London School of Economics and Political Science

London School of Economics and Political Science

The London School of Economics is a public research university located in London, England, and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidney Webb, Beatrice Webb, Graham Wallas, and George Bernard Shaw for the betterment of society, LSE joined the University of London in 1900 and established its first degree courses under the auspices of the University in 1901.

The LSE started awarding its own degrees in 2008, prior to which it awarded degrees of the University of London.

LSE is located in Westminster, central London, near the boundary between Covent Garden and Holborn. The area is historically known as Clare Market. The LSE has more than 11,000 students and 3,300 staff, just under half of whom come from outside the UK. One hundred and fifty-five nationalities are represented amongst LSE's student body and the school has the second highest percentage of international students (70%) of all world universities. Despite the name, the school is organised into 25 academic departments and institutes which conduct teaching and research across a range of legal studies and social sciences.

LSE is a member of the Russell Group and is sometimes considered a part of the "Golden Triangle" of universities in south-east England. For the subject area of social science, LSE places second in the world in the QS Rankings, tenth in THE Rankings, and eighth in the Academic Ranking of World Universities.

LSE is ranked among the top fifteen universities nationally by all three UK tables, while internationally LSE is ranked in the top 50 by two of the three major global rankings.

In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, the School had the highest proportion of world-leading research among research submitted of any British non-specialist university. The LSE is also a member of academic organisations such as the Association of Commonwealth Universities and the European University Association.