University of London, England

The University of London is a university based primarily in London. Subjects can be studied at various levels and lead to the award of foundation, undergraduate, taught postgraduate and research degrees, or to diplomas or certificates.
The University of London owns a considerable estate of 160 buildings centred on the Bloomsbury district of central London near the Russell Square tube station. Some of the University's colleges have their main buildings on the estate. The Bloomsbury campus also contains eight Halls of Residence and Senate House, which houses the Senate House Library, the chancellor's official residence and the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, now part of University College London (UCL) and housed in its own new building.
The estate includes several properties outside Bloomsbury, including the University Marine Biological Station, Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae, a boathouse on the Chiswick embankment, a number of self-catering units further afield, which together house nearly 3,000 students, and the full premises of the University of London Institute in Paris which offers undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in French Studies.
Many of the University's college and institutes are outside Bloomsbury: those normally own their own estates.
The University is a federal mega university made up of 31 affiliates (19 colleges and 12 institutes). The nine larger colleges are Birkbeck, Goldsmiths, King's College London, the London Business School, the London School of Economics, Queen Mary, Royal Holloway, the School of Oriental and African Studies, and University College London (UCL).
For most practical purposes, ranging from admission of students to negotiating funding from the government, the 19 constituent colleges are treated as individual universities. Within the university federation they are known as Recognised Bodies, with the authority to examine students and have the university award them degrees. Some colleges have recently obtained the power to award their own degrees and the University has amended its statutes to allow them to do so and remain in the university. For instance, beginning in the 2007/08 academic year, King's College London, the London School of Economics and the University College London will be awarding their own degree certificates while retaining their constituent colleges status within the University of London.