London School of Economics Information

The London School of Economics (officially the London School of Economics and Political Science, often referred to as LSE) is a public research university located in London, England, and a member institution 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. LSE started awarding its own degrees in its own name 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 seventy percent of whom come from outside the UK. It had an income of £354.3 million in 2017/18, of which £31.6 million was from research grants. One hundred and fifty-five nationalities are represented amongst LSEs student body and the school has the second highest percentage of international students (70%) of all world universities. Despite its 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, Association of Commonwealth Universities, European University Association 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 twenty 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.

LSE has produced many notable alumni in the fields of law, history, anthropology, economics, philosophy, psychology, business, literature, media and politics. Alumni and staff include 55 past or present heads of state or government and 18 Nobel laureates. As of 2017, 26% (or 13 out of 49) of all the Nobel Memorial Prizes in Economics have been awarded or jointly awarded to LSE alumni, current staff or former staff, making up 16% (13 out of 79) of all laureates. LSE alumni and staff have also won 3 Nobel Peace Prizes and 2 Nobel Prizes in Literature. Out of all European universities, LSE has educated the most billionaires according to a 2014 global census of U.S dollar billionaires.

The London School of Economics was founded in 1895 by Beatrice and Sidney Webb, initially funded by a bequest of £20,000 from the estate of Henry Hunt Hutchinson. Hutchinson, a lawyer and member of the Fabian Society, left the money in trust, to be put "towards advancing its [The Fabian Societys] objects in any way they [the trustees] deem advisable". The five trustees were Sidney Webb, Edward Pease, Constance Hutchinson, W. S. de Mattos and William Clark.

LSE records that the proposal to establish the school was conceived during a breakfast meeting on 4 August 1894, between the Webbs, Louis Flood and George Bernard Shaw. The proposal was accepted by the trustees in February 1895 and LSE held its first classes in October of that year, in rooms at 9 John Street, Adelphi, in the City of Westminster.

The School joined the federal University of London in 1900, and was recognised as a Faculty of Economics of the university. The University of London degrees of BSc (Econ) and DSc (Econ) were established in 1901, the first university degrees dedicated to the social sciences. Expanding rapidly over the following years, the school moved initially to the nearby 10 Adelphi Terrace, then to Clare Market and Houghton Street. The foundation stone of the Old Building, on Houghton Street, was laid by King George V in 1920; the building was opened in 1922.

The 1930s economic debate between LSE and Cambridge is well known in academic circles. Rivalry between academic opinion at LSE and Cambridge goes back to the schools roots when LSEs Edwin Cannan (1861–1935), Professor of Economics, and Cambridges Professor of Political Economy, Alfred Marshall (1842–1924), the leading economist of the day, argued about the bedrock matter of economics and whether the subject should be considered as an organic whole. (Marshall disapproved of LSEs separate listing of pure theory and its insistence on economic history).

The dispute also concerned the question of the economists role, and whether this should be as a detached expert or a practical adviser. Despite the traditional view that the LSE and Cambridge were fierce rivals through the 1920s and 30s, they worked together in the 1920s on the London and Cambridge Economic Service. However, the 1930s brought a return to disputes as economists at the two universities argued over how best to address the economic problems caused by the Great Depression.

The main figures in this debate were John Maynard Keynes from Cambridge and the LSEs Friedrich Hayek. The LSE Economist Lionel Robbins was also heavily involved. Starting off as a disagreement over whether demand management or deflation was the better solution to the economic problems of the time, it eventually embraced much wider concepts of economics and macroeconomics. Keynes put forward the theories now known as Keynesian economics, involving the active participation of the state and public sector, while Hayek and Robbins followed the Austrian School, which emphasised free trade and opposed state involvement.

During World War II, the School decamped from London to the University of Cambridge, occupying buildings belonging to Peterhouse.

The Schools arms, including its motto and beaver mascot, were adopted in February 1922, on the recommendation of a committee of twelve, including eight students, which was established to research the matter. The Latin motto, "Rerum cognoscere causas", is taken from Virgils Georgics. Its English translation is "to Know the Causes of Things" and it was suggested by Professor Edwin Cannan. The beaver mascot was selected for its associations with "foresight, constructiveness and industrious behaviour".

LSE continues to have a wide impact within British society, through its relationships and influence in politics, business and law. The Guardian described such influence in 2005 when it stated:

Commenting in 2001 on the rising status of the LSE, the British magazine The Economist stated that "two decades ago the LSE was still the poor relation of the University of Londons other colleges. Now... it regularly follows Oxford and Cambridge in league tables of research output and teaching quality and is at least as well-known abroad as Oxbridge". According to the magazine, the School "owes its success to the single-minded, American-style exploitation of its brand name and political connections by the recent directors, particularly Mr Giddens and his predecessor, John Ashworth" and raises money from foreign students high fees, which are attracted by academic stars such as Richard Sennett.

As of 2006, the School was active in opposing British government proposals to introduce compulsory ID cards, researching into the associated costs of the scheme, and shifting public and government opinion on the issue. The institution is also popular with politicians and MPs to launch new policy, legislation and manifesto pledges, prominently with the launch of the Liberal Democrats Manifesto Conference under Nick Clegg on 12 January 2008.

In the early 2010s, its academics have been at the forefront of both national and international government consultations, reviews and policy, including representation on the UK Airports Commission, Independent Police Commission, Migration Advisory Committee, UN Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation, London Finance Commission,HS2 Limited, the UK governments Infrastructure Commission and advising on Architecture and Urbanism for the London 2012 Olympics

Craig Calhoun took up the post of Director in September 2012. Its previous Director, Judith Rees, is also chair of the schools Grantham Institute on Climate Change, an adviser to the World Bank as well as sitting on the UN Secretary Generals Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation and the International Scientific Advisory Council (ISAC). She is also a former Convenor of the Department of Geography and Environment and served as Deputy Director from 1998–2004.

In February 2016, Calhoun announced his intention to step down at the end of the academic year, in order to become president of the Berggruen Institute. In September 2016, Bank of England Deputy Governor Dame Nemat Shafik was announced to replace Professor Julia Black as the Schools director. Shafik began to lead the LSE in September 2017.

In February 2011, LSE had to face the consequences of matriculating one of Muammar Gaddafis sons, while accepting a £1.5m donation to the university from his family. LSE director Howard Davies resigned over allegations about the institutions links to the Libyan regime. The LSE announced in a statement that it had accepted his resignation with "great regret" and that it had set up an external inquiry into the schools relationship with the Libyan regime and Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, to be conducted by the former lord chief justice Harry Woolf.

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