Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL) (until recently Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London and still called that in its charter and occasionally still abbreviated to QMW) is the fourth largest College of the University of London. It is organised into four faculties: Arts; Engineering and Mathematical Sciences; Law and Social Sciences; and Natural Sciences, in addition to Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Queen Mary's origins are in the mergers over the years of four older colleges: Queen Mary College, Westfield College, St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College and the London Hospital Medical College. Queen Mary was formally admitted to the University of London in 1915. Although teaching had begun at the London Hospital Medical College in 1785, it was not part of QMUL until 1995.

It is a research university, with a strong international reputation, and over 20 per cent of students coming from over 100 countries. Queen Mary incorporates several leading international research units such as the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, the Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Biomedical Materials, as well as many centres for medical and dental teaching and research. The main site is located in Mile End in the East End of London.

Famous alumni

• Dr Thomas Barnardo - Children's philanthropist
• Graham Chapman - Monty Python star
• Sir Peter Mansfield - Nobel Prize winner
• Peter Hain - Labour MP and Leader of the House of Commons
• Bruce Dickinson - Member of Iron Maiden
• Bernard Butler - Indie guitarist
• Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - Novelist and Academy Award winning screenwriter
• Robert Winston, Baron Winston - Pioneer of in vitro fertilisation
• Sir Malcolm Bradbury - Novelist
• David Sullivan - Pornographer and owner of the Sport and Sunday Sport "newspapers"
• Sir Roy Strong - Historian
• Sir John Meurig Thomas - Chemist
• Baroness Falkender - Politician

Students' Union

The university's Students' Union is based on Bancroft Road, Mile End, and has a gym, shop and prayer room. The bar fills up on Monday nights (termed Happy Mondays, which is a drinks promotion night), Tuesdays for Gagging for It, Wednesdays for Mary's Cheese, Now! Music events on Thursdays and the regular theme nights and club nights that fill out the biggest and best students' union venue in London, Club e1.

A new Students' Union building is currently being planned, to be built as part of the new Student Village along Westfield Way. It will be home to the majority of the non-commercial services, such as student activities and welfare support and allow the commercial ventures to expand in their current surroundings, allowing QMSU to develop all the facilities on offer to students.

There are also plans to create a new health and fitness centre at the heart of the campus, which will in turn allow the existing Students' Union building to be redeveloped, potentially resulting in a media suite, a new non-smoking lounge and a generally more pleasant environment for students at Queen Mary.

The Students' Union publishes a newspaper every month called the Cub, along with a bi-monthly sports paper, Sport 'd.

Elections are held each year for 5 full-time Vice President's (VP's) and 13 executive officers, who have a wide variety of responsibilities, ranging from the environment to equal opportunities within the university. Elections are completed by anonymous cross-campus ballot each year, which also includes election to the Union's numerous and diverse range of standing committees.

International Students

The University is one of the UK's biggest universities in terms of admissions of international students. Students come from over 100 countries.

External links

• Queen Mary, University of London website
• Queen Mary Students Union website
• Queen Mary Politics Community