London, University of

London, University of,

at London, England; founded 1836 as an examining and degree-giving body. Teaching functions were not added until 1898. It comprised at first University College (or UCL, which had been founded in 1826 as the Univ. of London, a nonsectarian school) and King's College (founded 1829 by adherents of the Church of England). It is now a large aggregation of affiliated schools, colleges, institutes, and hospitals. Besides UCL and King's College London, its schools and colleges include the Royal Veterinary College (1791), Royal Academy of Music (1822), Birkbeck (1823), the UCL School of Pharmacy (1842), Royal Holloway (1985; merging Bedford [1849] and Royal Holloway [1883] colleges for women), Queen Mary (1989; merging Queen Mary [1887] and Westfield [1882] colleges for women), London School of Economics and Political Science (1895), Goldsmiths (1904), and the School of Oriental and African Studies (or SOAS, 1916); it also has theological, medical, and business schools. Among its famous institutes are the Warburg Institute, the Courtauld Institute of Art, and the Institute of Historical Research. Imperial College London (1907) became independent in 2007.

London, University of

 

one of the largest universities and research centers in Great Britain, founded in 1836 by proclamation of King William IV as an institution granting academic degrees to students of certain British universities who had passed the necessary examinations. In 1898 it was reconstituted as a higher educational institution. By a special act of Parliament, University College (founded in 1826) was incorporated into the university in 1907, and King’s College (founded in 1829) became part of the university in 1910. Each college had five faculties: the humanities with a division of fine arts, law, technology, medicine, and the natural sciences.

The university is regulated by a charter, adopted in 1926. In 1972 the university had faculties of the natural sciences, humanities, technical sciences, economics, law, theology, medicine, pedagogy, and music. Its research institutes in various spheres of social and natural sciences include institutes for the study of Latin America and the United States and institutes of computer science, Germanic studies, history, archaeology, and education (the main methodological and research center). In addition there are more than 30 schools and colleges, including the Imperial College of Science and Technology, the London School of Economics and Political Science, the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, and the School of Oriental and African Studies. In 1947 the British Medical Federation (essentially, a graduate school) comprising 16 scientific institutions, including institutes of oncology, cardiology, neurology, psychiatry, and pediatrics, was organized at the university.

The university library contains approximately 1 million volumes; the schools and colleges also have separate libraries. In the 1971-72 academic year the university had an enrollment of 73,600 students, of whom over 35,000 were taking correspondence courses and external examinations. The faculty consisted of over 1,400 instructors, including 900 professors. The university publishes scientific and scientific-methodological literature.