London School of Economics and Political Science

London School of Economics

Coat of arms of the London School of Economics and Political Science
Motto	Latin: Rerum cognoscere causas
Motto in English	"To Know the Causes of Things"
Type	Public research university
Established	1895
Endowment	£119.2m (as of 31 July 2016)
Chairman	Alan Elias
Chancellor	HRH The Princess Royal (as Chancellor of the University of London)
Director	Julia Black
Visitor	The Rt Hon David Lidington As Lord President of the Council ex officio
Academic staff	1,303
Students	10,440 (2015/16)
Undergraduates	4,700 (2015/16)
Postgraduates	5,740 (2015/16)
Location	London, United Kingdom Coordinates: 51°30′50″N 0°07′00″W / 51.51389°N 0.11667°W / 51.51389; -0.11667
Campus	Urban
Newspaper	The Beaver
Colours	Purple, black and gold
Mascot	Beaver
Affiliations	ACU, CEMS, EUA, G5, Russell Group, University of London, Universities UK, Golden triangle
Website	lse.ac.uk

The London School of Economics (officially The London School of Economics and Political Science; often referred to as the LSE) is a public research university located in London, England and a constituent college 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; the LSE has awarded its own degrees since 2008.

LSE is located in Westminster, central London, near the boundary between Covent Garden and Holborn. The area is historically known as Clare Market. It has 10,440 students and 3,300 staff, just under half of whom come from outside the UK. It had a total income of £340.7 million in 2015/16, of which £30.3 million was from research grants. 155 nationalities are represented amongst LSE's student body and the school has the highest percentage of international students (70%) of all British 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 ranked second in the world for social sciences in the QS Rankings closely trailing Harvard University, in the top twenty in the THE Rankings, and in the top fifty by all four major global rankings. Overall, it is ranked among the top ten universities nationally by two of the three UK tables and ranked 3rd in the country by the Complete University Guide, while internationally it is ranked in the top 50 by two of the four major global rankings and in the top 100 by a third. 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 is usually considered part of the golden triangle of highly research-intensive universities in southeast England. It is a member of academic organisations such as the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the European University Association and the Russell Group.