Education & institutions

Education & institutions

London has the largest student population of any British city (about 378,000),

although not the highest per capita. It is home to a diverse number of

universities, colleges and schools, and is a leading centre of research and

development. Most primary & secondary schools in London

follow the same system as the rest of England.

With

125,000 students, the University of London is the largest contact teaching university in

the United Kingdom and in Europe. It comprises over 50 colleges and institutes with

a high degree of autonomy. Constituent colleges have their own admissions

procedures, and are effectively universities in their own right, although all

degrees are awarded by the University

of London rather than the

individual colleges. Its most prestigious colleges are King's, LSE, Imperial,

SOAS and UCL; while smaller member institutes include Queen Mary, the Institute of Education,

and Birkbeck College, which specialises in part time

and mature students.

There

are other universities, such as UeL, the University

of Westminster and London South

Bank University,

not part of the University of London, some of which were polytechnics until UK polytechnics

were granted university status in 1992, and others which were founded much

earlier.

London is home to a number of important museums and other institutions which

are major tourist attractions as well as playing a research role. The Natural

History Museum, Science Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum (dealing with

fashion and design) are clustered in South Kensington's "museum

quarter", whilst the British Museum houses important artefacts from around

the world. The British Library at St Pancras is the most important library in

the country, housing 150 million items. The city also houses extensive art

collections, primarily in the National Gallery, Tate Britain and Tate Modern.