The College houses the largest department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies in Europe, Link to the Jewish Historical Society of England and acts as host to both the Jewish Historical Society of England (JHSE) and the Institute of Jewish Studies (IJS), which organises annual public lecture series and international conferences on all aspects of Jewish civilisation as well as sponsoring research activities in this field. The Jewish Chronicle, the oldest English-language Jewish newspaper in the world, marked its 150th anniversary by endowing a new Chair in Jewish Studies at UCL.

The department is the only one in the UK to offer a full degree course and research supervision in Jewish Studies at the BA Honours, MA, MPhil and PhD levels in every subject of Hebrew and Jewish Studies - philology, history, and literature - covering virtually the entire chronological and geographical span of the Hebrew and Jewish civilisation from antiquity through the Middle Ages to the modern period.

The department of Hebrew & Jewish Studies is linked by special agreement to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, whose academic staff visit and teach in the department on a regular basis, and where all undergraduate students spend their third year.