King's College London

Summary

History

King’s was founded in 1829 in response to the founding of University College London as a more religious, particularly Anglican, institution. King’s opened in 1831, very much in a similar academic guise to Oxford, with a chapel at the heart of its buildings, and subjects taught including Chemistry, English Literature and Commerce. The “University of London” was created in 1836 as a federation of universities consisting of University College London and King's College London with degree awarding powers.

King’s professors played a part in scientific and social advances of the nineteenth century, through extending higher education to women, the working class, and by offering evening classes. The university has merged with other institutions over the years such as the Institute of Psychiatry, United Medical and Dental Schools of Guys’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals and the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery.

Since 2007, degrees are awarded by the university rather than the University of London (UoL).

The structure of DNA was discovered in 1953 at King’s (along with Cambridge) by Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962.

University Environment

The university is spread across five sites within London:

Strand Campus

- As the founding campus of King’s it is located on the Strand in the City of Westminster, with its front overlooking the Thames. Most of the Schools of Arts & Humanities, Law, Social Science & Public Policy and Physical Sciences & Engineering are housed here. Amongst others, the campus combines the Grade 1 listed King’s Building of 1831 and the Byzantine Gothic College Chapel with the more modern Strand Building, completed in 1972. (Nearest underground stations: Temple, Charing Cross, Covent Garden).

Guy’s Campus

- Guy’s Hospital in London Borough of Southwark, established in 1726, houses parts of King’s College London School of Medicine. Additionally, the site is home to the School of Biomedical Sciences and the Dental Institute. Close to London Bridge, on the South Bank, this is an increasingly fashionable area, with bars, restaurants and markets, such as Borough Market, one of the oldest wholesale fruit and vegetable markets, as well as Southwark Cathedral, Shakespeare’s Globe and the Tate Modern. Two of the main halls of residence are also nearby. (Nearest underground stations: London Bridge, Borough).

Waterloo Campus

- The campus, across the river from the Strand, is home to the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, parts of the School of Biomedical Sciences, part of the School of Social Science & Public Policy, part of the Dental Institute and the London Dental Education Centre, with buildings including the James Clerk Maxwell Building and the Franklin-Wilkins Building. The campus is next to London’s South Bank arts and cultural quarter, which include the National Film Theatre and BFI Southbank, the Royal Festival Hall, the Hayward Gallery and the National Theatre. (Nearest underground station: Waterloo).

St Thomas’ Campus

- is located in the London Borough of Lambeth, facing the Houses of Parliament across the Thames and houses parts of the School of Medicine and the Dental Institute. (Nearest underground station: Westminster).

Denmark Hill Campus

- is home to the Institute of Psychiatry (graduate teaching only), and is south of London, straddling the borders of Southwark and Lambeth. Nearby is the Dulwich Picture Gallery, the oldest purpose-built public gallery in England and the Horniman Museum. (Nearest overground station: Denmark Hill).

Academics

Schools

• School of Arts & Humanities
• School of Biomedical Sciences
• School of Dentistry
• School of Law
• School of Medicine,
• School of Natural & Mathematical Sciences
• School of Nursing & Midwifery
• School of Social Science & Public Policy

Research

In the 2014 REF 84% of the University's research was deemed world-leading or internationally excellent, up from 61% in the 2008 RAE. The University performed especially well in Law, which was ranked first in the country in terms of research; Education, which was ranked 2nd in the country for quality; Clinical Medicine, which was ranked 3rd in the country for quality; Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience, which was ranked 2nd in the UK for power and obtained a 100% world-leading ranking for research environment; Politics and International Studies, which ranked first in the UK for power; Philosophy, which ranked 3rd in the UK for quality; and Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, which ranked first in the UK for power. 

International & Industrial Opportunities

King's has more than 150 partner institutions in 30 countries across 5 continents, therefore there are plenty of opportunities for people to study internationally. The country you can study in depends on your department. There are also plenty of opportunities for a year in industry.

Fees & Finance

Scholarships & Bursaries

There are many scholarship opportunities open to a wide range of students looking to study at King's College London. Please refer to their website for more information. 

The King's Living Bursary of up to £1,500  is available to students whose household income is £42,620 or less. There are other bursaries available via the University's website. 

Facilities

Learning Facilities

The College’s library facilities are spread across all five campuses. The collections encompass over one and a half million printed books, as well as thousands of journals, reference tools, statistical data, official publications, maps, music scores, multimedia resources, photographs and manuscripts. There are also individual and group study spaces at all libraries.

The Maugham Library is housed in the Grade II* 19th century gothic former Public Records Office near the Strand Campus, and is home to the books and journals of the Schools of Humanities, Law, Physical Sciences & Engineering, and Social Science & Public Policy.

There are many other specialist libraries, such as the Foyle Special Collections Library which houses a collection of over 150,000 printed works as well as thousands of maps, slides, sound recordings and some manuscripts, and the Tony Arnold Library which houses a collection of over 3000 law books and 140 law journals.

As a constituent of The UoL, students also have access to Senate House, which holds over three million volumes, over 5,200 journals and over 170,000 graduate theses. It is also home to the UoL archives, which include the central archive of the university itself, and many other collections such as the paper of Charles Booth (philanthropist) and Herbert Spencer (philosopher and biologist).

The College has Wi-Fi across its campuses, and students are able to loan laptops. Students can use ‘lecture capture’ whereby students can download lectures recorded by tutors, and watch them whenever they want. The College also has printing, photocopying and scanning facilities.

Sporting Facilities

The College has three outdoor sports facilities, including football pitches, rugby pitches, netball courts, tennis courts, cricket pitches, and lacrosse pitches.

The Kinetic Fitness Centre comprises of cardio rooms and a free weights area, an extensive range of classes and sports massage facilities.

Students' Union

Students’ Union

The College runs a number of sports clubs with nationally recognised fixtures, suitable for beginners to experts.

There are plenty of societies to choose from and students can contribute to their local community by raising funds.

Roar is the student newspaper, produced monthly and there are a variety of opportunities for students within the newspaper, such as writing, photography, layout and design. KCL radio has recently been launched.

The student union has two bars, The Waterfront at the Strand and Guy’s Bar over at London Bridge. Tutu, the university club, named after The Most Reverend Desmond Tutu, holds a number of night, such as Truffle Shuffle, celebrating 80s classics, WTF playing the best of mainstream pop and RnB, I Love the 90s as well as live music, with recent acts such as Miles Kane, Vampire Weekend, MGMT, Hanson and Metronomy.

Students also have access to the University of London Union (ULU), located near Senate House in central London, which has its own sports clubs and societies, newspaper, and campaigns for you to get involved in. It has its own gym, with a fitness suite, swimming pool, exercise classes, remedial treatments, a sports hall and a multi purpose studio. Its facilities also include a café, shop, and the Duck and Dive bar.

Student Support

Religion & Spirituality

The College has two chapels as well as quiet rooms, with all places open to everyone for private prayers and reflection. For Muslim students, there are men’s and women’s prayer rooms on all sites. Many active student religious societies are organised within the students’ union.

Health & Wellbeing

The Student Counselling Service offers counselling, helping students to cope with any problems or difficulties of a personal or emotional nature, whether specifically related to study or not.

The Disability & Dyslexia Service can offer advice and information on the support that is available to those who are disabled, including long term medical conditions, and specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia.

The College has a comprehensive Student Health Centre including NHS GPs and dental treatment.

Career Facilities

King’s Careers and Employability will help you explore your options, network with employers and develop your employability through skills development and finding work experience. Their services include careers guidance, help with job and course applications and assistance with interview techniques; an information library with computer-aided careers guidance and information about careers, employers, internships and work experience, temporary employment, self-employment and graduate job vacancies; events including careers fairs with general or specific focus, including a law fair, a part-time work fair and a a vacation work and internship fair, seminars and workshops on career options and job-hunting skills, visits by employers to give presentations, run case studies and provide insight into their selection procedures; a website with help-sheets and hundreds of useful links.

The Internships Office help develop, manage and monitor quality assured internship placement opportunities, working closely with global networks of small-to-medium and large internship host organisations. This includes strong partnerships with many commercial and academic research organisations, government and non-government think tanks and voluntary organisations.

The College is also part of The Careers Group, University of London, the biggest careers service in the country and the organiser of major events, including recruitment fairs and career development courses.

Accommodation

King's College residences are located throughout London, with most near the university's teaching campuses and all within London travel zones one and two. Students can choose from King's halls as well as the seven catered UoL intercollegiate accommodation, where students are offered a valuable opportunity to mix with those from other London universities. In King's halls there is also a range to suit a variety of tastes and budgets. 

International

English Language Requirements

International Support

The Student Advice & International Student Support Service assists students, offering free and confidential advice to all. The team is professionally trained in a range of subjects including immigration matters, money management, welfare benefits, housing rights and legal issues. Staff have particular experience in helping international students, for example relating to matters such as applying for entry clearance, immigration status, finance and part-time employment.

Media