University College London (UCL) is a multi-faculty university institution based in the United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London. Ranked among the top ten universities in the world, it was founded in 1826, as London University, and was the first British university institution established on a secular basis and also the first to admit students regardless of race, class, religion and gender. In 1836, London University and King's College London established the University of London, and UCL received its current name.

Today, with over 25,000 staff and students, UCL operates as a fully independent university, awarding its own degrees,^[1] although remaining a college of the University of London, and is larger than most other universities in the United Kingdom. UCL is a member of the elite Russell Group of Universities, a part of the 'G5' sub-group of super-elite UK universities, and a part of the Golden Triangle.^[2]

In summer 2008 the Shanghai Jiao Tong University?s annual Academic Ranking of World Universities indicated that UCL was ranked:

• 22nd in the world, up from 25th in 2007

• third in Europe, up from fourth in 2007

• first in London, up from second in 2007^[3]

According to the UK university league tables, UCL is one of the UK's top three multi-faculty universities (along with the universities of Oxford and Cambridge) and in 2007 had an annual turnover of nearly £600 million.^[4]

The current Provost and President of UCL is Professor Malcolm Grant.^[5]

UCL is a member of the UCL Partners academic health science partnership.

Geography and location

University College London (UCL) is located in Bloomsbury, central London. The main campus is located on Gower Street^[6], although there are also other UCL buildings to be found throughout London. The Gower Street campus includes the UCL science and main libraries, the language departments, the history departments, the Bloomsbury theatre, the biology and physics departments, and the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology. A further set of buildings based around neighbouring Gordon Street and Gordon Square includes the Institute of Archaeology, the chemistry department, the Bartlett School of The Built Environment and the School of Slavonic and East European Studies.

The area around UCL is occupied by a constellation of other renowned institutions, including the British Museum, the British Library, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, the British Medical Association, and other University of London schools and institutes, including the School of Oriental and African Studies, Birkbeck, University of London, the Institute of Education, the School of Advanced Study and the Senate House Library, which houses the University of London's world-class research collections, focussing on the arts, humanities and social sciences. (All UCL students on degree courses, and all UCL staff have full access to this library and its electronic resources).

The nearest London Underground station to the main UCL campus is Euston Square. Other nearby stations are Warren Street, Russell Square and Goodge Street, as well as Euston railway station.

History

The London University as drawn by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd and published in 1827/28 (now UCL Main Building).

Jeremy Benthams preserved corpse, dressed in Bentham's own clothes, is on daily, public display in UCL's South Cloister; a testament to his radical independence of thought, even after death.

In 1836 the so-called London University became known as University College, London ^[9] when, under a Royal charter, it worked with the recently established King's College London to create the federal University of London.

In 1907, the University of London was formally reconstituted with a new Royal charter, and new institutions joined the federation. Under this re-organisation it was necessary for each of the various institutions that now formed the University of London to lose their separate legal existences, and all offered degrees of the University of London. This situation continued until 1977 when a new charter restored UCL's independence, although - at that time - not the power to award its own degrees.^[10]

Eventually, in 2005 UCL was once again granted its own taught and research Degree Awarding Powers (DAP), and all new UCL students registered from 2007-08 qualify with UCL degrees rather than degrees of the University of London. The majority of continuing students who were enrolled on taught-degree programmes before the academic year 2007-08 had the choice of whether to receive a UCL degree or a University of London degree. These changes did not apply to students registered on the MBBS programme, or federal degrees, who continued to be awarded University of London degrees. Despite these DAP changes, UCL retains its strong links with the University of London.^[11]

In May 2008, UCL became the first UK university with a campus in Australia, establishing the UCL School of Energy & Resources, Australia (SERAus) in Adelaide.^[12]

Academic Reputation

According to new 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 (whilst Oxford is ranked 18th and Cambridge 20th). The analysis covers citations from 1 January 1998 to 30 April 2008, during which 46,166 UCL research papers attracted 803,566 citations. The number of citations generated by academic publications is an important indication of institutional importance and influence.The report covers citations in 21 subject areas. The results revealed some of UCL?s key strengths:

in Clinical Medicine ? 1st outside North America

in Neuroscience & Behaviour ? 1st outside North America and 2nd in the world

in Psychiatry/Psychology ? 2nd outside North America

in Immunology ? 2nd in Europe

in Pharmacology & Toxicology ? 1st outside North America and 4th in the world

in Social Sciences, General ? 1st outside North Americahttp://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0807/08071504.

Shanghai Jiao Tong's 2008 analysis of subject areas showed that UCL?s global ranking rose from 17th to 13th in Clinical Medicine & Pharmacy, with 2nd place in the UK. In Life & Agricultural Sciences, UCL rose from 24th to 19th globally, with 3rd place in the UK.^[29]

Alumni and academics

UCL alumni include both 'the Great and the Good', ranging from Mahatma Gandhi and Alexander Graham Bell, to Ricky Gervais and all four members of the band Coldplay. Important authors include 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, evolutionist John Maynard Smith and the aforementioned Bell. Politicians figure highly in the lists, notably the first and former prime ministers of Japan (Hirobumi Ito and Junichiro Koizumi respectively) and Chaim Herzog, the former President of Israel. Moreover, the founding father of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta was a UCL graduate. Prominent UCL law graduates include the former Chief Justices of England (Lord Woolf), Hong Kong (Sir Yang Ti-liang), India (Justice A.S. Anand) and Ghana (Samuel Azu Crabbe); as well as the Attorneys-General of England (Lord Goldsmith; Baroness Scotland), Singapore (Tan Boon Teik; Chao Hick Tin) and Gambia (Hassan Bubacar Jallow). Many leading journalists attended UCL including three former editors of The Economist, most notably Walter Bagehot, and two editors of The Times Literary Supplement. A number of entertainers feature too, including Justine Frischmann, Jack Peñate and Jonathan Ross.^[30] Key business people include Edwin Waterhouse (founding partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers). Christopher Nolan, director of "The Dark Knight" and other notable movies, is also an alumnus.

UCL has the highest number of academics of any university in the UK. Currently among UCL academics there are 35 fellows of the Royal Society, 27 Fellows of the British Academy, and 77 Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences. 20 Nobel prizes have been awarded to UCL academics and students (ten of which were in Physiology & Medicine) as well as three Fields Medals.^[31][32] All five of the naturally occurring noble gases were discovered at UCL by Sir William Ramsay, who was chair of chemistry.^[33]

John O?Keefe, PhD, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, is the 2008 recipient of the Gruber Foundation Prize for Neuroscience (http://www.gruberprizes.org).

UCL buildings, departments and collections

UCL operates in many separate buildings. Whilst most of the buildings are concentrated in the Bloomsbury area of Central London (near Euston station), others can be found as far away as Old Street. Some of the buildings have been acquired through mergers with other colleges, and others have been newly built. The newest include the Engineering Wing on Malet Place and the Andrew Huxley Building within the Gower Street Site.^[34]

UCL's newest buildings include the London Centre for Nanotechnology on Gordon Street and a new building for the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (formerly at Senate House) which was opened (by Princess Anne and the President of the Czech Republic, Václav Klaus) in October 2005 on Taviton Street.^[35] The Institute of Ophthalmology opened a new wing in 2005 funded by the Wellcome Trust.^[36]

UCL Library

The UCL library is divided across several sites within the UCL campus and across Bloomsbury.^[37] Access to each library is gained by the use of an electronic swipe card through electronic security barriers. The libraries are linked together by a networking catalogue and request system called 'eUCLid'.^[38] The largest collection of material is held in the 'Main Library' which is in the UCL Main Building. The 'Main library' contains UCL's collections relating to arts and humanities, history, economics, public policy and law.^[39] The Flaxman Gallery, a collection of sculptures and paintings by artist John Flaxman is located inside the 'main library' in the Octagon building under UCL's central dome.

The second largest library - the 'UCL Science library' occupies a building known as the 'DMS Watson building' on Malet Place. It contains UCL's books and journals related to Engineering, Mathematics, anthropology, geography and Science. It is adjacent to the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, access of which is currently made through the library. Other libraries within UCL include the 'Cruciform library' (medical science), the 'Environmental Studies library' (architecture and planning) and the School of Slavonic and East European Studies library on Taviton Street.^[40][41][42]

UCL's 'Special Collections' contain UCL's collection of historical or culturally significant works. It is one of the foremost university collections of manuscripts, archives and rare books in the UK.^[43] It includes collections of medieval manuscripts and early printed books, as well as significant holdings of 18th century works, and highly important 19th and 20th century collections of personal papers, archival material, and literature, covering a vast range of subject areas. Archives include the Latin American archives, the Jewish collections and the George Orwell Archive.^[44] Collections are often displayed in a series of glass cabinets in the Cloisters of the UCL Main Building.^[45]

The most significant works are housed in the 'Strong Rooms'. The special collection includes first editions of Newton's Principia, Charles Darwin's Origin of Species and James Joyce's Ulysses . The earliest book in the collection is 'The crafte to lyve well and to dye well', printed in 1505.^[46]

Since 2004, UCL Library Services has been collecting the scholarly work of its researchers to make it freely available over the web via an open access repository known as UCL Eprints.^[47] Material that is curated by UCL Eprints will still be accessible to researchers in 100 years time.^[48]

Notable buildings and departments

• The UCL Main Building, including the Octagon, Quad, Cloisters and the Wilkins building designed by Architect William Wilkins
• 1-19 Torrington Place
• Alexandra House (17 Queen Square) Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit
• The Bartlett centre for Architecture and planning
• Bedford Way Buildings, home to UCL Geography and Psychology, and the Institute of Education
• Bentham House (Endsleigh Street), home to the University College London Law Faculty
• Chadwick House
• Chandler House, home of the premier Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, including the venerable Linguistics department
• Christopher Ingold Building (Gordon Street), where the Chemistry department is based
• Cruciform Building ? a red-brick building notable for being built in a cross shape (Medicine)
• DMS Watson Science Library, named after D. M. S. Watson, a former professor of zoology
• Drayton House
• Engineering Building (Malet Place) renamed to Roberts building in 2005
• Foster Court (Languages)
• Institute of Archaeology (Gordon Square)
• Jill Dando Institute
• London Centre for Nanotechnology (Gordon Street)
• Malet Place Engineering Building (completed in 2005, primarily Computer Science and Medical Physics departments)
• Medawar (named after Peter Medawar)
• Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Holmbury St. Mary, Surrey, is home to the UK's largest space research group^[49]
• PAMELA
• Pearson Building (Quad), Geography
• Rockefeller Building (Science)
• SSEES, the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, which has recently moved in a new building on Taviton Street
• The Slade School of Art, home to UCL's art department since 1868
• University College Hospital (recently re-built)
• UCLU (Gordon Street)
• UCL Bloomsbury Theatre (Gordon Street)
• The Robin Building (Tavistock Square), home to the Department of Political Science, the newest department of the college and The Constitution Unit
• Wates House (Endsleigh Gardens)

Museums and other collections

UCL is responsible for several museums^[50] and collections in a wide range of fields across the arts and sciences:

• Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology: one of the leading collections of Egyptian and Sudanese archaeology in the world. Open to the public on a regular basis.^[51]
• Grant Museum of Zoology And Comparative Anatomy: a diverse Natural History collection covering the whole of the animal kingdom. Includes rare dodo and quagga skeletons. A teaching and research collection, it is named after Robert Edmund Grant, UCL's first professor of comparative anatomy and zoology from 1828, now mainly noted for having tutored the undergraduate Charles Robert Darwin at the University of Edinburgh in the 1826-1827 session. Open at limited fixed times and by appointment.^[52]
• Geology Collections: founded around 1855. Primarily a teaching resource and may be visited by appointment.^[53]
• Art Collections: these date from 1847 when a collection of sculpture models and drawings of the Neo-classical artist John Flaxman was presented to UCL. There are over 10,000 pieces dating from the 15th century onwards including drawings by Turner, etchings by Rembrandt, and works by many leading 20th century British artists. The works on paper are displayed in The Strang Print Room, which has limited regular opening times. The other works may be viewed by appointment.^[54]
• Institute of Archaeology Collections: Items include prehistoric ceramics and stone artefacts from many parts of the world, the Petrie collection of Palestinian artefacts, and Classical Greek and Roman ceramics. Visits by appointment only.^[55]
• Ethnography Collections: This collection exemplifying Material Culture, holds an enormous variety of objects, textiles and artefacts from all over the world. Visits by appointment only.^[56]
• Galton Collection: The scientific instruments, papers and personal memorabilia of Sir Francis Galton. Housed in the department of biology. Visits by appointment only.^[57]
• Science Collections: Diverse collections primarily accumulated in the course of UCL's own work, including the operating table on which the first anaesthetic was administered. Items may be a viewed by appointment.^[58]

UCL is developing a new facility called The Institute for Cultural Heritage, which will allow public access to its collections to be greatly improved. UCL Library's Special Collections, will also move into the new building. The Institute for Cultural Heritage will feature permanent galleries for the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, galleries devoted to the Art and Library Special Collections, a gallery for temporary exhibitions from the other collections, lecture theatres and study rooms. Planning permission was granted in 2004, building work began in 2007 and it is scheduled to open in 2009.^[59]

Medicine and UCL Hospital

The Royal Free and University College Medical School offers degrees in medicine which take six years to complete.^[60] UCL has offered courses in medicine since 1825 but the current medical school is a merger of two other schools, that took place in 1998 .^[61]

Whittington Hospital and Royal Free Hospital

Clinical medicine is primarily taught at three hospitals in London; University College Hospital, The Royal Free Hospital and The Whittington Hospital. University College Hospital is one of central London's largest NHS hospitals and is part financed by the university.^[62] UCL's hospital facilities are located around Bloomsbury but the main hospital facility, including accident and emergency, is located on Euston Road. In 2004 work began to rebuild the main hospital, most of the work is now finished with the final extension due for completion by 2008.^[63] UCL also operates its own medical research company called UCL Biomedica.^[64]

Student Accommodation

Many UCL students are accommodated in the college's own halls of residence or other accommodation, such as those below:

• Arthur Tattersall House (115-131 Gower Street)
• Astor College (99 Charlotte St)
• Campbell House East and West (Taviton Street)
• Ifor Evans & Max Rayne Student Residences (109 Camden Road)
• Frances Gardner House and Langton Close (Gray's Inn Road)
• John Tovell House (89 & 93-7 Gower Street)
• John Dodgson House (Bidborough Street)
• Ramsay Hall Student Residence (Maple Street)
• Schafer House Student Residence (Drummond Street)
• James Lighthill House (Pentonville Road)
• Goldsmid House will reopen in brand new buildings for the 2008-2009 session, relocated from Oxford Street to Westminster. (The building is named after Sir F.H. Goldsmid, a treasurer of the University in the 19th century.)

Most students in college or university accommodation are first-year undergraduates. The majority of second and third-year students and postgraduates find their own accommodation in the private sector. There is also limited UCL accommodation available for married students and those with children at Bernard Johnson House, Hawkridge, Neil Sharp House and the University of London's Lilian Penson Hall.^[65]

Intercollegiate Halls of Residence

UCL students are also eligible to apply for places in the University of London intercollegiate halls of residence^[66]. The halls are:

• Canterbury Hall, Commonwealth Hall, College Hall, Connaught Hall, Hughes Parry Hall and International Hall near Russell Square in Bloomsbury
• Lillian Penson Hall (postgraduates only) in Paddington
• Nutford House in Marble Arch

University College London Union

The University College London Union main building on Gordon Street, Bloomsbury

King's College London rivalry

Main Article Student Rags

UCL has a long-running, mostly friendly rivalry with King's College London. UCL is often referred to by students from the latter using nicknames such as the "Godless Scum of Gower Street", in reference to a comment made at the founding of KCL, which was based on Christian principles. UCL students and staff also refer to King's as "Strand Polytechnic" in a similar attitude. Historically the university rivalry was known as 'Rags'.^[68]

KCL's mascot, "Reggie", was lost for many years in the 1990s. It was recovered after being found dumped in a field, restored at the cost of around £15,000 and placed on display in the students' union.^[69] It is in a glass case and filled with concrete to prevent theft, particularly by UCL students who once castrated it. (KCL, to be fair, had also stolen one UCL mascot, Phineas).^[70] It is often claimed that KCL students played football with the embalmed head of Jeremy Bentham. Although the head was indeed stolen, the football story is a myth which is denied by official UCL documentation about Bentham found next to his display case (his Auto Icon) in the college cloisters. The head is now kept in the college vaults.^[71]

Ethical investment policy

UCL's ethical investment policies exclude direct investment in tobacco companies. The policies do not exclude investment in arms companies. In 2006 Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) revealed that UCL was the largest known university investor in arms companies in the UK. UCL currently invests £1,591,627 in the companies Cobham plc and the Smiths Group (both of which manufacture components for military aircraft and other weapons systems). This sum amounts to 1.7% of UCL's total investment assets.^[72]

Filming at UCL

Due to its position within London and the historical nature of the UCL Main Building and quad, UCL has been used as a location for film and television recording.

Gallery

<gallery> Image:UCL-94335430-M.jpg|Ramsay Hall of Residence, Maple Street, London Image:UCL-94339958-M.jpg|The College Cloisters inside the UCL Main Building Image:UCL-94339714-M.jpg|The UCL Quad, part of the main campus, in front of the UCL Main Building Image:UCL-94340542-M.jpg|The Jeremy Bentham common room inside the UCL Main Building Image:UCL Portico Building.jpg|The UCL Main Building is the centre of the UCL campus Image:UCL Portico Building2.jpg|The UCL Main Building at night Image:UCL Portico Building3.jpg|The UCL Main Building in snow Image:UCL Bedford Way.jpg|UCL Bedford Way - The building houses the psychology department and some of the geography department. It adjoins the Institute of Education Image:UCL Frances Gardner House.jpg|An example of student accommodation - UCL's Newest Hall of Residence ? Frances Gardner House in Clerkenwell Image:UCL Flaxman Gallery and sculpture.jpg|The Flaxman Gallery, a collection of sculptures and paintings by artist John Flaxman is located inside the 'main library' in the Octagon building under UCL's central dome Image:UCL Flaxman Gallery and Jeremy Bentham.jpg|Jeremy Bentham overseeing the construction of UCL in the Flaxman gallery inside the 'main library' Image:UCL Gower Street.jpg|UCL Entrance on Gower Street and the Cruciform Building opposite Image:UCL Institute of Archaeology.jpg|UCL Institute of Archaeology, on Gordon Square Image:UCL School of Slavonic Studies.jpg|UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, on Taviton street Image:University College Hospital - New Building - London - 020504.jpg|The new building and tower of University College Hospital, seen from Euston Road Image:UCL Schafer House.jpg|Schafer House a hall of residence of University College London. It accommodates 369 students. It was opened in 1995. </gallery>

References

External links

• UCL Online
• The History of UCL (YouTube.com) N.B. two short films designed to precede a UCL graduation ceremony - a few years old now, but nonetheless a good overview and insight.
• IT at UCL
• UCL Language Sciences
• UCL Eprints

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