The Sunday Times University Guide - UCL

Mergers with a number of medical and other academic schools have created a multidisciplinary college that rivals Oxford and Cambridge for breadth, exclusivity and cutting-edge teaching and research.

It was the first university to admit women on equal terms, the first to admit students regardless of race, class or religion, and is the oldest English university outside of Oxbridge.

Still innovating after nearly 180 years, the creation of interdisciplinary institutes, including from this month the International Institute for Society & Health, will group research at UCL into areas relevant to contemporary human problems to tackle issues facing the West and developing countries alike. The most recent ratings in 2001 identified world-class research in no less than 40 areas with medical, engineering, language and social science subjects to the fore.

Social, cultural and recreation opportunities away from the university are unmatched in Britain, but UCL provides an all-round university experience. There is plentiful accommodation (for about 4,000), a West End theatre (the [UCL] Bloomsbury), and all the social and sporting facilities of both UCL and the University of London close to hand.

'THES', October 2005