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UCL is celebrating 200 years since its foundation, and we're celebrating 200 years of students making more happen at our university.
We’re putting students at the heart of the celebrations and making the Bicentenary year a celebration of the enormous achievements students at UCL have made since 1826.
Coming together to celebrate
Thrive Festival
📅 15, 16 & 21 October
In partnership with the Student Support and Wellbeing Services, we’re bringing you three days packed with opportunities to connect, create, explore, move and restore. There’s something for everyone!
We can’t wait to welcome students and staff to our Bloomsbury and East campuses for a Festival dedicated to your wellbeing.
UCL! The Musical
📅 24 - 28 November
Packed with show-stopping original songs, tap dancing Jeremy Benthams and a very special cast of characters, UCL! The Musical will take you on a glorious, irreverent journey into the heart of an extraordinary institution.
Created and performed entirely by UCL students and recent alumni specially for UCL200, this is a once-in-200-years theatrical experience not to be missed.
UCL Horizons
📅 02 December
For 200 years, UCL has challenged convention, advanced knowledge and shaped the future. On 2 December, we come together for one final moment as we mark the beginning of UCL’s third century.
Legacy, impact and reflection
Artist in Residence: Lauren Godfrey
Lauren Godfrey is our Artist-in-Residence in the student community, marking the Bicentenary year. Using a playful, pattern-led creative approach, Lauren explored the student experience through workshops, performance, research and collaboration. The residency took place in a performance showcase at the Bloomsbury Theatre.
News, updates and insights
Created to commemorate this once‑in‑a‑lifetime anniversary, our new limited‑edition UCL200 merchandise range is now available to purchase exclusively in The Hanger and Hanger online.
With a range of clothing and accessories available, there's something for everyone. So, whether you're looking for a meaningful keepsake, want to show your UCL pride on campus and beyond, or hope to share a gift with a friend or colleague, this collection is your chance to own a piece of history.
All profits from The Hanger and sales of this range are reinvested back into Students’ Union UCL, helping us continue to fund activities, events, services and support for future UCL students. So your purchase doesn’t just look good, it helps make more happen too.
The Bicentenary Blend
Every cup is making a difference. To celebrate UCL200 every cup of coffee sold in our Students' Union UCL cafés will be made using The Bicentenary Blend this year. This exclusive blend not only supports future students with all profits being reinvested into the Students' Union, but also supports Volcano Coffee Works partnership with Fazenda Mio to deliver The Sombra Project, an ambitious agroforestry project currently underway in the heart of Brazil.
Try it for yourself to drink or purchase as whole-bean bags in Students' Union UCL Cafés
‘Generation UCL’ explores 200 years of student life in London, turning institutional history upside down to suggest that the first students of 1828 should be seen as the real ‘founders’ of UCL. Generation UCL is establishing the first major collection of oral history interviews with UCL alumni and has supported the deposit of students’ union archive material with UCL Special Collections.
The project is a partnership between Education, Practice and Society at IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, Students’ Union UCL, and the Office of the Vice-President (Advancement). The project works closely with the UCL200 Bicentennial team and UCL Special Collections.
A new open access book Student London: A New History of Higher Education in the Capital is available through UCL Press. Our programme of impact and engagement activities involve the whole UCL community.
In 2023 we celebrated 130 years of Students' Union UCL - this milestone gave us an opportunity to look back on our history and think about the exciting future ahead.
It was on the third of June 1893 that UCL's Council approved the formation of the Men's Union Society for ‘the promotion of social intercourse and of the means of recreation, physical and mental, of the students of the University College, and the financial success of students’ clubs’.
This was the first version of a Students' Union at UCL and in September 1893 the first students joined the society, starting a 130-year journey to the students' union you know today. Read more about our early years.
Students' Union UCL - A Short History
Available now in the Hanger, this new short history covers our founding years, post-war reconstruction, the social change of the 1960s and 70s, and our future at the centre of student life at UCL.
The book was researched and written by Dr Sam Blaxland, a Lecturer in Education at UCL.