Principal's welcome

St George’s is justifiably proud of its distinctiveness as a health sciences university. It is a university that has its own identity through being co-located with its university hospital in South West London, enabling students and staff to walk the corridors from clinical teaching room to laboratory to hospital ward or clinic. St George’s serves a community of more than one million people in London – a community that is nationally representative and relevant to learning and researching medicine and biological sciences in their broadest sense. St George’s is proud of being self-reliant and values its partners across the university and health sectors. This pride is reflected by our current and past students in their continuing commitment and loyalty to St George’s, University of London.

St George’s provides a working and learning environment that enables students and staff to work closely together, creating a uniquely convivial and supportive environment. Our students are our future – we provide programmes in medicine, biomedical sciences, and bioinformatics.

St George’s was the first university in the UK to introduce a four-year graduate course to encourage mature students from all walks of life to enter medicine. We work actively with local schools to encourage less advantaged students to consider medicine as a career. We are proud to teach midwifery, radiography, physiotherapy, paramedic, social work and nursing students in conjunction with Kingston University in our joint Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences. This fostering of interdisciplinary learning for students entering the different professions supports the inter-professional teamwork necessary for good patient care. Students benefit from our reputation within the NHS for training excellent future healthcare professionals.

Through the South West London Academic Network (SWan), we work in collaboration with Kingston and Royal Holloway, University of London, to enrich our courses offer and enhance teaching and research opportunities for students and staff in the biomedical, life science, health and social care disciplines.

We share our campus with St George’s Hospital, one of UK’s busiest hospitals, and are neighbours with the South West London Mental Health Trust. These two NHS Trusts comprise the hub of an extensive network of acute hospital trusts, primary care trusts and social services that constitute what is referred to as the South West London Academic Health Sciences Network. This special combination of supportive learning environments with a wealth of local clinical experience contributes to the distinctiveness of St George’s.

St George’s is proud of its historic roots and a tradition of innovation in research and education throughout its 250-year history: from John Hunter and Edward Jenner to modern-day internationally recognised scientists at the forefront of treating infectious diseases, cardiovascular disease and stroke. Clinical scientists work closely with biological scientists to better understand the biological and genetic mechanisms that lead to illness, and the most effective methods for preventing disease. We are proud of how this knowledge is translated into the care of people living in South West London and beyond.

Our students consider St George’s to be an incredible place to study. They acknowledge our teaching to be exceptional and value the closeness with the academic and administrative staff – importantly, our students rate highly their facilities and social activities, and the many clubs, societies and sports available to them through the Students’ Union. Students appreciate being part of a community that is making an important contribution to London society through links with schools and charities.

Choosing a university and a degree programme require considerable thought - it is one of the most important and challenging decisions of your life. As an alumnus of St George’s I harbour many, many happy memories of student life – I hope that you too will feel similarly in the future, whether your final choice is St George’s or elsewhere. I wish you every success in your application to university and hope that you will give serious consideration to St George’s, University of London.

Professor Peter Kopelman
Principal