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School of Economics
Location: London School of Economics, City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom (51°30′50″N 0°07′00″W)
London School of Economics:
The London School of Economics and Political Science (informally the London School of Economics or LSE) is a public research university specialised in social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidney Webb, Beatrice Webb and George Bernard Shaw, the LSE joined the University of London in 1900 and first issued degrees to its students in 1902. Despite its name, the LSE conducts teaching and research across a range of social sciences, as well as in mathematics and statistics.
The LSE is located in Westminster, central London, near the boundary between Covent Garden and Holborn in an area historically known as Clare Market. It has around 9,000 full-time students and 1,300 academic staff and had a total income of £220.9 million in 2009/10, of which £23.9 million was from research grants and contracts. The LSE is organised into 23 academic departments and 17 research centres.The LSE's library, the British Library of Political and Economic Science, contains over 4.7 million volumes and is the world's largest social and political sciences library.
The LSE is among the world's most selective universities and in a number of years has had the lowest admissions rate of any British university. The LSE is ranked 3rd overall in the Sunday Times University Guide cumulative ranking of British universities over a ten-year period (1997–2007), and 2nd in the Complete University Guide 2012. It has a highly international student body, and at one time had more countries represented by students than the UN has members. The LSE has produced many notable alumni in the fields of law, economics, philosophy, business, literature and politics. To date, there have been 18 Nobel Prize winners amongst its alumni and current and former staff, more than 50 world leaders and numerous Pulitzer Prize winners and fellows of the British Academy.
The LSE is a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs, the European University Association, the G5, the Global Alliance in Management Education, the Russell Group and Universities UK. It forms part of the 'golden triangle' of British universities.
History of London School of Economics:
The London School of Economics was founded in 1895 by Beatrice and Sidney Webb, initially funded by a bequest of £20,000 from the estate of Henry Hunt Hutchinson. Hutchinson, a lawyer and member of the Fabian Society, left the money in trust, to be put "towards advancing its [The Fabian Society's] objects in any way they [the trustees] deem advisable". The five trustees were Sidney Webb, Edward Pease, Constance Hutchinson, William de Mattos and William Clark.
The LSE records that the proposal to establish the school was conceived during a breakfast meeting on 4 August 1894, between the Webbs, Graham Wallas and George Bernard Shaw. The proposal was accepted by the trustees in February 1895 and LSE held its first classes in October of that year, in rooms at 9 John Street, Adelphi, in the City of Westminster.
