London Calling — why London is a magnet for global talent

By Ruth Arnold, Executive Director of External Affairs

The great diarist Samuel Johnson famously wrote that ‘if a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.’

In the centuries that followed, a lot of wonderful (and some ignorant) things have been said about this extraordinary capital city, but ‘boring’ isn’t one of them. This is a city that evolves, reinvents and attracts the world.

But London is also a place of learning and youthful talent. London’s population is notably younger than the UK average, more educated and much more international. And that’s not new. London is where Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Nelson Mandela studied Law, where Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, where Alexander Graham Bell and Florence Nightingale laid the foundation for invention and the transformation of medical treatment.

Both Virginia Woolf and Oscar Wilde were students in this literary city. I think of Virginia walking through London’s parks and roads, and then writing, “The streets of London have their map, but our passions are uncharted. What are you going to meet if you turn this corner?”   Meanwhile Wilde thought the city itself was an education. “A man,” he said, “who can dominate a London dinner-table can dominate the world.”

London — a springboard for change

International political figures sharpened their visions in London, and it is still a place that the political and business leaders who make and remake society come to sharpen their skills. Desmond Tutu, John F. Kennedy and B. R. Ambedkar all studied in London. Karl Marx worked at a desk in the ‎British Library Reading Room while writing parts of his treatise. Bloomberg prepared to transform global business. Today young change makers make their own manifestos for change in the capital.

And what of the Arts? From acting to architecture, music to fashion, London has drawn creative talent for centuries.  A modern student can visit the Globe theatre and watch a play by Shakespeare next to the river performed in ways familiar and startling. Anthony Hopkins, Phoebe WallerBridge and Tom Hiddleston studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Elton John attended the Royal Academy of Music and rock legend Mick Jagger went to the London School of Economics.

Fashion too. Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen and John Galliano all studied here, and London street-style remains as diverse as the people and cultures who make up a city in which tradition and modernity collide in exhilarating ways.

A thriving international education ecosystem

International students continue to see London as a top destination. London’s universities welcome 158,000 international students each year, a quarter of the total across the whole of the U.K. And it is the fact that international talent thrives here that really makes London a magnet for global investment and ambition.

Of course, many students are attracted to major and highly-ranked global universities such as Imperial College, University College and King’s, but the city’s higher-education offer goes far beyond the famous few. In fact there are over 40 universities in London.

There are extraordinary specialist institutions in music, dance, veterinary medicine, design. Some places are urban and intense, others in extraordinary historic settings. I think of the socially-minded Royal Holloway University of London with its French-chateau-style founder’s building and beautiful grounds mingling innovation, creativity, tech and globally ambitious students. Student diversity is the spice of London life.

London also has a uniquely sharp focus on career development, working with its concentration of companies to draw students from across the world. In the southwest of the city at Kingston University, for example, extensive placement opportunities mean students build their professional networks from day one. While at the brand new University of Huddersfield London Campus in the heart of the London’s financial district, students from 
across the world follow a curriculum shaped by entrepreneurship, real-world opportunity and timetabling suited to building experience alongside study.

A plan for growth

With so much talent clustered in the city, it’s no surprise that London has placed international education at the core of its growth strategy. As London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan puts it: “It’s clear that London cannot achieve its full potential, until all Londoners achieve their potential. That’s why a new inclusive talent strategy will be at the heart of the London Growth Plan.”

After all, this is a city whose history is long but whose story is very much still being written, and its future depends on ensuring that it remains open, dynamic and relentlessly inclusive. In a world where higher-education is more global than ever before, London stands out not simply because it attracts talent but because it nurtures it.

The universities and international education experts in this wonderful city are not resting on our laurels, no matter how extraordinary our history. Like the city, we press ahead, reinvent and reimagine. We are determined to work with business and government to make sure London remains the place global talent calls home.