Imperial College London (legally The Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public university located in London, United Kingdom. Imperial's origins lie with Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband, who envisioned an area to find practical solutions to social challenges, which comprises the Natural History Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum andScience Museum. Imperial has grown through mergers including with St Mary's Hospital Medical School. Queen Elizabeth II opened the recently established Imperial College Business School. A former constituent college of the University of London, Imperial became independent during its centennial celebration.
Imperial is organised into four faculties of science, engineering, medicine and business. The main campus is located in South Kensington. The university is a major biomedical research centre and is part of the Imperial College Healthcare academic health science centre. Imperial is a member of the Russell Group, G5, Association of Commonwealth Universities,League of European Research Universities, and the "Golden Triangle" of British universities.
Imperial is consistently included among the top universities in the world, ranking 2nd in the 2015QS World University Rankings and 9th in the 2015 Times Higher Education World University Rankings. According to a corporate study in The New York Times its graduates are among the 10 most valued in the world.
