SOAS; and the London School of Economics and Political Science. The specialist colleges of the university include the Royal Veterinary College, the Courtauld Institute of Art and St George's, specialising in medicine. Imperial College London was formerly a member before it left the University of London in 2007 on becoming a university in its own right. Heythrop College was a former college specialising in philosophy and theology that closed in 2018. Later the expansion of the university saw the growth of the small specialist colleges such as the Royal Academy of Music and Institute of Education, University of London (now part of UCL) either by being established within or merging into the university. Since the mid-1990s, all University of London colleges have been Recognised Bodies with the right to confer University of London degrees. From 2005 onwards, the Privy Council has granted independent degree awarding powers to most of the colleges, many of which have, since 2008, awarded their own degrees rather than London degrees. The University of London also has three Central Academic Bodies: the School of Advanced Study, the University of London Institute in Paris (ULIP), and the University of London Worldwide, which are under the direct control of the central University and are not considered colleges. University of Wales In the University of Wales, colleges were the lower tier of institutional membership in the federal structure, below constituent institutions, following the reorganisation of the university in 1996. Prior to this, the member institutions were all called colleges. After 2007 the colleges and constituent institutions all became independent universities, with the University of Wales shifting to a confederal structure where it validated degrees from these and other institutions. This arrangement ended in 2011 and it was announced that the university would merge with the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. From August 2017 the two institutions have been functionality merged. University of the Arts London The University of the Arts London (UAL) comprises six specialist art and design colleges, dating from the mid-1850s, that were brought together for administrative purposes. The colleges are not Listed Bodies and do not have separate legal status, but maintain their separate identity and teach their own courses within the university. As a consortium of teaching colleges, each teaching their own courses, joined under the umbrella of the central University, UAL is essentially federal, but differs from UHI and London in that its