Royal Holloway enjoys an international reputation for the highest quality teaching and research across the sciences, arts and humanities.
The famous Founder's Building, one of the most spectacular university buildings in the world, was officially opened by Queen Victoria in 1886. Since then, Royal Holloway has continued to grow in size and status, building on the excellence of our scholarship and the talents of our students.
Today, a combination of distinctive character, academic vision and membership of the University of London has established Royal Holloway among the top research-led university institutions in the country.
Royal Holloway is renowned for having a friendly environment - home for a vibrant community of 7,700 undergraduate and postgraduate students of all ages and backgrounds and from more than 130 countries. Our spacious 135 acre campus provides an impressive range of modern academic and social facilities in a parkland setting in Surrey, close to London and the UK's major communications network.
Research
Royal Holloway has earned a world-class reputation for developing original research. Our students join a community in which academic staff are working at the frontiers of their subjects, and degree courses, interdisciplinary programmes and specialist research centres reflect current thinking and the latest developments. This internationally recognised research led institution has 49 different research centres based on campus. The School of Management alone has 11 research centres, with international focus and global faculty.
Research is enhanced by successful relationships and collaborations with industry and commerce. Royal Holloway continues to play an important role in the economic and cultural profile of the South East region, and in South West London. Thriving business partnerships provide a platform for productive links between the College, multinational corporations and local enterprises. Through WestFocus, a partnership between higher education, the local community, and businesses in South & West London and the Thames Valley, the College encourages the exchange of knowledge and skills available in the region.
Brief History: Royal Holloway College was founded by the Victorian entrepreneur, Thomas Holloway as a college for the higher education of bright young women. Almost 100 years later, Royal Holloway merged with Bedford College, another pioneering institution founded in 1849 by Elizabeth Jesser Reid. The colleges became part of the University of London before the turn of the century, when the University first awarded degrees to women, and both began to admit male undergraduates from 1965.