I am confused with University of London. Is it a university system, or a parent institution of the following universities/colleges: Heythrop College, University of London St George's, University of London University College London King's College London Royal Holloway, University of London Queen Mary, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London London School of Economics Imperial College London Birkbeck, University of London SOAS, University of London Courtauld Institute of Art London Business School Can anyone explain this?
From their website: "The University of London is unlike many other universities. It consists of 17 self-governing Colleges and 10 specialist research Institutes. In many ways the Colleges are considered universities in their own right; they set their own entrance criteria for their courses and they offer their own services to students. Some now also have their own degree awarding powers. All students from all the Colleges and Institutes are also University of London students, making them part of a community of over 120,000 students and giving them access to many services in London." We typically think of them as a distance learning school but many people attend these constituent colleges in a traditional manner. This is one of those situations where I'd like MC to jump in with one of his famous Venn Diagrams.
It's not terribly dissimilar to Cornell University. Under the umbrella of "Cornell University" you can attend the College of Arts & Sciences (a college created by endowment), or the School of Industrial and Labor Relations (a school established by New York state statute as a land grand school) or the College of Human Ecology (established by statute), the College of Engineering (endowed) or the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (statute) or the Law School (endowed). If you graduate from the ILR school, your diploma says that you graduated from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. It isn't just a major. The tuition for the statutory schools, for NYS residents, is the NYS in-state tuition rate (i.e. very similar to what you would pay for a SUNY school). If you are an out-of-state resident, you pay the same tuition as someone attending the endowed colleges. Each college and school is largely self-governing and awards its own degrees. They each have their own admissions criteria. Some schools have historically been thought of as being "easier" or "harder" to get into. So, it isn't a system like SUNY/CUNY. I suppose you could say that it is a parent institution. Though it may function like Cornell. You can't earn a degree from "Cornell University" proper. You can only earn a degree from one of the schools or colleges that make up Cornell University.
Imperial College London is an independent university. It left the UoL umbrella years ago. Just thought i'd point that out :X
From the Imperial College website: "2006 - Decision to withdraw from University of London Imperial College London was a college of the University of London from 1908, awarding University of London degrees. Recognising Imperial College as a world-class research and teaching institution in its own right, on 14 July 2006 Imperial College's Council made the decision that Imperial should withdraw from the University of London and become a university, independent from any other organisation or structure. Imperial College's request to withdraw was agreed by the University of London's Council on 4 October 2006."
While Imperial is no longer a part of the University of London, they do have at least 2 DL degree programs. There is a MSc in Biodiversity Conservation as well as an MBA available online. Imperial College London
