London School of Economics and Political Science

Type:	Public
Industry:	Teaching and Research
Founded:	1895
Headquarters:	London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street,London.
Employees:	over 3,000 (2011)
Website:	lse.ac.uk
Twitter:	@LSEpublicevents

The London School of Economics and Political Science (also The London School of Economics or LSE) is one of the world's leading universities. Founded in 1895 by Sidney and Beatrice Webb, it is the most renowned social science university across the globe. It has accomplished the highest excellence and has given 16 Nobel Prize winners to the world. In 2008 the university was given the title of leading research university. LSE provides its students different types of post graduate and undergraduate courses in social science. It has partnered with many international universities to spread top quality education throughout the world. It has also assisted governments and many international organizations for different research purposes and advisory works.

History

London School of Economics was established in 1895. Four Socialists, Sidney and Beatrice Webb, Graham Wallas and George Bernard Shaw, decided to create a school for the improvement of society. The idea was to create an institution that would perform research on poverty in order to eventually help in the development and improvement of society. The four founders, called the Fabian Society, instigated this idea over a breakfast party at Borough farm, near Milford, Surrey, on 4th August 1894. Henry Hunt Hutchinson gifted a sum of about £20,000 to the Fabians in order to establish a world class university. Hutchinson was deeply moved by the idea of creating LSE for the improvement of society.

LSE commenced its first lectures in October 1895 in rooms on John Street; later, the school was moved to 10 Adelphi Terrace. In 1900, the newly established London University recognized LSE as an institution specializing in Economics. In 1901, LSE announced its first degrees, BSc (Econ) and DSc (Econ). These degrees were also the first university degrees ever to be dedicated to social sciences. Along with Hutchinson, many other donors came forward to develop the school rapidly; with the help of these donations, on May 1920 King George V laid the foundation of the Old Building of the school at Clare Market and Houghton Street, off the Aldwych.

Vision

In 1922, the school adopted the motto, “To know the causes of things,” as proposed by Professor Edwin Cannan from Virgil Georgics. This motto became a source of motivation for the school’s participants to perform research and work for the betterment of the society. The motto has also helped form LSE’s visions and strategies. The visions and strategies outlined for the years 2010-2015 are as follows:

• Create degree programs which are challenging, encouraging and led by research.
• Create advanced research that will always be ahead of the social sciences, which will deal with the ever changing challenges of the society.
• Become a top class institute and an international centre for social sciences in the world.
• Engage with various top institutions across the world in order to expand and spread excellent knowledge.

Relation with ICANN

In 2006, ICANN appointed an expert team of researchers from the Public Policy Group of LSE to review the GNSO (Generic Names Supporting Organization). This review was a constitutional part of ICANN’s normal operations, and assisted ICANN in its efforts towards ensuring maximum organizational transparency and efficiency.