On the outskirts of a seemingly unremarkable industrial estate in Dagenham, 15 miles east of central London, stands a Corten steel-clad structure that houses the world — and the ambitions of thousands of students.
Welcome to Pearl: the Person-Environment-Activity Research Laboratory at University College London, in which researchers hope to reveal the motivations behind the intricacies of human behaviour.
Inside, myriad captivating experiments unfold. The 4,000 sq m, award-winning, net-zero-carbon space can be endlessly reconfigured to simulate actual environments in life size but under controlled conditions, allowing scientists and academics to examine people’s interactions with others and with their surroundings.
It should come as no surprise that UCL is the setting for this futuristic development; it is a powerhouse of British higher education, promising “disruptive thinking since 1826”. Two centuries since its founding, it continues to challenge its students, raise the bar for research and provoke global debate on everything from detecting cancers to legal action on behalf of those affected by climate change.
And now UCL is our University of the Year.
Advertisement
• Read the full Good University Guide 2024 league table
UCL is a small part of a big university — approximately 40,000 students are based at the University of London’s Bloomsbury campus — and full of big ideas. It has held a top-ten spot in the QS World University Rankings for 12 years running. It came fifth overall for research in our analysis of the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021), with law, medicine and social sciences among its highest-scoring subject areas. It came second in the REF research power rankings, behind only Oxford, maintaining its position as top in the UK for research power in medicine, health and life sciences as well as social sciences. These factors have moved UCL up to sixth place in our national rankings.
Researchers at the university have made hugely significant, life-changing discoveries in recent years, including the groundbreaking CAR T-cell therapy, which reprogrammes immune systems to recognise and kill cancer cells; a retinal treatment engineered from stem cells that helped to restore the sight of patients with visual impairments; and an award-winning project co-led by a UCL academic that restored lost biodiversity to swathes of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil, through the fostering of indigenous partnerships.
The sprawling inner-city campus, home to the porticoed HQ, 16 specialist libraries, refurbished laboratories and a new student centre, was joined by a second site last year, at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, east London. Here there are multidisciplinary research labs and state-of-the-art facilities, a lecture theatre that doubles as a cinema, and a public skatepark. The hope is that discoveries here will help to solve some of the biggest challenges facing people and the planet today. Work at the campus is designed to drive breakthroughs in areas such as robotics and AI, ecology, sustainable cities, green manufacturing, decarbonised transport, assistive technology, fair finance and health.
Such continued investment is keeping the university at the cutting edge. The latest opening this autumn is Marshgate, an eight-floor building of high-tech academic spaces, workshops and the UCL Institute of Making, a cross-disciplinary research club, in addition to retail and community areas. UCL designed the building to be a “living lab” centred around sustainability, supporting its aspiration to be a net-zero-carbon institution by 2030.
Advertisement
Every student is given the opportunity to take part in research under the connected curriculum framework, past results of which include highlighting the importance of neuroscientific evidence in criminal trials and pioneering glass recycling techniques.
“Our high-achieving, curious students learn from and work alongside world-leading academics, getting directly involved in research that breaks boundaries and tackles global challenges,” Dr Michael Spence, the president and provost of UCL, says. “Being named The Sunday Times University of the Year is a testament to the dynamic and diverse community of students and staff who make UCL such an extraordinary place.”
Embarking on further studies in the capital city can be exciting and daunting for new starters, but student advisers are on hand to help settle those first-year nerves. Kevin Fang, a psychology graduate, met a supportive circle of friends through UCL’s tennis club, one of the 300 societies on offer. Born in Auckland, New Zealand, the 22-year-old started his degree during the second wave of the pandemic in September 2020, graduated with a 2:1 and now works as an international tennis coach.
Fang’s progression at the club was impressive; he advanced quickly from a member to the head coach and, eventually, president, all while managing his studies. A keen Arsenal fan, he socialised off-court at the Rocket in Euston or the Marlborough Arms in Bloomsbury, where he could watch the football. On Wednesdays he would join the many other members of the sports societies at Richard Mully’s Basement Bar, known fondly as “Mully’s”, before a night out at the Scala nightclub near King’s Cross. “There’s always something going on,” Fang says. “There’s a varsity held every year — UCL versus King’s College London is the main rivalry and there are events held across March where 20 or more sports clubs compete.”
UCL’s innovation extends beyond the lecture hall and sports field. Mindfulness and counselling sessions are on offer to final-year students to help them during crunch time, and as a part of the Student Support and Wellbeing Ready-Set-Go exam season campaign, alpacas and dogs were welcomed on to the campus to serve as therapy animals. Fang commends the university’s campaigns, saying that they worked hard to destigmatise seeking help.
“They always aimed to put the students first, especially regarding welfare,” he says. “They were quite receptive to what students wanted and were creative in the way they went about putting help in place.”
How difficult is it to get a place?
Advertisement
UCL attracted more applications than any other London college in the 2022 admissions cycle — a record 74,775, more than half of which were from international students — after a decade of rises. As a result it does not take part in clearing.
Social inclusion
UCL was the first university in England to welcome students of any religion or social background, and the first to welcome women. Today it places 22nd in our index of the proportion of ethnic minority students. It spends £3 million a year on summer and Saturday schools, and literacy and study skills programmes to encourage wider participation in higher education. Contextual offers are made between one and five grades lower than standard entry requirements. However, only about half (52.5 per cent) of its students are recruited from nonselective state schools.
Scholarships and bursaries
About 30 per cent of its UK undergraduates receive some form of financial aid. UCL’s main bursary awards from £500 to £3,000 to those whose household income is below £42,875. Accommodation bursaries are offered in the first year. Most of its scholarships are based on academic merit and means-tested.
Graduate prospects
UCL is ninth in our graduate outcomes survey for the fourth year in a row, with 89.1 per cent of graduates in highly skilled work or further study within 15 months. The university is a top recruiting ground for large employers.
Did you know?
The university runs a 24-hour support line in more than 35 languages and offers sunrise walks to ease the strain of exam season. It also collaborates with students to create content for its YouTube channel, which has nearly 36,000 subscribers, producing “day in the life” vlogs, campus tours, advice videos and documentaries.
Advertisement
Good University Guide 2024
Which is the best university in the UK? See the definitive university rankings, get expert advice on your application and more in The Sunday Times Good University Guide
The Times and Sunday Times student subscription
Students can access quality journalism from The Times and Sunday Times for £9.99 per year for three years. Offer is for verified students and new customers only. Visit thetimes.co.uk/student to subscribe and for full terms & conditions
