UAL is one of the more complicated universities in the UK, made up, as it is, from six historically separate colleges, and a further four specialist institutes. It was formed through a merger of the separate colleges back in the 80’s and was granted university status in 2003.

The colleges include: Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins, Chelsea College of Arts, London College of Communication, London College of Fashion and Wimbledon College of Arts. Each of these date back to the late 1800s, so are established and reputable.

City St. George’s University in it’s most recent guise came into being just last week (March 2025). The university, as it now is, was formed last year through a merger of St George’s Medical School and (you’ve guessed it), City University! And they’ve just adopted their new name.

But what do we know about the two institutions from before the merger, and how will the merger change things?

I’ve been writing these snapshots for a while now, and it's got to the point where I really can’t put Imperial off any longer. Imperial, you see, was my last full-time role at a university; I was Director of Student Recruitment and Outreach there a decade ago. It should be really easy to write this, but it’s not, as my time there was difficult and short lived.

So as ever, you’ll get a bit of a personal perspective, along with my best attempt at objectivity.

Queen Mary really only became the large, multi-faculty university it is today through the merger of Queen Mary & Westfield College with Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry in 1995, and legally it has only been called a university since 2013. But make no mistake, this is not a ‘new’ university.