Universities in London principally comprise three categories:

• The federal University of London, which is composed of many colleges and institutes with a high degree of autonomy. Several of these are larger than many independent universities, and they are sometimes treated as separate universities, for example the well known lists of "best" universities.

• The University of the Arts London, which combines many of the former art colleges and schools in London into a single entity.

• Other independent universities. Most of these were polytechnics until the 1990s.