The World of UCL

Notoriously declared ‘the godless college in Gower Street’, England’s third university provoked both anxiety and contempt amongst 19th century establishment figures. The anxiety resulted from its progressive principles: UCL dared to open higher education to people excluded from Oxford and Cambridge. It was the first university in England to admit students of any race or class. It accepted students of any religion -or none- and excluded religious instruction from the syllabus. It later became the first to welcome women on equal terms with men. The contempt derived from UCL’s insistence that it not be an ‘ivory tower’, but that its teaching and research be relevant to the world around it. It widened the curriculum, pioneering the teaching at university level of subjects such as law, modern languages and English and developing the use of laboratories in teaching science and engineering. The modern world was shaped by its academics’ discoveries and inventions. Today UCL is one of the world’s powerhouses of research and teaching. In this new and updated edition of the World of UCL , Neglay Harte and John North offer a behind-the-scenes look at UCL, from its earliest days as an upstart venture to its growth into one of the world’s leading universities.