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The character of provision for higher education in London was closely related to the demands of the Dissenters, and to the long campaign for the reform of the medical profession. The first, privately funded University of London, opened in 1828, but became University College in 1836, when a new University was established by Government. It was limited to matriculating and examining candidates and to awarding degrees to successful examinees who, until 1858, were enrolled in colleges and medical schools approved by the Home Secretary. This book analyses the behaviour of the University's Senators and their interactions with Ministers, Parliament, the legal and medical establishments, Dissenting groups, the independent colleges and, not least, their own graduates.