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University of London

University of London
Established 1836
Chancellor HRH The Princess Royal
Vice-Chancellor Sir Graeme Davies
Location London, United Kingdom
Students 115,000 total
Homepage http://www.lon.ac.uk/
Senate House, designed by home to the university's central administration offices and its library
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Senate House, designed by Charles Holden home to the university's central administration offices and its library

The University of London, founded in 1836, is a federation of colleges which together constitute one of the world's largest universities. Somewhere between 10 and 20 percent of all UK students attend one of its colleges, which include some of the most prestigious places of study in the world. 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 University of London diplomas and degrees. The Main offices of the University of London are at Senate House, which includes a priceless library and the residence of the Chancellor.

The university at first comprised just two colleges, University College London (UCL) and King's College London (KCL), but now has over 15, many of which are major institutions in their own right. Besides UCL and King's, the most famous are Imperial College, the London School of Economics (LSE), Queen Mary (QMUL), Royal Holloway (RHUL), Goldsmiths College, and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Other colleges also award degrees from the University of London, including the University of Southampton until 1952 when it was awarded its own Royal Charter.

The university is a federal body made up of a number of highly autonomous colleges and institutes, widely scattered across greater London. For most practical purposes, its constituent colleges are usually treated as individual universities. Under English law, some of these are Recognised Bodies with the authority to grant their own degrees (which means that they enjoy the same status as other institutions with their own degree-awarding power), while others are Listed Bodies that offer courses leading to degrees from the University of London (which means that they have the same status as the constitutent institutions of the University of Wales and the colleges of Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham).

Contents

Colleges and institutions

The colleges and institutes of the University are, as of October 2003:

Recognised bodies

Colleges no longer in existence

Some colleges of the University of London have been amalgamated into larger colleges or their work transferred elsewhere. These include

  • Chelsea College of Science and Technology - Hortensia Road, Chelsea
  • Queen Elizabeth College - Campden Hill Road, Kensington

Listed bodies

Notable alumni and attendees

(NB Many other alumni are listed in the entries for the separate colleges.)

Notable persons who graduated from or otherwise attended the University include:

Heads of State/Heads of Government

  • Harmodio Arias (1886-1962) - President of Panama,1932-1936
  • Oscar Arias (b. 1941) - President of Costa Rica and Nobel Prize Winner
  • Pedro Gerardo Beltran Espanto (1897-1979) - Prime Minister of Peru, 1959-1961
  • Errol Walton Barrow (1920-1987) - Prime Minister of Barbados, 1962-1966, 1966-1976, 1986-1987
  • Marek Belka (b. 1952) - Prime Minister of Poland, 2004-present
  • Heinrich Brüning (1885-1970) - Chancellor of Germany, 1930-1932
  • Kim Campbell (b. 1947) - Prime Minister of Canada, June-November 1993
  • Eugenia Charles (b. 1919) - Prime Minister of Dominica, 1980-1995
  • John Compton (b. 1926) - Premier of Saint Lucia, 1964-1979, and Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, February-July 1979 & 1982-1996
  • Sher Bahadur Deuba (b. 1943) - Prime Minister of Nepal, 1995-1997, 2001-2002, 2004-present
  • Tuanku Jaafar (b. 1922) - Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King) of Malaysia, 1994-1999
  • John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) - President of the U.S.A. 1961-1963
  • Jomo Kenyatta (1891-1978) - First President of Kenya, 1964-1978
  • Mwai Kibaki (b. 1931) - President of Kenya, 2002-present
  • Thanin Kraivichien (b. 1927) - Prime Minister of Thailand, 1976-1977
  • Yu Kuo-Hwa (1914-2000) - Premier of Taiwan, 1984-1989
  • Hilla Limann (1934-1998) - President of Ghana, 1979-1981
  • Pumarejo Alfonso Lopez - President of Colombia, 1934-1938, 1942-1945
  • Michael Manley (1924-1997) - Prime Minister of Jamaica, 1972-1980, 1989-1992
  • Kamisese Mara (1920-2004) - Prime Minister of Fiji 1970-1992, President of Fiji 1994-2000
  • Margrethe II of Denmark (b. 1940) - Queen of Denmark, 1972-present
  • Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972) - First President of Ghana, 1960-1966
  • Percival Patterson (b. 1935) - Prime Minister of Jamaica, 1992-present
  • Romano Prodi (b. 1939) - Prime Minister of Italy, 1996-1998 and President of the European Commission, 1999-present
  • Navinchandra Ramgoolam (b. 1947) - Prime Minister of Mauritius, 1995-2000
  • Veerasainy Ringadoo (1920-2000) - First President of Mauritius, March-June 1992
  • Moshe Sharett (1894-1965) - Prime Minister of Israel, 1953-1955
  • Constantine Simitis (b. 1936) - Prime Minister of Greece, 1996-2004
  • Anote Tong (b. 1952) - President of Kiribati, 2003-present
  • Pierre Trudeau (1919-2000) - Prime Minister of Canada, 1968-1979, 1980-1984

Other prominent alumni

Some statistics

  • Student population: 115,000
  • External Programme: 32,000 additional

External links

Last updated: 06-01-2005 22:41:37
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