University College London

University College London (UCL) is a constituent college of the University of London, based primarily in Bloomsbury, London.

Founded in 1826, UCL was the first university institution to be founded in London, the first university institution in the United Kingdom to be established on an entirely secular basis and admit students regardless of their religion, and the first to admit women on equal terms with men.  UCL became one of the two founding colleges of the University of London in 1836. UCL's founding principles of accessibility and liberalism have encouraged the institution to champion innovation, diversity and relevance to society, positioning it at the forefront of education and research.

Academic Reputation

UCL has been consistently ranked among the top five university institutions in the UK, and was ranked 4th in the world  and second in Europe in the 2009 THE–QS World University Rankings. In the Shanghai Xiao Tong university rankings, UCL was ranked 21st in the world and 3rd in Europe.  UCL is ranked first in the UK for its staff/student ratio in The Times Good University Guide, The Sunday Times University Guide and The Guardian University Guide.  

UCL has the highest number of professors of any university in the UK, with more than 600 established and personal chairs, as well as the highest number of female professors. More than 4,000 academic and research staff are dedicated to research and teaching of the highest standards.

According to data released in July 2008 by the Thomson ISI Web of Knowledge’s Essential Science Indicators, UCL is the most-cited institution in the UK, and up one place from the last analysis to 13th in the world.

Alumni

There are currently 21 Nobel prizewinners amongst UCL’s alumni and former staff. The academic community includes 36 fellows of the Royal Society, 26 Fellows of the British Academy, 10 Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering and 78 Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences

UCL alumni range from Mahatma Gandhi and Alexander Graham Bell, to Ricky Gervais and all four members of the band Coldplay, as well as two members of the band Keane. Important authors include Stella Gibbons, Robert Browning, Rabindranath Tagore (did not graduate), Raymond Briggs and G. K. Chesterton. Scientists and engineers include Francis Crick, John Ambrose Fleming, Joseph Lister, Roger Penrose, Colin Chapman, Patrick Head, physicist and astrobiologist Paul Davies, evolutionary biologist John Maynard Smith and the aforementioned Bell. Artists, architects and designers include Sir William Coldstream, Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, Ben Nicholson and David Mlinaric. Politicians figure highly in the lists, notably Sir Stafford Cripps (Chancellor of the Exchequer), William Wedgwood Benn, 1st Viscount Stansgate (Liberal and subsequent Labour politician), the first and former prime ministers of Japan (Hirobumi Ito and Junichiro Koizumi  respectively) and Chaim Herzog, the former President of Israel.