London has one of the largest populations of overseas students of any city in the world, which makes it a leading global educational centre. Although the student population may not be the highest per capita, London has the largest student population of any British city.
Universities in London may be divided into two groups:
With over 120,000 students, the federal University of London, is the largest contact teaching university in the United Kingdom and it is one of the largest Universities in Europe. It has 19 colleges and 12 institutes, as well as a distance-learning External System. The largest and most well-known University of London colleges include King's College London, University College London, Birkbeck, Queen Mary, the London School of Economics and Political Science, Royal Holloway, Goldsmiths, and the Institute of Education (this is in order of size). Smaller schools and institutes (with fewer than 5,000 students) include the School of Oriental and African Studies, the London Business School, the School of Pharmacy, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Central School of Speech and Drama. Traditionally all of the University of London institutions awarded degrees from the University of London itself, and not from the individual college or institution, but this changed in 2007/2008 when University College London, King's College London, the London School of Economics, and the Institute of Education remained within the University of London system, but began awarding their own degrees.
There are other universities that are not part of the University of London. Among these are Imperial College London, London South Bank University, City University, Middlesex University in North London, Brunel University in West London, the University of East London and various other higher education institutions.
