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Key statistics

See below for a repository of key facts and statistics about UCL.

For UCL staff

The slides above are available to UCL staff in a Powerpoint format from the UCL Brand website. Go direct to Presentation resources (UCL login required). 

UCL key facts and stats

Disruptive thinking has been the status quo since 1826. 

  • 1st in England to welcome students of any religion or social background.
  • 1st in England to welcome women to university education.
  • 1st in England to teach English, German, Chemistry, Engineering.
  • A brave and progressive approach that has continued to this day.
  • 1st in England to have a fully open access university press.

We are amongst the best in the world

  • University of the Year 2024 (The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024)
  • 9th in the world (QS World University Rankings 2024)
  • 4th in Europe
  • 4th in the UK

Academic excellence is where we excel.

  • 30 Nobel laureates
  • 11 academic faculties
  • 51,000 students (in 2023)
  • 16,000 staff (in 2023)
  • 2nd in UK for research power (REF 2021)
  • 430 undergraduate programmes
  • 150+ nationalities represented by student body
  • 720 postgraduate programmes

We lead the field across a wide range of faculties.

  • Arts & Humanities
  • Brain Sciences
  • Built Environment
  • Engineering Sciences
  • IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society
  • Laws
  • Life Sciences
  • Mathematical & Physical Sciences
  • Medical Sciences
  • Population Health Sciences
  • Social & Historical Sciences

We work together across disciplines to solve the world's biggest problems. 

  • An interdisciplinary approach.
  • A wide span of subject areas gives fresh perspective.
  • Develop sophisticated multi-faceted solutions to the world's most complex challenges - Global Health, Sustainable Cities, Human Wellbeing, Cultural Understanding, Transformational Technology, Justice and Equality. 

Our community sits at the heart of one of the world's most dynamic cities.

  • In the heart of London’s Bloomsbury district – traditionally a place for rebels and innovators - and now also present in east London with the new UCL East campus.
  • At the heart of the Knowledge Quarter, a consortium of over 90 academic, cultural, research, scientific and media organisations.
  • Close to a wealth of academic resources – museums and libraries, academic and professional bodies, theatres, hospitals and medical institutes.
  • Close collaboration and partnerships with leading organizations and iconic institutes – such as the British Library, British Museum, RIBA, Zoological Society of London, Institute of Physics, the BBC, the Wellcome Trust, etc.
  • Also perfectly placed to foster enterprise and business partnerships (including through UCL Innovation & Enterprise)

A network connected across the globe.

  • 350,000 alumni in 190 countries
  • 55% international students
  • 34% international staff
  • Partnerships with institutions worldwide

We are continually making an impact on the world we live in.

Some of our top projects and discoveries include the following:

  • Supported by the Princess of Wales we are working to discover how early life experiences shape the human brain.
  • UCL students have won the Hult prize with a business idea aiming to alleviate food poverty in South-East Asia.
  • UCL researchers have found first evidence of a supermassive black hole using the Event Horizon telescope.
  • UCL spinout Freeline Therapeutics is taking ground-breaking gene research from UCL, with the aim of developing it into a potentially life-changing treatment for people with Haemophilia B.

We are creating campuses equipped for the future.

  • £1.25 billion invested in transforming UCL facilities.
  • Brand new campus UCL East is home to new degree programmes, research, innovation, and technologies.
  • The new Student Centre opened its doors in 2019 – an essential space to think, explore, collaborate, discover and challenge. 
  • We teach our students how to think, not what to think.
  • We are investing £281.6 million into a new purpose-built biomedical facility which will house over 500 scientists from across UCL's neuroscience community.

We are ensuring financial stability and enjoying competitive dramatic growth.

  • Total income of £1.75bn (2021-22)
  • Three main sources of income: research funding, tuition fees, and government & other funding.
  • Dramatic growth in all 3 income areas (listed above) - + 102% in 10 years (from 2012 to 2022)

UCL. Where ambitious innovators, visionary trendsetters and disruptive thinkers call home.