![]() | It has been suggested that this article bemerged intoCity St George's, University of London. (Discuss) Proposed since March 2025. |
![]() Coat of arms of the university | ||||||||||||||||
Motto | To Serve Mankind | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Type | Publicresearch university | |||||||||||||||
Established | 1852 –Inns of Court School of Law 1894 – Northampton Institute 1966 – gaineduniversity status byroyal charter 2016 – constituent college ofUniversity of London 2024 – merged withSt George's, University of London | |||||||||||||||
Endowment | £22.0 million (2023–24)[1] | |||||||||||||||
Budget | £301.7 million (2023–24)[1] | |||||||||||||||
Chancellor | The Princess Royal (as Chancellor of theUniversity of London) | |||||||||||||||
President | SirAnthony Finkelstein | |||||||||||||||
Rector | Lord Mayor of the City of London (ex officio) | |||||||||||||||
Students | 21,735 (2022/23)[2] | |||||||||||||||
Undergraduates | 13,590 (2022/23)[2] | |||||||||||||||
Postgraduates | 8,145 (2022/23)[2] | |||||||||||||||
Location | , United Kingdom 51°31′40″N0°06′08″W / 51.5278°N 0.1023°W /51.5278; -0.1023 | |||||||||||||||
Campus | Urban | |||||||||||||||
Colours | Red and white | |||||||||||||||
Affiliations | University of London Association of MBAs EQUIS Universities UK | |||||||||||||||
Website | www | |||||||||||||||
![]() |
City, University of London was apublic university from 1966 to 2024 inLondon,England. It merged withSt George's, University of London to formCity St George's, University of London in August 2024.[3] The names "City, University of London" and "St George’s, University of London" will provisionally continue as trading names until March 2025.[4]
Originally founded in 1894 as theNorthampton Institute, it officially became a university whenThe City University was created byroyal charter in 1966.[5] TheInns of Court School of Law, which merged with City in 2001, was established in 1852, making it the university's oldest constituent part.[6] City joined the federal University of London on 1 September 2016, becoming part of the eighteen colleges and ten research institutes that then made up that university.[7]
City has strong links with theCity of London, and theLord Mayor of London serves as the university's rector.[8][9] The university has its main campus inCentral London in theLondon Borough of Islington, with additional campuses in Islington, theCity of London, theWest End andEast End. It is organised into six schools, within which there are around forty academic departments and centres,[10] including theDepartment of Journalism,Bayes Business School (formerly Cass Business School), andCity Law School which incorporates the Inns of Court School of Law.[11] The annual income of the institution for 2021–22 was £262.1 million, of which £12.9 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £328.2 million.[12]
City is a founding member of the WC2 University Network which developed for collaboration between leading universities of the heart of major world cities particularly to address cultural, environmental and political issues of common interest to world cities and their universities.[13] The university is a member of theAssociation of MBAs,EQUIS andUniversities UK. Alumni of City includeMahatma Gandhi,Muhammad Ali Jinnah,[14] members ofParliament of the United Kingdom,governors, politicians and CEOs.
City traces its origin to the Northampton Institute andthe City Law School (established in 1852). The first was named after theMarquess of Northampton who donated the land on which the institute was built, betweenNorthampton Square and St John Street inIslington. The institute was established to provide for the education and welfare of the local population. It was constituted under the City of London Parochial Charities Act (1883), with the objective of "the promotion of the industrial skill, general knowledge, health and well-being of young men and women belonging to the poorer classes".[15]
Northampton Polytechnic Institute was aninstitute of technology inClerkenwell, London, founded in 1894. Its first Principal wasRobert Mullineux Walmsley.[16]
Alumni includeColin Cherry,Stuart Davies andAnthony Hunt.[17]Arthur George Cocksedge, a Britishgymnast who competed in the1920 Summer Olympics, was a member of the Northampton Polytechnic Institute's Gymnastics Club and was Champion of the United Kingdom in 1920. In 1937Maurice Dennis of the (Northampton Polytechnic ABC) was the 1937ABA Middleweight Champion.Frederick Handley Page was a lecturer inaeronautics at the institute. TheHandley Page Type A, the first powered aircraft designed and built by him, ended up as an instructional airframe at the school. The novelistEric Ambler studied engineering at the institute.[citation needed]
The six original departments at the institute were Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering; Artistic Crafts; Domestic Economy and Women's Trades; Electro-Chemistry;Horology; and Mechanical Engineering and Metal Trades.
A separate technicaloptics department was established in 1903–04. In 1909, the first students qualified forUniversity of London BSc degrees in engineering as internal students.[15] The Institute had been involved inaeronautics education since that year, and the School of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences celebrated the centenary of aeronautics at City in 2009.[18] The institute was used for the1908 Olympic Games;[15]boxing took place there.[19]
In 1957, the institute was designated a "College of Advanced Technology".[15]
The institute's involvement ininformation science began in 1961, with the introduction of a course on "Collecting and Communicating Scientific Knowledge". City received itsroyal charter in 1966, becoming "The City University" to reflect the institution's close links with the City of London.[20] TheApollo 15 astronauts visited City in 1971, and presented the Vice-Chancellor, Tait, with a piece ofheat shield from the Apollo 15rocket.[21]
In October 1995, it was announced that City University would merge with both theSt Bartholomew School of Nursing & Midwifery and the Charterhouse College of Radiography, doubling the number of students in City's Institute of Health Sciences to around 2,500.[22]
The university formed a strategic alliance withQueen Mary, University of London, in April 2001.[23] In May 2001, a fire in the college building gutted the fourth-floor offices and roof.[24] In August 2001 City and theInns of Court School of Law agreed to merge.[25] Following a donation fromSir John Cass's Foundation, a multimillion-pound building was built at 106 Bunhill Row for the Business School.[26]
A new £23 million building to house the School of Social Sciences and the Department of Language and Communication Science was opened in 2004. The reconstruction and redevelopment of the university'sGrade II listed college building (following the fire in 2001) was completed in July 2006.
In 2007 the School of Arts received a £10m building refurbishment. A new students' union venue opened in October 2008 called "TEN squared", which provides a hub for students to socialise in during the day and hosts a wide range of evening entertainment including club nights, society events and quiz nights.
In January 2010, premises were shared with theUniversity of East Anglia (UEA) London, following City's partnership withINTO University Partnerships. Since then City has resumed its own International Foundation Programme to prepare students for their pre-university year. City was ranked among the top 30 higher education institutions in the UK by theTimes Higher Education Table of Tables.[27]
In April 2011, it was announced that the current halls of residence and Saddler's Sports Centre will be closed and demolished for rebuilding in June 2011. The new student halls and sports facility, now known as CitySport, opened in 2015.
In September 2016 The City University became a member institution of the federalUniversity of London[7] and changed its name to City, University of London.
In 2023, a merger was proposed between City andSt George's, University of London.[28] On 1 August 2024, City merged withSt George's, University of London to formCity St George's, University of London.[29]
City has sites throughout London,[30] with the main campus located atNorthampton Square in theFinsbury area ofIslington. The Rhind Building which houses the School of Arts and Social Sciences is directly west of Northampton Square. A few buildings of the main campus are located in nearbyGoswell Road inClerkenwell.
Other academic sites are:
Therector of City St George's, University of London, isex officio theLord Mayor of the City of London. The day-to-day running of the university is the responsibility of thepresident. The current president is SirAnthony Finkelstein.
City St George's, University of London, is organised into six schools:
In the financial year ended 31 July 2011, City had a total income (including share of joint ventures) of £178.6 million (2008/09 – £174.4 million) and total expenditure of £183.62 million (2008/09 – £178.82 million).[31] Key sources of income included £39.58 million from Funding Council grants (2008/09 – £39.52 million), £116.91 million from tuition fees and education contracts (2008/09 – £104.39 million), £7.86 million from research grants and contracts (2008/09 – £9.29 million), £1.04 from endowment and investment income (2008/09 – £1.83 million) and £15.05 million from other income (2008/09 – £19.37 million).[31]
During the 2010/11 financial year, City had a capital expenditure of £9.77 million (2008/09 – £16.13 million).[31]
At year end, City had reserves and endowments of £112.89 million (2009/10 – £110.05 million) and total net assets of £147.64 million (2008/09 – £147.27 million).[31]
National rankings | |
---|---|
Complete (2025)[32] | 69 |
Guardian (2025)[33] | 38 |
Times / Sunday Times (2025)[34] | 49 |
Global rankings | |
ARWU (2024)[35] | 901–1000 |
QS (2025)[36] | 352 |
THE (2025)[37] | 351–400 |
City St George's, University of London, offers Bachelor's, Master's, andDoctoraldegrees as well as certificates and diplomas at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. More than two-thirds of City's programmes are recognised by the appropriateprofessional bodies such as theBCS,BPS,CILIP,ICE,RICS,HPC etc. in recognition of the high standards of relevance to the professions. The university also has an online careers network where over 2,000 former students offer practical help to current students.[38]
TheCity Law School offers courses for undergraduates, postgraduates, master graduates and professional courses leading to qualification as a solicitor or barrister, as well as continuing professional development. Its Legal Practice Course has the highest quality rating from theSolicitors Regulation Authority.[39]
TheDepartment of Radiography (part of theSchool of Community and Health Sciences) offers two radiography degrees, theBSc (Hons) Radiography (Diagnostic Imaging) and BSc (Hons) Radiography (Radiotherapy and Oncology), both of which are recognised by theHealth Professions Council (HPC).
Queen Mary, University of London, and City St George's, University of London, were jointly awarded Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) status by theHigher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in recognition of their work in skills training for 3,000 students across six healthcare professions.[40]
City St George's, University of London, has links with businesses in theCity of London.[41] City has also joined forces with other universities such asQueen Mary and theInstitute of Education (both part of theUniversity of London) with which it jointly delivers several leading degree programmes.
London Centre for Arts and Cultural Exchange is a consortium of nine universities. It was established in 2004 to foster collaboration and to promote and support the exchange of knowledge between the consortium's partners and London's arts and cultural sectors. The nine institutions involved are:University of the Arts London;Birkbeck, University of London; City St George's, University of London;The Courtauld Institute of Art;Goldsmiths, University of London;Guildhall School of Music & Drama;King's College London;Queen Mary, University of London, andRoyal Holloway, University of London.
City is a founding member of the WC2 University Network, a network of universities developed with the goal of bringing together leading universities located in the heart of major world cities in order to address cultural, environmental and political issues of common interest to world cities and their universities.[13] In addition to City St George's, University of London, the founding members of WC2 members are:City University of New York,Technische Universität Berlin,Universidade de São Paulo,Hong Kong Polytechnic University,Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana,Saint Petersburg State Polytechnical University,Politecnico di Milano,University of Delhi,Northeastern University Boston andTongji University.
City was selected as the sole British university to take part in the selective Erasmus Mundus MULTI programme, funded by theEuropean Commission to promote scientific exchange between Europe and the industrialised countries of South-East Asia. It is the first Erasmus program to involve universities outside of Europe. In addition to City, the partner universities are:Aix-Marseille University (France),Univerzita Karlova v Praze (Czech Republic),Freie Universität Berlin (Germany),Universität des Saarlandes (Germany),Università di Pisa (Italy),Universidad de Sevilla (Spain),The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Hong Kong, SAR China),Universiti Brunei Darussalam (Brunei),University of Macau (Macau, SAR China),Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), andNational Taiwan University (Taiwan).
City has joined the executive group ofUCL Partners, one of five accredited academic health science groups in the UK. City was invited to join the partnership in recognition of its expertise in nursing, allied health, health services research and evaluation and health management.[42]
City Research Online providesopen access to, and reliable information about, research produced by City staff and research students, as permitted by publishers and copyright law, of content andmetadata.[43]
These[43] include:
The City Students' Union is run primarily by students through four elected sabbatical officers, the chief executive and an elected assembly (composed of current students), with oversight by a trustee board. The Students' Union provides support, representation, facilities, services, entertainment and activities for its members. It is run for students, by students.[44]
The Students' Union manages most aspects relating to students' societies, such as booking spaces for events on campus, holding funds and distributing grants, and providing training to their committees.
City currently has two student-run media outlets, including Carrot Radio, which was co-founded by journalism postgraduates Jordan Gass-Pooré and Winston Lo in the autumn of 2018.[45] Carrot Radio currently records weekday podcasts. The second is the student-led online magazine,Carrot Magazine. They released their first print magazine in December 2017.
For a number of years, City students have taken part in the annualLord Mayor's Show, representing the university in one of the country's largest and liveliest parades.
City ranked joint 5th out of the 168 universities surveyed in the 2019People & Planet league table of the most sustainable UK universities[46] having climbed from 7th place in the 2016 league. In both the 2016 and 2019 rankings, it was the highest ranking University of London institution, and one of only four London institutions in the top twenty.
The league table'sFossil Free Scorecard report, drawn fromFreedom of Information requests, found that £800,000 (6.4%) of City's £12.5m endowment was invested infossil fuels, and that the institution had not made a public commitment tofossil fuel divestment. It also noted nearly £1m of research funding intorenewables since 2001 with just £64k of total funding from fossil fuel companies; and nohonorary degrees or board positions held by fossil fuel executives.[47]
City announced on 4 July 2023 that it was divesting its investments from fossil fuel producers.[48]
City University's Bastwick Street Halls of Residence inIslington was the first home ofMasterChef following its 2005 revival.[63][64]