LSE is one of the foremost specialist social science universities in the world, with an institutional commitment to engagement with the wider world at the heart of its mission. The School was founded on the principle of ‘the betterment of society’ through interdisciplinary and academic excellence.
Research
LSE’s research and teaching span the full breadth of the social sciences, from economics, politics and law to sociology, anthropology, accounting and finance. LSE currently has the highest percentage of world-leading research of any UK university, including Oxford and Cambridge. It is this combination of scholarship and deep involvement with real problems in the real world that gives LSE the unique position it occupies.
LSE works to use research-based knowledge to address public issues, inform citizenship and advance both business and social enterprise by bringing knowledge to bear on key societal problems.
The School has a diverse international outlook enabling it to conduct research on global issues in their diverse settings, to see global processes from different perspectives and to offer education and public engagement throughout the world.
Public events programme
LSE has one of the most prestigious public events programmes in the world with an annual global audience of six million. These programmes embody the School’s commitment to engagement and cater to the thirst for informed debate. Global leaders in politics, business and the academic world come to LSE to discuss the issues of the day. Leaders such as Kofi Annan, Nelson Mandela, Dmitry Medvedev, Bill Clinton, John Mahama and Angela Merkel, have all spoken at LSE, as have Nobel laureates the Dalai Lama and Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as business leaders including Bill Gates.
In all, 35 past or present world leaders have studied or taught at the LSE, including Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, John Atta Mills (LLM 1968), Shri KR Narayanan (BSc Government 1948), and Romano Prodi (BSc Economics 1963). A total of 16 Nobel Prize winners in economics, peace and literature have been either LSE staff or alumni, from George Bernard Shaw in 1925 to the most recent Laureate, and current LSE Professor, Chris Pissarides in 2010.
For more information, please contact:
Carsten Vogel
Africa Centre
London School of Economics and Political Science
Houghton Street ¦ London ¦ WC2A 2AE
E-mail: c.vogel@lse.ac.uk