London School of Economics and Political Science Degree: Victorian Reform and International Debate
London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a specialist social science university in central London. Founded in 1895, it was born of a question that still informs its work: how can the study of society help people understand and improve it? Its motto, rerum cognoscere causas, “to know the causes of things”, is indicative of this focus on investigation and explanation.
The LSE was founded by Sidney Webb, Beatrice Webb, Graham Wallas and George Bernard Shaw, all leading members of the Fabian Society. The institution was financially founded upon a bequest of £20,000. The founders were interested in social reform, but the enterprise was committed to systematic research into economic and political life. At its founding the School was open to women and men and to students from abroad.
Its early environment was modest. Teaching started in three rooms on John Adam Street, near the Strand, with William Hewins as the first director. Some 300 students enrolled in the first year. Studying courses including economics, statistics and political science. Morning and evening classes enabled working students to attend. The LSE became a school of the University of London in 1900, and its first students were awarded University of London degrees in 1902. In that year Passmore Edwards Hall at Clare Market was opened. Further details about the School’s founders and early development are available on the official LSE history page.
Contributions to the Social Sciences
LSE’s intellectual history, despite its name, extends far beyond economics and politics. You are able to get a London School of Economics and Political Science Degree with academic scope in sociology, social anthropology and even social policy. Among the School’s scholars were Bronislaw Malinowski, whose fieldwork defined modern anthropology, and Richard Titmuss, whose research helped define the study of welfare and social administration. These issues brought questions of everyday life, of poverty, and of public responsibility into academic debate.
Another permanent feature of the institution was the library, established in 1896 and later called the British Library of Political and Economic Science. Its founding reflected the high value placed on research even in the early years of the LSE. In addition to teaching and scholarship, another prominent aspect of the School is public discussion. The program of events features academics and other speakers in conversation with audiences, on campus and online.
Student life includes clubs, volunteering, sport, music and student media. The character of the university is given by formal study and debate beyond the classroom, and these activities go hand in hand with a tradition of engagement with political and social questions.