UCL (University College London)

Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
Switchboard: +44 (0)20 7679 2000
Website: www.ucl.ac.uk

Recent news

Ten years of Student Volunteering at UCL
UCL student film selected for festival
Provost's Awards for Public Engagement at UCL
Art by Animals comes to London
UCLU referenda result

About UCL

UCL (University College London) (Photo by Steve Cadman) Based in the heart of London, UCL (University College London) is London's leading multidisciplinary university, with 8,000 staff and 22,000 students.

Over 140 nationalities are represented among UCL students with overseas students making up nearly a third of the student body. Our research, too, reaches the farthest corners of the globe; from the conservation of antiquities in Iraq to the transformation of engineering research in Kazakhstan.

UCL was founded in 1826 as a radically different university, opening up English higher education for the first time to people of all beliefs and social backgrounds. This same radical spirit thrives today.

We are now ranked fourth in the world by the Times Higher Education -QS World University Rankings. No fewer than 21 Nobel prizewinners have come from the UCL community.

Our excellence extends across all academic disciplines; from one of Europe's largest and most productive centres for biomedical science interacting with eleven leading London hospitals, to world-renowned centres for architecture (UCL Bartlett) and fine art ( UCL Slade School).

Rankings

  • THE 2009: 4
  • THE 2008: 7
  • THE 2007: 9
  • SJT 2009: 21
  • SJT 2008: 22
  • SJT 2007: 25

Landmark buildings

UCL’s largest campus is in the heart of Bloomsbury, central London. The campus comprises state-of-the-art new buildings, dedicated to nanotechnology and biomedicine, alongside grand 19th century designs.

UCL’s neo-Grecian central Portico is its most famous landmark, and is generally recognised as the greatest work of William Wilkins. The main entrance to the Wilkins Building is at the top of a wide staircase under the ten column Corinthian Portico, topped by the elegant Dome.

International partnerships

UCL conducts relevant research in collaboration with world-leading organisations and has partnerships on every continent.

Some notable partnerships include:

  • UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory has contributed to over 250 space projects with NASA, the European Space Agency and the Chinese space agency
  • In October 2009, UCL and Yale University formed an alliance to improve global health through scientific research, clinical and educational collaboration

Early 2010, UCL will open UCL School of Energy and Resources, Australia (SERAus). UCL SERAus, the university’s first overseas campus, is the outcome of a partnership agreement between UCL, the Government of South Australia, and Santos Limited, one of Australia’s largest energy companies.

Famous academics

Professor Uta Frith, UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Professor Steve Jones, UCL Biology

Professor Sir Michael Marmot, UCL Epidemiology and Public Health

Professor Salvador Moncada, The Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research

Professor John Mullan, UCL English

Professor Chris Rapley, UCL Space and Climate Physics

Professor Sir John Tooke, UCL Vice Provost (Health)

Professor Jo Woolf, UCL Philosophy

Notable research areas

UCL does not focus on one area of specialism but excels across the disciplines, from fine art to clinical medicine.

Medicine, architecture, laws, economics, computer science and philosophy are among the academic disciplines at UCL to have achieved outstanding results in the UK Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008.

The Thomson Scientific Citation Index – which catalogues journal articles and citations in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities – shows that UCL is the UK university most-cited by health researchers.

UCL works across disciplines to enable ideas from one subject area to be seeded into another, resulting in fruitful new ideas. For example, UCL has teamed up with leading medical journal The Lancet to create a joint commission to review the likely impacts of climate change on human societies. Its membership spans prominent academics and students in disciplines such as law, medicine, anthropology and economics. They have produced recommendations which will allow the health effects of climate change to be monitored, mitigated and managed effectively.

Most significant research breakthrough in the last 12 months

Genetic screening for breast cancer. The first baby in Britain to be screened for a particular breast cancer gene while still an embryo was born in January 2009.

Scientists and doctors at the Assisted Conception Unit and the PGD group at the UCL Institute for Women’s Health have pioneered and successfully applied the technology for avoiding transmission of cancer predispositions in a whole host of cancers.

Mission

We are

  • a world-class centre of research and teaching, dedicated to developing and disseminating original knowledge to benefit the world of the future.

We believe

  • in engaging fully with the world around us;
  • in breaking new ground through challenging convention;
  • in progress through partnership.

We value

  • creativity and innovation;
  • independent thought;
  • integrity;
  • energy;
  • perseverance.

We commit

  • to unswerving pursuit of excellence;
  • to maintaining rich academic diversity embracing the Arts and Sciences;
  • to equality of opportunity and fulfilment of potential for all our staff and students.

We strive always

  • to lead
  • to inspire
  • to achieve.

Vision

To develop further as a distinctly global university, internationally recognised as such, attracting to our central London location the highest quality students and staff from around the world, and contributing from our research to the resolution of problems of global significance.

Student profile

  • Home country numbers: 13,981
  • Own continent numbers: 2,830
  • International (out of continent) numbers: 4,315