The University of London (informally referred to as London or UOL) is a collegiate and a research university located in London, England. It is the oldest and largest university in the United Kingdom with over 180,000 students from more than 100 countries enrolled at its 19 constituent colleges, 10 research institutes and 9 professional schools. The first college of the university was established in 1836 by Royal Charter. It now comprises four internationally renowned institutions: King’s College London; Queen Mary University of London; Imperial College London; and UCL (University College London), making it one of the largest universities by number of staff and students in Europe.
In addition to these four institutions, there are another nine research institutes affiliated with the University of London, including: Birkbeck, SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies), Goldsmiths, RVC (Royal Veterinary College), LSE (London School of Economics), LSHTM (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine) , Royal Holloway, St George’s Hospital Medical School and Senate House Library. The university has two satellite campuses outside UK – one in Malta and another in Greece.
The University Of London was ranked 4th best university in Europe by Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings 2013. In national league tables it is consistently placed within the top 10 universities in the UK. In 2015/16 QS World University Rankings ranked it as 7th globally for employability while THE rankings placed it at 18th worldwide for graduate employability . In terms
of academic performance indicators such as Research Excellence Framework(REF) results 2014/15 ,it had an average grade point score(GPA)of 3.38 out 5 possible points which places it 9th among all multi-faculty universities in UK . When individual subject areas are considered ,it ranks highly for arts & humanities(3rd ),social sciences(4th )and law & legal studies(6th ). There are currently around 35 Nobel laureates associated with UOL either through having been educated here or carrying out research here while others have been awarded honorary degrees . Notable alumni include Alexander Graham Bell , Francis Crick , Mahatma Gandhi , Karl Marx , T S Eliot among many others .