institution of higher learning in the City of Westminster (Westminster, City of), London, England. It is one of the world's leading institutions devoted to the social sciences. A pioneer institution in the study of sociology and international relations, it offers bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degree programs. Among its postgraduate courses are those in European politics and policy, gender, housing, the political economy of transition in Europe, the politics of empire and postimperialism, and social policy and planning in developing countries. It administers centres for research in economics, finance, politics, and society; for environmental law and policy; and for the study of global governance. Total full-time enrollment is approximately 5,600; about half of its students are postgraduates.

The London School of Economics was cofounded in 1895 by Sidney and Beatrice Webb (Webb, Sidney and Beatrice), the former a trustee of the will of Henry Hunt Hutchinson, who wanted the residue of his estate to be spent on socially constructive purposes. George Bernard Shaw (Shaw, George Bernard) was also important in the founding of the school, which became a college of the University of London (London, University of) in 1900. Although Hutchinson, the Webbs, Shaw, and other cofounders were dedicated Fabians (Fabian Society), the Webbs established the principle that the school would offer knowledge and interpretation without dogma. Thus, the influential conservative Friedrich von Hayek (Hayek, F.A.) was among its five faculty members who have won Nobel Prizes (Nobel Prize) in economics. Foreign students have long constituted a large proportion of LSE's student body; in the 1990s about half of its students came from overseas. Among former LSE students are some two dozen past or present heads of state, including presidents and prime ministers.