 – £5.33 million). During the 2013/14 financial year UCL had a capital expenditure of £125.93 million (2012/13 – £95.43 million). At year end UCL had endowments of £90.54 million (31 July 2013 – £85.95 million) and total net assets of £895.7 million (31 July 2013 – £816.94 million).

In 2013/14, UCL had the third-highest total income of any British university (after the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford), and the second-highest income from research grants and contracts (after the University of Oxford). For the 2015/16 academic year UCL has been allocated a total of £171.37 million for teaching and research from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the highest amount allocated to any English university, of which £39.76 million is for teaching and £131.61 millon is for research. According to a survey published by the Sutton Trust, UCL had the eighth-largest endowment of any British university in 2012.

UCL launched a 10-year, £300 million fundraising appeal in October 2004, at the time the largest target ever set by a university in the United Kingdom for such an appeal.

Terms:

The UCL academic year is divided into three terms. For most departments except the Medical School, Term One runs from late September to mid December, Term Two from mid January to late March, and Term Three from late April to mid June. Certain departments operate reading weeks in early November and mid February.