About the LSE

Founded in 1895 by Beatrice and Sidney Webb, LSE has an outstanding reputation for academic excellence. LSE is small, specialist and one of the most international universities in the world. Our study of social, economic and political problems focuses on the different perspectives and experiences of most countries. From its foundation LSE has aimed to be a laboratory of the social sciences, a place where ideas are developed, analysed, evaluated and disseminated around the globe.

LSE has a cosmopolitan staff and student body, located within the center of London. The School has around 8,000 full-time students and over 800 part-time students. They come from 152 countries: 36 per cent from the UK, 15 per cent from other European Union countries, 49 per cent from other countries around the world. A total of 48 per cent are women and 52 per cent are postgraduates.

The School is in contact with around 70,000 alumni. The network extends around the world, with local alumni groups or contacts in over 60 countries, as well as special interest networks in areas such as law, environment and the media.

There are 19 departments and institutes. Several subjects have been pioneered at LSE, including anthropology, international relations and social policy. There are also more than 30 research centres. LSE's Research Lab is the base for more than 260 staff - one of the largest concentrations of applied economic, financial and social researchers anywhere in the world.

Thirteen Nobel Prize winners, in economics, peace and literature, have been either LSE staff or alumni: George Bernard Shaw (1925), Ralph Bunche (1950), Bertrand Russell (1950), Philip Noel-Baker (1959), Sir John Hicks (1972), Friedrich von Hayek (1974), James Meade (1977), Arthur Lewis (1979), Merton Miller (1990), Ronald Coase (1991), Amartya Sen (1998), Robert Mundell (1999) and George Akerlof (2001).

Many world leaders and famous alumni have also studied at the School: US President John F. Kennedy, Prime Minister and President of the European Commission Romano Prodi, Prime Minister Marek Belka, Prime Minister Lord Attlee, Financier George Soros, Advertising Guru Lord Saatchi, Founder of Easyjet Stelios Haji-Ioannou, Rockstar Mick Jagger and many others.

The Library is the largest in the world devoted exclusively to the social sciences. Founded in 1896, it is also known as the British Library of Political and Economic Science.

source: www.lse.ac.uk