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London School of Economics

The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the pure and applied social sciences.

Founded by Fabian Society members Sidney Webb, Beatrice Webb, Graham Wallas and George Bernard Shaw, LSE joined the University of London in 1900 and offered its first degree programmes under the auspices of that university in 1901. In 2008, LSE began awarding degrees in its own name. LSE became a university in its own right within the University of London in 2022.

LSE is located in the London Borough of Camden and Westminster, Central London, near the boundary between Covent Garden and Holborn in the area historically known as Clare Market. As of 2023/24, LSE had under 13,000 students, with a majority enroled being postgraduate students and just under two thirds coming from outside the United Kingdom. The university has the sixth-largest endowment of any university in the UK and it had an income of £548.2 million in 2024/25, of which £39.2 million was from research grants.

LSE is a member of the Russell Group, the Association of Commonwealth Universities and the European University Association, and is typically considered part of the "golden triangle" of research universities in the south east of England. The British Library of Political and Economic Science, commonly referred to as "LSE Library", is the main library of the university, and one of the largest libraries in the world devoted to the economic and social sciences.

Since 1990, the London School of Economics (LSE) has educated 24 prime ministers or presidents, the second highest number of any university in the United Kingdom, and since the school's establishment in 1895, over 40 world leaders have taught or studied at LSE. The school has also educated 2 presidents of the European Commission, Romano Prodi and Ursula von der Leyen, billionaire investor George Soros, chief architect of India's constitution, B. R. Ambedkar, British naturalist David Attenborough, chancellor of the United Kingdom, Rachel Reeves; former chairman and CEO of Chase Bank, David Rockefeller; chief investment officer of Google, Ruth Porat; governor of New Jersey, Mikie Sherrill; former foreign Minister of China, Yang Jiechi; founder of EasyJet, Stelios Haji-Ioannou and co-founder of AirAsia, Tony Fernandes. LSE alumni and faculty have served as presidents of the International Court of Justice, economic advisors to various British prime ministers and American presidents, in addition to serving as chief economists of the World Bank; the International Monetary Fund; heads of central banks in the United Kingdom, United States, India, Australia, Israel, Sri Lanka, Canada, and Thailand. LSE alumnus W. Arthur Lewis is the only black person to have ever won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics. As of 2025, LSE is affiliated with 21 Nobel laureates.

In 1942, former LSE director William Beveridge authored the Beveridge Report, which laid the groundwork for free healthcare in the United Kingdom, a policy implemented by British prime minister Clement Attlee, who prior holding office, lectured at the LSE. Provided by Wikipedia