University of Leeds

The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Yorkshire College. It became part of the federal Victoria University in 1887, joining Owens College (which became the University of Manchester) and University College Liverpool (which became the University of Liverpool). In 1904, a royal charter was granted to the University of Leeds by King Edward VII.

The university is a member of the Russell Group, a consortium of leading research-intensive universities in the United Kingdom, which includes institutions such as the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge.

Leeds is the tenth-largest university in the United Kingdom by total enrolment and receives over 68,000 undergraduate applications per year, making it the fourth-most popular university (behind Manchester, University College London and King's College London) in the UK by volume of applications. Leeds had an income of £1.05 billion in 2023–24, of which £190.9 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £748.1 million. The university has financial endowments of £94.8 million (2024), placing it within the top twenty British universities by financial endowment.

Notable alumni include current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer, former Home and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, NASA astronaut Piers Sellers and six Nobel laureates. Provided by Wikipedia