Our flexible study options allow people to pursue new careers without having to give up work to study on-campus. Hong Kong’s Andrew Chan was a pharmacist before he received his Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of London International Programmes in 1989. He was called to the Bar in England and Hong Kong in 1990 and worked in private practice until being appointed as a Magistrate in 1998. He was elevated to District Judge in 2007 and is now a Deputy High Court Judge.
Media - Global community
Our global community of former students and alumni include many exceptional people who have made their mark on the world.
Six Nobel Prize Winners:
- Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins
- Ronald Coase
- Wole Soyinka
- Derek Walcott
- Rolph Payet and,
- Nelson Mandela.
This list also includes academics (Asa Briggs, Kwasi Wiredu, Sir Geoffrey Elton); engineers (Sir Barnes Wallis); politicians (Dr Luisa Diogo, Gisela Stuart MP); and writers (H.G. Wells, Chinua Achebe, Malcolm Bradbury).
Today, our worldwide reputation continues to ensure our graduates are to be found in leading positions around the world.
Judge Andrew Chan - graduated 1989
Judge Christopher Weeramantry - graduated 1949
Former Vice-President of the International Court of Justice
Many graduates from our internationally-renowned Bachelor of Laws degree have gone on to high profile legal careers and become judges within their own countries or overseas. Judge Christopher Weeramantry, who received an LLB (1949) and BA History (1951) from the University of London International Programmes while living in Sri Lanka, has been influential in Sri Lanka and internationally. He worked as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka and a Professor of Law in Australia, before being appointed a Judge of the International Court of Justice in 1991. He held this position until 2000, serving as Vice President from 1997-2000. Since retiring, he has founded the Weeramantry International Centre for Peace Education and Research (WICPER) and is President of the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms. He was the UNESCO Peace Education Laureate in 2006.
“University of London is a centre of scholastic excellence. It just so happens that many Sri Lankans had the choice of where to study, and chose the University of London. So it happens that today many of our best scholars have UOL”
Lord Frederick William Mulley - graduated 1946
Former Secretary of Defence
During the First and Second World Wars the University of London International Programmes enabled British servicemen to study while serving in the Armed Forces or in prisoner-of-war camps. One person who benefited greatly from this wartime study was Lord Frederick William Mulley. As the son of an unemployed factory labourer, Lord Mulley could not afford to go to university. He was given the opportunity to study for a BSc Economics as a Prisoner of War in Germany. This led him to be awarded a scholarship to study at Oxford. He went on to become a barrister, get elected to Parliament, and eventually achieved a senior position in the government as Secretary of State for Defence.
Louise Creighton
Writer
In 1878 the University of London became the first university in the UK to allow women to study for its degrees. By 1900, over 30 per cent of the 536 graduating students were women.
Louise Creighton was one of the first women graduates, passing the University of London’s Special Examination for Women with honours. She went on to become a social activist and writer, who campaigned for votes for women and a greater role for women within the Church of England.
Ronald Coase - graduated 1929
Nobel Prize for Economics
Nobel Prize winner Ronald Coase took the London Intermediate exam as an external student in 1929, while at grammar school in London. This exam covered the first year of a Bachelor of Commerce degree, which he then completed on campus at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Coase’s most famous works are "The Nature of the Firm" and "The Problem of Social Cost". These articles contributed to him being awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1991 for the “discovery and clarification of the significance of transaction costs and property rights for the institutional structure and functioning of the economy”.