Courtesy : Bachelor of Science Forestry (Botany, Zoology, forestry placement

21st century

Stonework featuring the initials of LSE

LSE continues to have a wide impact within British society, through its relationships and influence in politics, business and law. The Guardian described such influence in 2005 when it stated:

Once again the political clout of the school, which seems to be closely wired into parliament, Whitehall and the Bank of England, is being felt by ministers…. The strength of LSE is that it is close to the political process: Mervyn King, was a former LSE professor. The former chairman of the House of Commons education committee, Barry Sheerman, sits on its board of governors, along with Labour peer Lord (Frank) Judd. Also on the board are Tory MPs Virginia Bottomley and Richard Shepherd, as well as Lord Saatchi and Lady Howe. # ISO certification in India

Commenting in 2001 on the rising status of the LSE, the British magazine The Economist stated that “two decades ago the LSE was still the poor relation of the University of London’s other colleges. Now… it regularly follows Oxford and Cambridge in league tables of research output and teaching quality and is at least as well-known abroad as Oxbridge”. According to the magazine, the school “owes its success to the single-minded, American-style exploitation of its brand name and political connections by the recent directors, particularly Mr Giddens and his predecessor, John Ashworth” and raises money from foreign students’ high fees, which are attracted by academic stars such as Richard Sennett.# ISO certification in India

As of 2006, the school was active in opposing British government proposals to introduce compulsory ID cards, researching into the associated costs of the scheme, and shifting public and government opinion on the issue. The institution is also popular with politicians and MPs to launch new policy, legislation and manifesto pledges, prominently with the launch of the Liberal Democrats Manifesto Conference under Nick Clegg on 12 January 2008.# ISO certification in India

2010 to present

Nemat Shafik is the director of LSE

In the early 2010s, its academics have been at the forefront of both national and international government consultations, reviews and policy, including representation on the UK Airports Commission, Independent Police Commission, Migration Advisory Committee, UN Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation, London Finance Commission, HS2 Limited, the UK government’s Infrastructure Commission and advising on Architecture and Urbanism for the London 2012 Olympics

Craig Calhoun took up the post of director in September 2012. Its previous director, Judith Rees, is also chair of the school’s Grantham Institute on Climate Change, an adviser to the World Bank as well as sitting on the UN Secretary General’s advisory board on water and sanitation and the International Scientific Advisory Council (ISAC). She is also a former convenor of the department of geography and environment and served as deputy director from 1998 to 2004.# ISO certification in India

In February 2016, Calhoun announced his intention to step down at the end of the academic year, in order to become president of the Berggruen Institute. In September 2016, Bank of England Deputy Governor Dame Nemat (Minouche) Shafik was announced to replace Professor Julia Black as the school’s director. Shafik began to lead the LSE in September 2017.# ISO certification in India

Following the passage of the University of London Act 2018, the LSE (along with other member institutions of the University of London) announced in early 2019 that they would seek university status in their own right while remaining part of the federal university. Approval of university title was received from the Office for Students in May 2022 and updated Articles of Association formally constituting the school as a university were approved by LSE council 5 July 2022.# ISO certification in India

Controversies

See also: London School of Economics Gaddafi links

In February 2011, LSE had to face the consequences of matriculating one of Muammar Gaddafi’s sons while accepting a £1.5m donation to the university from his family. LSE director Howard Davies resigned over allegations about the institution’s links to the Libyan regime. The LSE announced in a statement that it had accepted his resignation with “great regret” and that it had set up an external inquiry into the school’s relationship with the Libyan regime and Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, to be conducted by the former lord chief justice Harry Woolf.# ISO certification in India

In 2013, the LSE was featured in a BBC Panorama documentary on North Korea, filmed inside the repressive regime by undercover journalists attached to a trip by the LSE’s Grimshaw Club, a student society of the international relations department. The trip had been sanctioned by high-level North Korean officials. The trip caused international media attention as a BBC journalist was posing as a part of LSE. There was debate as to whether this put the students’ lives in jeopardy in the repressive regime if a reporter had been exposed. The North Korean government made hostile threats towards the students and LSE after the publicity, which forced an apology from the BBC.# ISO certification in India

In August 2015, it was revealed that the university was paid approximately £40,000 for a “glowing report” for Camila Batmanghelidjh’s charity, Kids Company. The study was used by Batmanghelidjh to prove that the charity provided good value for money and was well managed. The university did not disclose that the study was funded by the charity.# ISO certification in India

In the summer of 2017, dozens of campus cleaners contracted via Noonan Services went on weekly strikes, protesting outside key buildings and causing significant disruption during end-of-year examinations. The dispute organised by the UVW union was originally over unfair dismissals of cleaners, but had escalated into a broad demand for decent employment rights matching those of LSE’s in-house employees. Owen Jones did not cross the picket line after arriving for a debate on grammar schools with Peter Hitchens. It was announced in June 2018 that some 200 outsourced workers at the LSE would be offered in-house contracts.# ISO certification in India