About UCL

Founded in 1826 in the heart of London, UCL is London’s leading multidisciplinary university, with more than 18,000 staff and 51,000 students from over 150 different countries.

We are a diverse community with the freedom and courage to challenge, to question, and to think differently.

Through a progressive approach to teaching and research, our world-leading academics, curious students and outstanding staff continually pursue excellence, break boundaries, and make an impact on real-world problems. 

Who we are

Find out about UCL, our values and beliefs, our history and key facts and figures.

Since 1826, we have challenged orthodoxy and applied ourselves to making the world better, seeking to serve society through the generation and application of ‘useful’ knowledge, with a particular focus on leading interdisciplinary discussion and debate. 

UCL is now one of the world’s top universities, with broad disciplinary excellence in research, innovation, education and impact. We operate on a large scale and nevertheless deliver exceptional academic performance: an achievement that has few parallels internationally. 

We are also a significant contributor to London and to the UK, generating close to £10bn of economic impact each year. 

In all this, we strive to exemplify the strong entrepreneurial spirit and desire for equity and justice that inspired our founding. 

(Extracted from Foreword by Dr Michael Spence, President & Provost, UCL Strategic Plan 2022-27)