University of Leeds: History, Rankings, and Notable Alumni
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. Leeds is the eleventh-largest university in the United Kingdom by total enrollment and receives over 67,000 undergraduate applications per year, making it the fifth-most popular university (behind Manchester, Edinburgh, University College London and King’s College London) in the UK by volume of applications. Leeds had an income of £979.5 million in 2022Ð23, of which £184.9 million was from research grants and contracts. The university has financial endowments of £83.2 million (2023), placing it within the top twenty British universities by financial endowment. Notable alumni include current Leader of the Labour Party Keir Starmer, former Home and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, former co-chairman of the Conservative Party Sayeeda Warsi, Piers Sellers (NASA astronaut) and six Nobel laureates
