London, United Kingdom
LSE was the brain child of Sidney Webb, supported by his wife, the social investigator Beatrice Webb, the political scientist Graham Wallas, and the writer George Bernard Shaw.
All four were prominent members of the Fabian Society. In 1894, they decided to use a £20,000 bequest to open a specialist higher education institution.
The first students arrived in October 1895 and in 2020 we celebrated our 125th anniversary.
From the start, LSE was open to women and men and welcomed students from overseas. The School was committed to providing its students with “scientific training in methods of investigation and research”.
The 1895 LSE Prospectus states that: "The special aim of the School will be, from the first, the study and investigation of the concrete facts of industrial life and the actual working of economic and political relations as they exist or have existed, in the United Kingdom and in foreign countries."
LSE continues to develop and change but our founding purpose remains as important as ever.
The School retained its place as the top university in London in the recent Guardian’s Best UK Universities 2024 league table. It was also ranked as the top university in London in the Complete University Guide 2024; one of the top universities in the world in the Times Higher Education World University rankings, and as top university for world-leading research in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF). In 2023 the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) awarded LSE a Gold rating on the student outcomes aspect, which covers student support, student completion rates, progression rates and educational gains.
