The University of London, founded on February 28, 1836, is one of the world's largest and most prestigious universities, with between 10 and 20 percent of all UK students attending its colleges. Many universities in Britain and abroad began life as associate colleges of the University, offering its degrees under licence. In recent years this aspect of the university's work has revived, because of globalisation, and an increasing number of overseas academic institutes offer London University diplomas and degrees.
The university at first comprised just two colleges, UCL (University College London) and King's College, but now has over 15, many of which are major institutions in their own right. The most famous are the London School of Economics (LSE), University College (UCL), and Imperial College.
The University is a federal body made up of colleges and institutes. Under English law, some of these are Recognised Bodies that can grant University of London degrees (the same status as institutes that have their own degree-awarding powers), while others are Listed Bodies that provide courses leading to degrees of the University of London (the same status as the constitutent institutions of the University of Wales and the colleges of Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham.
The colleges and institutes of the University are, as of October 2003:
- Recognised Bodies:
- Birkbeck, University of London
- Goldsmiths College
- Heythrop College
- Imperial College, London, incorporating Imperial College at Wye
- Institute of Education
- King's College, London (KCL), incorporating the Institute of Psychiatry and The Guy's, King's and St Thomas' School of Medicine
- London Business School
- London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
- Queen Mary, University of London incorporating St Bartholomew's and the Royal London Hospital
- Royal Academy of Music
- Royal Holloway
- Royal Veterinary College
- School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), incorporating the London School of Jewish Studies
- School of Pharmacy
- University College London (UCL), incorporating the Eastman Dental Institute, the Institute of Child Health, the Institute of Neurology, the Institute of Ophthalmology, the Royal Free and University College Medical School, the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), and the Slade School of Fine Art
- St George's Hospital Medical School
- Listed Bodies:
- British Institute in Paris
- Courtauld Institute of Art
- School of Advanced Study comprising the following institutes:
- Institute of Advanced Legal Studies
- Institute of Classical Studies
- Institute of Commonwealth Studies
- Institute of English Studies (including the Centre for Manuscript and Print Studies),
- Institute of Germanic Studies
- Institute of Historical Research
- Institute of Latin American Studies
- Institute of Romance Studies
- Institute of United States Studies
- The Warburg Institute
- University Marine Biological Station, Millport
- Institute of Cancer Research (an Associated Institute, not an Institute of the University)
Notable persons who attended the University include:
