Golden Triangle (UK universities)

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The Golden Triangle is formed by six universities based in three cities in the south-east of England. The University of Cambridge in the city of Cambridge forms one corner; the University of Oxford in the city of Oxford forms another; while the third geographic point is the city of London, and includes four schools historically tied to the University of London: Imperial College London, the London School of Economics, University College London and King's College London [1].

The institutions of the 'Golden Triangle' not only receive a large section of the research budget in the United Kingdom,^{[citation needed]} but also enjoy a worldwide reputation for excellence in their own right, hence the term 'golden'. However, the term has gained currency in recent years as a way to denote unrest amongst the nation's premier universities as well as their lobbying efforts to bring about favorable legislation in the British Parliament.^{[citation needed]} All of the schools are currently pressing to charge greater fees^{[citation needed]} for access by European Union nationals, asserting that they do not have the assets to compete on even ground with many of the world’s other leading research universities (the majority of which are private, or if public such as the University of California, Berkeley, charge higher fees to home students for attendance).

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The future of the University of London: a discussion from the Provost of UCL (page 6) [2]

	Imperial College, King’s College, the LSE and UCL are all in the small group of leading universities in the UK and with Cambridge and Oxford are sometimes referred to as “the Golden Triangle”.
	— The future of the University of London: a discussion paper from the Provost of UCL, Malcolm Grant, President and Provost, UCL. (p.6)