London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

Members of the Fabian Society, including George Bernard Shaw, Graham Wallas, and Sidney and Beatrice Webb, founded the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1895. The school became part of the University of London in 1900, and in 2022 it acquired full university standing of its own while remaining a member of that federation. It belongs to the Russell Group, whose members are research-intensive universities. LSE concentrates on the social sciences, with over 40 undergraduate degrees spanning economics, finance, politics, international relations, law, sociology and neighbouring disciplines. Its campus is compact and focused on Houghton Street in central London, lying between Covent Garden and Holborn.

Of its roughly 13,000 students, over half are studying at postgraduate level, and some two thirds are drawn from outside the UK. Founded in 1896, the British Library of Political and Economic Science holds more than four million printed volumes and is among the largest social science libraries anywhere in the world. LSE is associated with more than 20 Nobel laureates, and close to 50 current or former world leaders have been students or teachers there.

Information for International Students

Most students at LSE are international, and the school provides guidance by country on the qualifications it recognises, a list taking in UK foundation courses along with many international diplomas. There is no LSE international foundation year. Postgraduate applicants holding a conditional offer have more than one way to meet the language condition, one of which is the Language Centre's intensive five-week pre-sessional course in English for Academic Purposes.

The school's immigration advice addresses Student visa applications, CAS requests from continuing students, the rules on working and, after graduation, the Graduate Route. Every year LSE places over 4,000 students in accommodation, in halls it runs itself, in private halls and in the intercollegiate residences of the University of London, and new arrivals are supported by a welcome programme. Bursaries and scholarships, funded mainly by donations, are open to students with overseas fee status; both the number of awards and their criteria change from year to year. Separately, the General Course gives undergraduates from universities abroad the opportunity to study at LSE for a full year.