University College London |
The Front Quad
University College London, commonly known as UCL, is one of the colleges that make up the University of
London. It is a member of the Russell
Group of Universities and the third oldest higher education institution in
England.
The main part of the college is located in Bloomsbury,
central London, on Gower Street. The nearest stations on the London Underground are Euston, Euston Square, and
Warren Street.
The philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748 - 1832) is often credited with founding the college, but this is not true.
However, his remains are still kept within the college in accordance with his wishes: a large glass-fronted box displays his
clothed skeleton, topped with a wax model of
his head. A college rumour states that the box
containing his remains is wheeled into senior college meetings, and that he is then listed in minutes as 'present but not
voting'.
History
The Jeremy Bentham auto-icon
UCL was founded in 1826 under the name "University of London" as an alternative to the
strictly religious universities of Oxford and Cambridge. However it was not until 1836, when the University of London was
established, that the college was legally recognised and granted the power to award degrees of the University of London. Its legal status as a university-level institution thus postdates that of Durham (founded 1832); however because it was actually founded
in 1826 it is sometimes claimed to be the third oldest university in England, after Oxford and Cambridge. UCL is not actually a
university in its own right, but can claim to be the third oldest higher education institution. It has also been said that, since
the charter of King's College London (granted in
1829) predates that of UCL by five years, UCL should not even be regarded as the oldest
college in the University of London.
The college was the first UK higher education institution to accept students of any race or religious or political belief. It
was possibly the first to accept women on equal terms with men (the University of Bristol also makes this claim - as both were admitted students to University of London
degrees at the time, it is quite possible that this was a simultaneous action), the first in England to establish a student union (although men and women had separate unions until 1945), and the
first to have professorships in chemical engineering, chemistry, Egyptology, English,
French, geography,
German, Hebrew, Italian, papyrology, phonetics, psychology, and zoology.
In 1907 the University of London was reconstituted and many of the colleges, including
UCL, lost their separate legal existence. This continued until 1977 when a new charter
restored UCL's independence. In 1985 the main Gower Street building was finally finished -
158 years after the foundations were laid.
Even today UCL retains its strict secular position, and unlike most other UK universities has no Christian chaplaincy or Muslim prayer rooms. Due to this policy UCL has also been known as "the
godless institution of Gower Street".
The UCL Library is famous in its own right, its collection including a first edition of Newton's Principia.
In October 2002, a plan to merge UCL with Imperial College London was announced by the universities. The merger was seen as a de facto
takeover of UCL by Imperial College and was opposed by both staff and UCL Union, the students' union. One month later after a vigorous campaign the merger was
called off.
Famous Alumni
Notable Professors
External links
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