Originally called Royal Holloway College, the establishment was founded by Thomas Holloway as a female-only college in 1879. It became part of the University of London in 1900. Males were not admitted until 1965, following the Royal Holloway College Act of 1962. In 1985 the college merged with Bedford College to become Royal Holloway and Bedford New College. This name was changed for day-to-day use to Royal Holloway, University of London in 1992 by the College Council, although the registered title remained the same.
The main college building, known as the Founder's, was designed by Willian Henry Crossland and inspired by the Chateau of Chambord, Loire Valley, France. It is part of a campus which is set in 49 Ha (120 acres) of parkland and within walking distance of Windsor Great Park. The building was officially opened on 30 June1886 by Queen Victoria, who allowed the use of Royal in its name. The college has had a number of royal connections since this time. In 1939 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Literature (DLit) Degree by the University of London.
As of 2003, the college had 5,500 students enrolled. An unofficial University League Table by The Times newspaper (17 May 2004) ranked Royal Holloway at fifteenth place in the UK. In the South East region Holloway is ranked second, after Oxford. The Physics Department of Royal Holloway was ranked first in the UK by the Guardian newspaper. In 1998 the college was awarded the Queen's Anniversary Prize in recognition of the work of the Information Security Group (http://www.isg.rhul.ac.uk/).
Royal Holloway Students' Union (http://www.su.rhul.ac.uk/)
Two articles from the Guardian newspaper, positive (http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/universityguide/studentprofile/story/0,,715466,00.html) and negative (http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,1407538,00.html).
Three members of the Geology Department at RoyalHolloway, University of London are presenting at the 115th annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, which takes place November 2-5, in Seattle, Washington.
Alejandro Amilibia, a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow from RoyalHolloway, University of London, and a member of the Fault Dynamics Research Group, is presenting on "Inversion tectonics at Cordillera de Domeyko and its control on giant porphyry copper emplacement: new insights on Flat-slab subduction kinematics during the Tertiary".
Alun Lewis, a Senior Lecturer in Science Communication at RoyalHolloway, University of London, is presenting "Have we got the science communication model wrong?" which addresses issues of improving public understanding of science and the need for more effective communication from scientists in order to achieve this.