London South Bank University (LSBU) is a university in central London. With over 25,000 students and 1,700 staff, it is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name. Founded from charitable donations in 1892 as Southwark's "Borough Polytechnic Institute", it absorbed several other local colleges in the 1970s and 1990s, and finally achieved university status in 1992. The current Vice-Chancellor is Martin Earwicker.