UCL was founded in 1826 as the original University of London, and was the first university to be founded in England after Oxford and Cambridge. It was the first university to teach English Literature, French, German, Italian and Geography at university level, and the first to offer systematic teaching of Engineering, Medicine and Law. UCL is one of the top three multi-faculty universities in the UK in terms of research and has one of the largest research incomes of any UK university. Over one third of the 17,300 students are graduates, making up the forth largest graduate school in the UK. In the 2001 assessment of research in UK universities, 60 departments achieved world-class status, placing UCL in the top three.

UCL breakthroughs helped to form the modern world, and include the identification of hormones and vitamins, the discovery of the inert gases, including neon, and the invention of the thermionic valve, which made radio and modern electronics possible. 

Famous past alumni and staff include scientists William Ramsay, William Bragg, Andrew Huxley and Francis Crick, writers and poets A.E.Housman, Stephen Spencer and G.K. Chesterton, and artists Augustus John, Stanley Spencer, Anthony Gormley and Rachel Whiteread.