University College London or UCL is the oldest university in London and supposedly the third oldest university in Great Britain. It is one of the three Golden Triangle universities along with Oxford and Cambridge Universities.
History of University College London
Ironically, University College London has a similar history to many ancient universities, as it was founded in opposition to other institutions (just as Cambridge University was created in opposition to Oxford, Yale University by disgruntled Harvard graduates).
Two Scotsmen, the poet Thomas Campbell and the lawyer Henry Broom, inspired by the ideas of the utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham and his words that the only universities in existence at the time, Oxford and Cambridge, were “two public troubles… nurseries and nurseries of political decay”, decided to found a new university, originally named London University.
Since its founding, University College London has opened its doors to all students regardless of creed, nationality, or gender, distinguishing itself significantly from the two oldest English universities and becoming the first liberal, in keeping with the ideas of its “spiritual father” Bentham.
University College London was founded with a department of chemistry and several departments of foreign languages. Later departments of mathematics, geography, North London Hospital, engineering, psychology, phonetics, and the famous Slade School of Fine Arts opened.
In 1940, the University’s Main Hall and Library was severely damaged by a bomb hit. Fortunately, all students and professors were evacuated from the building as early as 1939.
Until the early 21st century. University College London was part of the University of London and only began to issue degrees in its own name in 2005. Since then the School of Pharmacy and the Faculty of Teaching have been opened.
Faculties of University College London
As of 2015, University College London offers 200 undergraduate programs, 398 master’s programs and 122 doctoral or master of philosophy (MPhil) research programs in 11 faculties, each comprising several schools:
- The Faculty of Arts and Humanities
- The Bartlett, Faculty of Built Environment
- Faculty of Brain Sciences
- Faculty of Engineering
- Faculty of Teaching and Education
- Faculty of Law
- Faculty of Natural Sciences
- Faculty of Physics and Mathematics
- Faculty of Health Sciences
- Department of Population Health Sciences
- Social and Historical Sciences
Why choose University College London?
UCL is a member of almost all major university networks in Europe – Russell Group, UNICA, G5, League of European Research Universities, Association of Commonwealth Universities and the famous Golden Triangle (Oxford-Cambridge-UCL).
University College London has the best student/teacher ratio in the UK (number of students relative to professors) of 10:1. This allows the creation of small classes, where progress is much higher than in large ones.
The main campus of the University is located in the heart of London (Bloomsbury district). UCL has 17 major libraries (total volume of approximately 1.5 million volumes), 7 museums, 21 student residences and 50 sports clubs across London.
