As originally established in 1836, London was an examining board and degree awarding body for affiliated colleges. Starting with UCL and King's, which were named in the original charter, the list of affiliated colleges grew to include everything from grammar schools to the universities of the British Empire by 1858, when the affiliated college system was abandoned and London's degree examinations thrown open to anyone. Following a campaign led by UCL and King's in the late 19th century, the university became a federal body in 1900. The Constitution evolved during the 20th century, with power shifting towards the central University and then back towards the colleges. In the mid 1990s the colleges gained direct access to government funding and the right to confer University of London degrees themselves, and from 2008 those colleges that held their own degree awarding powers were allowed to use them while remaining part of the federation.