UCL joins League of European Research Universities

UCL is today announced as one of four new members of the League of European Research Universities (LERU), a network of research-intensive universities with common viewpoints on higher education and research policy.

Membership of LERU, which is by invitation, is periodically evaluated against a broad set of quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as research volume, impact and funding, strengths in PhD training, size and disciplinary breadth, and peer-recognised academic excellence.

The addition of new members will allow LERU to widen its impact on the research policy agenda in Europe. David Livesey, LERU's Secretary-General, said: "We have always been inclusive in our advocacy, but the authority of our messages will benefit from having a larger membership base."

Professor Malcolm Grant, President and Provost of UCL, said: "European research universities have common values and common cause, and we welcome this opportunity to become part of so outstanding a network of research institutions. I think that groupings such as this are particularly important at a time when the EU is thinking seriously about the function of research-intensive universities, about the European Research Commission and a possible European Institute of Technology. It also reflects UCL's global vision and our extensive collaborative engagement with continental universities through research and student exchanges, including the recently announced programme in neurosciences with three Parisian institutions."

Notes for Editors

1. LERU is expanding its current membership to include UCL, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Lunds Universitet, Université Paris-Sud 11, Universiteit Utrecht and Universität Zürich. The founding members of the League are University of Cambridge, University of Edinburgh, Université de Genève, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Helsinki yliopisto, Universiteit Leiden, K.U. Leuven, Università degli Studi di Milano, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, University of Oxford, Karolinska Institutet Stockholm and Université Louis Pasteur Strasbourg.

2. For more information on LERU visit www.leru.org.