UCL Standard Information

Introduction

UCL is one of the UK's premier universities and is ranked in the world's top 10. It is a world-class research and teaching institution based in London whose staff and former students have included 20 Nobel Prize winners. Founded in 1826, it was the only university in England at that time which admitted students regardless of race or religion. UCL was also the first to admit women on equal terms with men. Today, UCL is an inspiring university in which to work and study and it continues to thrive on the diversity and creativity of its community.

UCL is in practice a university in its own right, although constitutionally a college within the federal University of London. With an annual turnover exceeding £ 700 million, it is financially and managerially independent of the University of London.

The UCL community

UCL currently employs approximately 8,000 staff and includes academic units as diverse as the Slade School of Fine Art, the Mullard Space Science Laboratory and the Institute of Child Health, which is associated with Great Ormond Street Hospital. In total, there are 54 Academic Departments and Institutes whose activities span the following: arts and humanities, social and historical sciences, law, architecture and the built environment, engineering sciences, mathematical and physical sciences, life and clinical sciences, and medicine. UCL's academic and research staff are a truly international community with more than a quarter coming from 84 countries outside the UK.

The UCL student community comprises 12,600 undergraduates and 8,500 graduate students, of whom over 30% come from 130 countries outside the UK. UCL currently offers 270 undergraduate programmes and more than 210 taught postgraduate programmes as well as the opportunity to carry out postgraduate research in all of its subjects. Approximately 40% of the student community is engaged in graduate studies, with about 37% of these graduate students pursuing research degrees.

Quality of UCL's teaching and research

Two measures of the current quality of UCL's teaching and research are the results of the external teaching quality assessment reviews and the periodic Research Assessment Exercise (RAE).

The results of the UK's latest research assessment exercise (RAE 2008) confirm the international excellence of UCL's research. The numbers of our researchers shown in RAE 2008 to be carrying out world-leading research place UCL among the top three universities in the UK. Of the 1800 researchers submitted by UCL for RAE 2008, 95% were deemed to have an international level of esteem. The range of UCL's research excellence was demonstrated by outstanding results in RAE 2008 in academic disciplines as diverse as biomedical sciences, architecture and the built environment, economics, law, philosophy and history

Another measure of UCL's research excellence has been its success in bidding for external competitive funds from the Joint Infrastructure Fund (JIF) and the Science Research Investment Fund (SRIF). With the addition of required matching funds, JIF and SRIF are allowing UCL to invest more than £ 350 million into state-of-the-art infrastructure for cutting-edge research and teaching programmes.

Equality

UCL is proud of its longstanding commitment to equality and to providing a learning, working and social environment in which the rights and dignity of its diverse members are respected. The Equalities website has everything you need to know about Equalities at UCL and some initiatives are highlighted below:

Sabbatical Leave following maternity - UCL provides one term of sabbatical leave without teaching commitments for research-active academics returning from maternity, adoption or long-term carer's leave. This support for returners enables staff to more quickly re-establish their research activity.
Achievement of five Athena SWAN awards - for good employment practice for women working in science, engineering and technology (SET) in higher education and research.
Tackling underrepresentation - UCL has two workforce equality targets. These targets are to increase the employment of black and minority ethnic (BME) support staff in grades 1-8 to 31% in line with the economically active BME population of Greater London; and to incrementally equalise the representation of men and women in senior grades (9 and 10) with the ultimate aim of a 50:50 split of women and men at this level.
Encouraging flexibility - 82% of respondents to the 2009 UCL staff survey felt that their working time could be flexible. UCL's Work Life Balance policy gives employees the right to request a flexible working pattern.

Location and working environment

Based in Bloomsbury, UCL is a welcoming, inclusive university situated at the heart of one of the world's greatest cities.

UCL's central campus is within easy reach of Euston, Kings Cross and Marylebone mainline stations, the new Eurostar terminal at St.Pancras and the following Underground stations - Euston Square, Warren Street, Goodge Street and Russell Square. Road connections to the M1 and M40 motorways give easy access to the north and west road networks. There are also good public transport links to Heathrow airport.