Royal Holloway, University of London (formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College), is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has three faculties, 19 academic departments, and 9,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students from over 100 countries. The campus is just west of Egham, Surrey, within the Greater London Urban Area, although outside the M25 motorway and c. 19 miles (31 km) from the geographic centre of London.
The Egham campus was founded in 1879 by the Victorian entrepreneur and philanthropistThomas Holloway. Royal Holloway College was officially opened in 1886 by Queen Victoria as an all-women college. It became a member of the University of London in 1900. In 1945, the college admitted male postgraduate students, and in 1965, around 100 of the first male undergraduates. In 1985, Royal Holloway merged with Bedford College (another former all-women's college in London, which was founded in 1849 and, like Royal Holloway, joined the University of London in 1900 and became fully co-educational in 1965). The merged college was named Royal Holloway and Bedford New College (RHBNC), this remaining the official registered name of the college by Act of Parliament.
Royal Holloway is ranked 17th in the UK and 118th in the world by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2014–15. The guide has described Royal Holloway as "truly world class".
