University College London

University College London is a public research university in the Bloomsbury district of central London. It was founded in 1826 as London University, the first university in England to admit students regardless of religion, and in 1878 it became one of the first to admit women on equal terms with men. It is a founding member of the University of London. Over time it has absorbed specialist institutions, including the School of Pharmacy in 2012 and the Institute of Education in 2014. In 2022 it opened a second campus, UCL East, in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

UCL is organized into 11 faculties covering the arts and humanities, social and historical sciences, law, engineering, mathematical and physical sciences, life sciences, medical sciences, population health, brain sciences, education and the built environment. The Bartlett, its faculty of the built environment, is widely known for architecture and planning. The Institute of Education and the Queen Square Institute of Neurology are major centers in their fields. Clinical research runs through partner hospitals, among them University College London Hospitals, Great Ormond Street and Moorfields. UCL is also a founding partner of the Francis Crick Institute.

UCL enrolls about 50,000 students, and roughly half are postgraduates. More than half of all students come from outside the UK, from over 150 countries. About 30 Nobel laureates have studied or worked at UCL. Its alumni include Mahatma Gandhi, the DNA researcher Francis Crick and the filmmaker Christopher Nolan.

Most graduate students at UCL take one-year taught MSc and MA degrees. It also offers the research-training MRes and the PhD, often through UKRI-funded doctoral training partnerships and centers. The academic year has three terms. Doctoral funding comes mainly from research councils, departmental studentships and external scholarships. The Bloomsbury campus sits within walking distance of the British Library, the British Museum and many other London research institutions.

In the Grad School Navigator directory, University College London lists 676 graduate programs across 51 subjects: 551 master's programs and 120 doctoral programs, with the widest choice in health & medical sciences, biology and education. University College London holds rank 37 in the GSN Overall University Ranking.