University College London

UCL redirects here, for other uses please see UCL (disambiguation)

University College London, commonly known as UCL, is a college of the University of London. With 21,800 staff and students, UCL is one of the largest colleges of the university and is larger than most other universities in the United Kingdom. It is a member of the Russell Group of Universities, and a part of the Golden Triangle along with Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, Imperial, and King's College London ^[2] (the three points consisting of Oxford, Cambridge and London (UCL/LSE/IC/KCL)). UCL consistently ranks among the top five university institutions in the UK league tables and in the top thirty universities across the world. It has an annual turnover of more than £550m, and accounts for more than 40% of the Russell Group's research funding.^[3] In 2005 UCL was granted the power to award its own degrees, although it continues to award degrees of the University of London. ^[4]

Geography and Location

University College London is located in Bloomsbury, central London. The main campus is located on Gower Street^[5], although there are also other UCL buildings to be found throughout London. The Gower Street campus includes the UCL science and main libraries, the language departments, the history departments, the Bloomsbury theatre, the biology and physics departments, and the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology. A further set of buildings based around neighbouring Gordon Street and Gordon Square includes the Institute of Archaeology, the chemistry department and the School of Slavonic and East European Studies.

The area around UCL is occupied by a constellation of other renowned institutions, including the British Museum, the British Library, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, the British Medical Association, and other University of London schools and institutes, including SOAS, Birkbeck College, the Institute of Education and the School of Advanced Study.

The nearest London Underground station to the main campus is Euston Square. Other nearby stations are Warren Street, Russell Square and Goodge Street, as well as Euston railway station.

History

UCL was founded in 1826 under the name "University of London", as a secular alternative to the religious universities of Oxford and Cambridge. ^[6] It became University College London in 1836 and acquired degree-awarding powers, when it joined with King's College London to create the new University of London. In 1907 the University of London was reconstituted and many of the colleges, including UCL, lost their separate legal existence. This continued until 1977 when a new charter restored UCL's independence.

Main article: University College London History

Rankings

National

• The Times — 5th [2]
• Sunday Times — 5th [3]
• The Guardian — 4th [4]

International

• The Times Higher Education Supplement — 25th overall, 7th in Europe [5]
• Shanghai Jiao Tong World University Ranking — 26th overall, 4th in Europe overall (17th in the world for Medicine and 24th Life Sciences) [6]

Famous alumni

UCL alumni include legions of the "Great and Good", ranging from Mahatma Gandhi and Alexander Graham Bell to all four members of the band Coldplay. A history bent towards the arts has tended to mean a higher output of authors, including Robert Browning, Raymond Briggs and Trevor Lock, than scientists and engineers, although it still has its fair share, such as Francis Crick, John Ambrose Fleming, Colin Chapman, and the aforementioned Bell. Politicians figure highly in the lists, notably the first prime minister of Japan, Hirobumi Ito, and the founding father of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta. Many leading journalists attended the University including three former editors of The Economist, most notably Walter Bagehot. A number of entertainers feature too, including Ricky Gervais and Jonathan Ross.

UCL has the highest number of professors of any university in the UK. Currently among UCL academics there are 35 fellows of the Royal Society, 22 Fellows of the British Academy, and 77 Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences. 19 Nobel prizes have been awarded to UCL academics and students (including 10 in Physiology & medicine) and three Fields Medals. ^[7]

Main article: list of University College London people

UCL buildings

UCL operates in many separate buildings. Whilst most of the buildings are concentrated in the Bloomsbury area of Central London (near Euston station), others can be found as far away as Old Street. Some of the buildings have been acquired through mergers with other colleges, and others have been newly built. The newest include the Engineering Wing on Malet Place and the Andrew Huxley Building within the Gower Street Site. UCL's newest buildings include the London Centre for Nanotechnology on Gordon Street, aimed for completion in 2006 and a new building for the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (formerly at Senate House) which was opened (by Princess Anne and the President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus) in October 2005 on Taviton Street. The Institute of Ophthalmology opened a new wing in 2005 funded by the Wellcome Trust. The Institute of Cancer Sciences is currently undergoing construction at the site of the disused Nurses' Home on Huntley Street and is due for completion by early 2006. The UCL library is famous in its own right^{[citation needed]}, its collection including a first edition of Newton's Principia. The library is divided over several sites, the principles of which are the main library at Gower Street and the science library at Malet Place.

Notable buildings:

• The UCL Main Building, including the Octagon, Quad, Cloisters and the Wilkins building designed by Architect William Wilkins
• 1-19 Torrington Place
• Alexandra House (17 Queen Square) Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit
• Bedford Way Buildings
• Bentham House (Endsleigh Street)
• The UCL Bloomsbury Theatre
• Chadwick House
• The Cruciform Building — a red-brick building notable for being built in a cross shape (Medicine)
• Drayton House
• Engineering Building (Malet Place) renamed to Roberts building in 2005
• Foster Court (Languages)
• Christopher Ingold Building (Gordon Street), where the Chemistry department is based.
• Institute of Archaeology (Gordon Square)
• London Centre for Nanotechnology (Gordon Street)
• Medawar (named after Peter Medawar)
• Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Holmbury St. Mary, Surrey — home to the UK's largest space research group^{[citation needed]}
• Institute of Ophthalmology Buildings (Old Street)
• Rayne Buildings
• Rockefeller (Science)
• University College Hospital (recently re-built)
• UCLU (Gordon Street)
• Wates House (Endsleigh Gardens)
• DMS Watson Science Library
• The Malet Place Engineering Building (completed in 2005, primarily Computer Science and Medical Physics departments)
• The department of Haematology in Chenies Mews converted from an old dance studio
• SSEES, the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, which has recently moved in a new buinding on Taviton Street.

Museums and collections

UCL is responsible for several museums and collections in a wide range of fields across the arts and sciences:

• Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology: one of the leading collections of Egyptian and Sudanese archaeology in the world. Open to the public on a regular basis.
• Grant Museum of Zoology And Comparative Anatomy: a diverse Natural History collection covering the whole of the animal kingdom. Includes rare dodo and quagga skeletons. A teaching and research collection, it is named after Robert Edmund Grant, UCL's first professor of comparative anatomy and zoology from 1828, under whom Charles Robert Darwin studied. Open at limited fixed times and by appointment.
• Geology Collections: founded around 1855. Primarily a teaching resource and may be visited by appointment.
• Art Collections: these date from 1847 when a collection of sculpture models and drawings of the Neo-classical artist John Flaxman was presented to UCL. There are over 10,000 pieces dating from the 15th century onwards including drawings by Turner etchings by Rembrandt and works by many leading 20th century British artists. The works on paper are displayed in The Strang Print Room, which has limited regular opening times. The other works may be viewed by appointment.
• Institute of Archaeology Collections: Items include prehistoric ceramics and stone artefacts from many parts of the world, the Petrie collection of Palestinian artefacts, and Classical Greek and Roman ceramics. Visits by appointment only.
• Ethnography Collections: This collection exemplifying Material Culture, holds an enormous variety of objects, textiles and artefacts from all over the world. Visits by appointment only.
• Galton Collection: The scientific instruments, papers and personal memorabilia of Sir Francis Galton. Housed in the department of biology. Visits by appointment only.
• Science Collections: Diverse collections primarily accumulated in the course of UCL's own work, including the operating table on which the first anaesthetic was administered. Items may be a viewed by appointment.

UCL is developing a new facility called The Panopticon, which will allow public access to its collections to be greatly improved. UCL Library's Special Collections, which encompass a large and diverse collection of rare books, incunabula and medieval manuscripts, including Jewish Collections of over 15,000 items, will also move into the new building. The Panopticon will feature permanent galleries for the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, galleries devoted to the Art and Library Special Collections, a gallery for temporary exhibitions from the other collections, lecture theatres and study rooms. Planning permission was granted in 2004 and it is scheduled to open in 2009.

Campus networking

UCL provides students and staff with wired and wireless internet access at a number of locations on campus, through a service called RoamNet. However, access to this service requires the use of a proprietary Cisco VPN client, which is not supported on handhelds, non-Intel GNU/Linux systems, or other alternative platforms.

UCL provides computer "cluster rooms" to provide free internet and computer access for its students, using a managed Windows environment referred to as "WTS" (Windows Terminal Service). An interesting fact is that these student computers are actually part of a large Condor cluster, and when not being used, they may well be running algorithms on behalf of researchers at UCL and elsewhere.

From early 2006, UCL has also started to operate a remote login system for students to access WTS from home, called Remote WTS. Similar services had previously been available for some departments (such as Computer Science), but unlike previous systems, Remote WTS allows students to access exactly the same desktop and software from home (or elsewhere) as they can access on campus.

UCL user names are seemingly random 7-character codes (e.g. "ucxxxxx") although they follow a pattern based on the user's department, staff/student status, and personal name. Network users in student halls are not allowed to: participate in IRC, network game playing, or chain mail; host services such as HTTP, mail, FTP, NNTP, or telnet; run software that uses RPC-based services (such as NFS) or IP multicast services; connect more than one machine at a time to a single network jack, or attach any device other than their personal workstation to the jack. Plugging a machine into another active port without authorization will cause a security violation, and the port will be disabled. In order to use the Internet in halls of residence, students must purchase an Internet Connection Voucher (available online from Information Systems (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/is/halls) or from the UCL Shop) which enables the Ethernet network sockets in the student's room. There are 3 types of vouchers: 4 weeks (priced at £9, and ONLY available online, starting from the date of activation), 16 weeks (priced at £36, starting from the date of activation), and Annual (priced at £70 per year, and valid until 31 August the following year). Vouchers cannot be refunded (once opened) or issued at any discounted price.

Ethical investment policy

UCL's ethical investment policies excludes direct investment in tobacco companies. The policies do not exclude investment in arms companies. In 2006 Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) revealed that UCL was the largest known university investor in arms companies in the UK. UCL currently invests £1,591,627 in the companies Cobham plc and the Smiths Group (both of which manufacture components for military aircraft and other weapons systems). This sum amounts to 1.7% of UCL's total investment assets.

In December 2006 the campaign “Disarm UCL” was launched by students and staff opposed to this highly controversial investment. ^[8]

UCL Provost Professor Malcolm Grant responded to criticism explaining that the UCL “Investments Sub-Committee now relies upon independent advice from the Ethical Research Investment Service ("EIRIS"). Their advice is that Cobham and Smiths Group are ethically acceptable investments.” In response EIRIS wrote to UCL highlighting this 'inaccurate and misleading' element of the Provost's statement as the company does not make decisions as to whether companies are ethically acceptable or otherwise.^[9]

UCLU film & television

UCL Union Film & TV Society, formerly known as BTV, a longtime member of NaSTA, is UCL's student television station. UCLU Film & TV is responsible for broadcasting content over the UCL Union television system, along with content shown by IPTV station SubTV (not to be confused with Finnish SubTV). This represents a viewership of up to 20,000 UCL students, along with students from other colleges of the University of London.

UCLU Film & TV produces original content including news, comedy, and drama. This is done both around the campus and at the Bloomsbury Studio, located in the Bloomsbury Building (Gordon Street).

Filming at UCL

Due to its position within London and the attractiveness of the front quad, UCL has been frequently used as a location for film and television recording.

Fiction

• Spooks (Series III, episode II) features the front quad and the Gustav Tuck Lecture Theatre
• The Mummy Returns uses parts of UCL (mainly the Main Quad) to masquerade as the British Museum
• Agatha Christie's Poirot, 9th series, 5 Little Pigs episode, filmed in old main library entrance and in main quad. Also used British Museum Reading Room, and Room 34 whilst in the area. Also episode Hickory Dickory Dock was used filming of both the Cruciform Building and the main UCL Quad and exterior.
• Batman Begins features the DMS Watson library as "Gotham Print Room" and the exterior of the Medawar building as part of the police department headquarters; this film also uses the National Institute for Medical Research (as Arkham Asylum), and the cloisters of Senate House. The Thomas Lewis room in UCL, in the Rockefeller Building, was the setting for the courtroom scene.
• Thunderbirds used the main Quad and Building as the "Bank of London".
• Doctor in the House used the Portico as the entrance to "St Swithin's Hospital"
• Gladiator used the main Quad as a model for ancient Rome.
• Silent Witness uses the main Quad (carefully avoiding the Observatories), the main door, and the South and North Cloisters as well as the Octagon. And, while they were in the area, they also used the ULU and Senate House buildings/ surrounding areas.
• Minder (TV series) used Quad in episode 'Sorry Pal, Wrong Number' (Season 4)
• Never the Twain used Mail Quad as "Lord Smallbridge's House".
• Eyes Wide Shut uses the UCL GP practice as the clinic for Tom Cruise's character.
• The Sooty Show filmed around UCL in episode 'Hot Air Balloon'.
• BBC Four's 2005 remake of The Quatermass Experiment used the part of Gower Street which runs past various laboratories in the scene where Carroon breaks into a Chemistry laboratory. The original 1953 version had been rehearsed at the Student Movement House on the same street.
• The Complete Guide to Parenting's opening uses scenes shot in UCL's Quad. Some scenes from certain episodes were also filmed here.
• The 2007 film Starter for Ten used the main quad, Gustav Tuck lecture theatre and other parts to masquerade as Bristol University.

Non-fiction

• Derren Brown: The Heist, shown at 9.00p.m. on Channel 4 on Wednesday 4 January 2006, featured brief exterior shots of the main Quad and University Street. It was implied one experiment conducted was filmed inside one UCL building, although which one was not established, it was most likely to be the Cruciform Building which is located opposite the Front Quad.
• BBC News chose to film in and around UCL to provide some of the footage used to cover the news regarding nationwide strike action by university staff when the story finally hit the headlines on Saturday 13 May 2006. Ongoing news coverage of this story has used shots of UCL and two notable maths students Harry Singleton and Ryan Topping, for example on Channel 4 News on Tuesday 6 June 2006.

Students' accommodation

Many UCL students are accommodated in the college's own halls of residence or other accommodation, such as those below:

• Arthur Tattersall House (115-131 Gower Street)
• Astor College (99 Charlotte St)
• Campbell House East and West (Taviton Street)
• Ifor Evans & Max Rayne Student Residences (Camden Road)
• Frances Gardner House and Langton Close (Gray's Inn Road)
• John Tovell House (89 & 93-7 Gower Street)
• Ramsay Hall Student Residence (Maple Street), where the band Coldplay first met
• Schafer House Student Residence (Drummond Street)
• James Lighthill (Pentonville Road)

Most students in college or university accommodation are first-year undergraduates. The majority of second and third-year students and postgraduates find their own accommodation in the private sector. UCL students are also eligible to apply for places in the University of London intercollegiate halls of residence, such as Connaught Hall. There is also limited UCL accommodation available for married students and those with children at Bernard Johnson House, Hawkridge, Neil Sharp House and the University of London's Lilian Penson Hall.

Trivia

• Life Thru a Lens, the debut album by Robbie Williams features UCL in the album artwork, including the front cover.
• There is a pub named the Jeremy Bentham, after the UCL auto-icon, in University Street, London.
• UCL has a long-running, mostly friendly rivalry with King's College London. UCL is often referred to by students from the latter using nicknames such as the "Godless Scum of Gower Street", in reference to a comment made at the founding of KCL, which was based on Christian principles. UCL students and staff also refer to King's as "Strand Polytechnic" in a similar vein. KCL's mascot, "Reggie", was lost for many years in the 1990s. It was recovered after being found dumped in a field, restored at the cost of around £15,000 and placed on display in the students' union. It is in a glass case and filled with concrete to prevent theft, particularly by UCL students who once castrated it. (KCL, to be fair, had also stolen one UCL mascot, Phineas.) It is often claimed that KCL students played football with the head of Jeremy Bentham. Although the head was indeed stolen, the football story is a myth which is denied by official UCL documentation about Bentham found next to his display case in the college cloisters. The head is now kept in the UCL vaults away from public display.
• All five of the naturally occurring noble gases were discovered at UCL by Sir William Ramsay.

References

Wikipedia information about University College London This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "University College London". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.