Queen Mary University of London

St Bartholomew’s Hospital was founded in 1123 to help the poor of West Smithfield, in the suburbs of the City of London. The London Hospital, then known as the London Infirmary, was founded in 1740 to serve poor communities in London’s East End; medical teaching took place there, though it was not officially recognised.⁠[1]

The London Hospital Medical College was founded in 1785; the university describes it as England’s first official medical school. One of its founders was Sir William Blizard, known for his teaching of anatomy, physiology and surgery.⁠[1]

In 1791 St Bartholomew’s Medical School was formally recognised with the building of a lecture theatre; before then the surgeon John Abernethy had lectured at his home. Sir James Paget, a surgeon and one of the founders of scientific medical pathology, enrolled in 1834. St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College was established in 1843, and in 1850 Elizabeth Blackwell, later the first woman to earn a US medical degree, enrolled for classes there.⁠[1]

Westfield College was founded in 1882 as a residential college for women, the first of its kind in London. In 1916 Pao Swen Tseng, who studied botany under the Westfield academic Ellen Delf-Smith, became the first Chinese student to graduate from the University of London.⁠[1]

Westfield College became a School of the University of London in 1902 and received a charter from King George V in 1933. An amendment in 1964 allowed it to admit male students, and a supplemental charter in 1976 renamed its governing body the Council.⁠[2]

In 1887 Queen Victoria opened the People’s Palace Technical Schools, which offered evening classes, a library and reading rooms. In 1896 they became East London Technical College, offering day and evening classes, and in 1905 the institution became East London College, with the aim of promoting higher education in East London.⁠[1]

East London College became a School of the University of London in 1907.⁠[2]

The Medical College of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, a constituent body of the University of London since 1900, received a charter from King George V in 1921. The London Hospital Medical College, an unincorporated general medical school of the University of London since 1900, became a corporate body under the National Health Service Act 1946.⁠[2]

The Dental School at the London Hospital opened in 1911.⁠[1]

In 1934 East London College became Queen Mary College, named after Mary of Teck, wife of King George V, and received a charter from George V that year. After the original People’s Palace was destroyed by fire in 1931, King George VI opened the new People’s Palace in 1937.⁠[1][2]

The School of Law was established in 1965. In 1968 the college acquired its first computer and began teaching computer science; in 1980 Sir Roy Goode set up the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, the first in the UK; and in 1988 Queen Elizabeth II opened Queen Mary College’s new library.⁠[1]

In 1989 Queen Mary College and Westfield College merged under the Queen Mary and Westfield College Act 1989 and were incorporated by a charter from Queen Elizabeth II as Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London.⁠[2][1]

In 1992 the Medical College of St Bartholomew’s and the London Hospital Medical College merged to form the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. In 1995 the two medical colleges united with Queen Mary and Westfield College under the Queen Mary and Westfield College Act 1995.⁠[1][2]

In 2000 Queen Mary and Westfield College changed its public name to Queen Mary University of London.⁠[1]

In 2004 the college began a joint degree programme with Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, which it describes as the first programme of its kind approved by China’s Ministry of Education.⁠[1]

In 2008 the charter was amended to allow the college to award its own degrees, and in 2010 it was amended again to reflect the outcome of a governance review.⁠[2]

In 2009 the Centre of the Cell opened at the Blizard Institute of Cell and Molecular Science; the university describes it as the world’s first science education centre located within a working research laboratory.⁠[1]

Invited in March 2012, the college became a member of the Russell Group on August 1, 2012, together with Durham UniversityDurham UniversityDurham University, legally named the University of Durham, is a research university in Durham, North East England, and a member of the Russell Group. Founded under an 1832 Act of Parliament and granted a Royal Charter in 1837, it describes itself as England’s third oldest university and has a collegiate system in which all students belong to one of 17 colleges. Its current Vice-Chancellor and Warden is Karen O’Brien and its Chancellor is Fiona Hill; it had 21,588 students in 2023/24.Open the full entry, the University of YorkUniversity of YorkThe University of York is a collegiate research university in York, England, United Kingdom. It was incorporated by royal charter and admitted its first students in 1963, and it joined the Russell Group in 2012.Open the full entry and the University of ExeterUniversity of ExeterThe University of Exeter is a research university in Exeter, England, United Kingdom, with campuses in Exeter and Cornwall. It traces its roots to a School of Art founded in Exeter in 1855, became a university under a royal charter in 1955 and joined the Russell Group in 2012.Open the full entry. The principal at the time, Simon Gaskell, attributed the invitation to a decade of progress, including stronger research across many disciplines, growing student numbers and rising entry standards.⁠[3]

In 2013 the charter was amended to change the college’s name to Queen Mary University of London.⁠[2]

The university’s Malta Campus welcomed its first cohort of students in 2017, offering a five-year Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) programme taught by the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. At a graduation ceremony in Gozo on July 16, 2026, 68 medical students from 27 nationalities graduated; more than 200 medical students have graduated from the campus since 2017.⁠[4]

On March 20, 2017, the university announced the appointment of Colin Bailey as President and Principal from September 1, 2017, succeeding Simon Gaskell, who retired in August 2017.⁠[5]

Colin Bailey, a structural engineering academic, began his career as an apprentice draughtsman, gained qualifications through day release and night school, and graduated top of his year in civil and structural engineering at the University of SheffieldUniversity of SheffieldThe University of Sheffield is a research university in Sheffield, England, United Kingdom. It grew out of three predecessor institutions, the Sheffield School of Medicine (founded in 1828), Firth College and the Sheffield Technical School, received its royal charter as a university in 1905 and is a member of the Russell Group.Open the full entry. He joined the University of ManchesterUniversity of ManchesterThe University of Manchester is a research university in Manchester, England, formed in 2004 by combining the Victoria University of Manchester and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). It traces its origins to 1824 and is a member of the Russell Group.Open the full entry as Professor of Structural Engineering in 2002 and became its Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor in 2014. He was appointed CBE in the 2020 New Year Honours and is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.⁠[6][7]

In 2019 the university launched “StrategyStrategyStrategy (formerly MicroStrategy) is a Nasdaq-listed company (ticker MSTR) headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States, founded in 1989 by Michael Saylor and originally built on enterprise analytics software. Since 2020, the company has used bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve asset and describes itself as the world’s first and largest Bitcoin Treasury Company; as of September 27, 2026, it held 847,666 bitcoins. Its current Chief Executive Officer is Phong Le.Open the full entry 2030,” setting out its mission to become the most inclusive university of its kind.⁠[1]

In 2023 King Charles III granted the current charter, recognising the institution’s status as a university while it remains a member institution of the University of London.⁠[2]

On July 9, 2025, the university held its Founders’ Day to celebrate the university’s founding 240 years earlier, and honoured four alumni, among them Simon Borrows, chief executive of 3i Group, and Jamie Crummie, co-founder of Too Good To Go. The university says all four founding institutions were set up to help less privileged people, particularly in East London, and that they came together as Queen Mary 30 years earlier.⁠[8]

On July 13, 2026, Luke Pollard, Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, announced the Defence Universities Alliance, with the university among its founding members. The alliance brings together 35 UK academic and research institutions, Universities UK, the Ministry of Defence and the UK Armed Forces, among others, to address defence and national security challenges and build a skilled workforce.⁠[9]

In the 2024–25 financial year ending July 31, 2025, consolidated total income was £738.1 million (up from £722.5 million the year before), including £392.0 million from tuition fees and education contracts and £161.1 million from research grants and contracts; the surplus for the year was £46.1 million, and average full-time-equivalent staff numbered 5,434.⁠[10]

As of November 2026 the university’s website listed more than 32,000 students on degree programmes from over 170 nationalities, about 45% of them from overseas, and more than 4,600 permanent staff. It ranked 103rd in the QS World University Rankings 2027, joint 7th in the UK for research quality in REF2021, and received a Silver rating in TEF 2023.⁠[11]

Research is organised in three faculties: Humanities and Social Sciences, Medicine and Dentistry, and Science and Engineering. The university has five campuses in London and sites in Europe and Asia, including Mile End, Whitechapel, Charterhouse Square, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, West Smithfield, Paris, Malta and China.⁠[11]

The university describes itself as the only campus-based Russell Group university in London.⁠[12]

The university counts nine Nobel Prize winners among its former staff and students.⁠[11]

Queen Mary University of London: Official website: https://www.qmul.ac.uk/ (opens in a new window).⁠[13]

X: Public account: https://x.com/QMUL (opens in a new window).⁠[13]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/school/queen-mary-university-of-london/ (opens in a new window).⁠[13]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/QMULOfficial (opens in a new window).⁠[13]