Gresham College
Gresham College is an unusual institution of higher learning in London, which enrols no students and grants no degrees; its lectures are free and open to the public. It was founded in 1597 by Sir Thomas Gresham who also established London's Royal Exchange. Housed in Gresham's mansion in Bishopsgate until 1768, the college moved about London thereafter until the construction in 1842 of its own buildings in Gresham Street EC2. Since 1991 it has been in Barnard's Inn Hall, Holborn EC1.Gresham's seven original endowed chairs of Divinity, Music, Astronomy, Geometry, Physic (meaning Medicine), Law and Rhetoric harkened back to the curriculum of the medieval university; but as a place where new ideas were voiced publicly and freely, the college played an important role in The Enlightenment and the formation of the Royal Society. Among its most famous professors is Christopher Wren, who lectured on astronomy in the 17th century.
(The Collège de France is perhaps a Parisian equivalent.)
Today the professors hold their positions for three years, and in 1985 an eighth chair, of Commerce, was added. Since 2000 the college has regularly hosted visiting professors to lecture on topics outside its usual range.