King's operates across five main campuses: the historicStrand Campus in central London, three otherThames-side campuses (Guy's, St Thomas' and Waterloo) nearby, and a campus inDenmark Hill insouth London. It also has a presence inShrivenham,Oxfordshire, for professional military education, and inNewquay,Cornwall, which is where King's information service centre is based. The academic activities are organised into nine faculties, which are subdivided into numerous departments, centres, and research divisions. In 2023/24, King's reported total income of £1.271 billion, of which £256.9 million was from research grants and contracts.[4] It has thefourth largest endowment of any university in the UK, and the largest of any in London. King's is thesixth-largest university in the UK by total enrolment[14] and receives over 68,000 undergraduate applications per year.
King's College, so named in recognition of the patronage ofKing George IV, was founded in 1829 (though the roots of King's medical school, St. Thomas, date back to the 16th century with recorded first teaching in 1561)[3] in response to the theological controversy surrounding the founding of "London University" (which later becameUniversity College, London) in 1826.[20][21] London University was founded, with the backing ofUtilitarians,Jews andNonconformists, as a secular institution, intended to educate "the youth of our middling rich people between the ages of 15 or 16 and 20 or later"[22] giving its nickname, "the godless college in Gower Street".[23] The need for such an institution was a result of the religious and social nature of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, which then educated solely the sons ofwealthyAnglicans.[24] The secular nature of London University gained disapproval, indeed, "the storms of opposition which raged around it threatened to crush every spark of vital energy which remained".[25]
Winchilsea and about 150 other contributors withdrew their support of King's College London in response to Wellington's support ofCatholic emancipation. In a letter to Wellington, he accused the Duke to have in mind "insidious designs for the infringement of our liberty and the introduction of Popery into every department of the State".[30] The letter provoked a furious exchange of correspondence and Wellington accused Winchilsea of imputing him with "disgraceful and criminal motives" in setting up King's College London. When Winchilsea refused to retract the remarks, Wellington – by his own admission, "no advocate of duelling" and a virgin duellist – demanded satisfaction in a contest of arms: "I now call upon your lordship to give me that satisfaction for your conduct which a gentleman has a right to require, and which a gentleman never refuses to give."[31]
The result was aduel inBattersea Fields on 21 March 1829.[21][32] Winchilsea did not fire his pistol, a plan he and his second almost certainly decided upon before the duel; Wellington took aim and fired wide to the right. Accounts differ as to whether Wellington missed on purpose. Wellington, noted for his poor aim, claimed he did, other reports more sympathetic to Winchilsea claimed he had aimed to kill.[33] Honour was saved and Winchilsea wrote Wellington an apology.[30] Every year, "Duel Day" is commemorated on the first Thursday following March 21, featuring a range of events across King's, including reenactments.[32][34]
19th century
King's College London in 1831, as engraved by J. C. CarterWilliam Otter (1831–36), the first Principal of King's College London
King's opened in October 1831 with the clericWilliam Otter appointed as first principal and lecturer in divinity.[20] TheArchbishop of Canterbury presided over the opening ceremony, in which a sermon was given in the chapel byCharles James Blomfield, theBishop of London, on the subject of combining religious instruction with intellectual culture. Despite the attempts to make King's Anglican-only, the initial prospectus permitted, "nonconformists of all sorts to enter the college freely".[35]William Howley: the governors and the professors, except the linguists, were required to be members of the Church of England but the students did not,[36] though attendance at chapel was compulsory.[37]
King's was divided into a senior department and a junior department, also known asKing's College School, which was originally situated in the basement of the Strand Campus.[20] The junior department started with 85 pupils and only three teachers, but quickly grew to 500 by 1841, outgrowing its facilities and leading it to relocate toWimbledon in 1897 where it remains, though it is no longer associated with King's College London.[36] Within the senior department teaching was divided into three courses: a general course comprised divinity, classical languages, mathematics, English literature and history; a medical course; and miscellaneous subjects, such as law, political economy and modern languages, which were not related to any systematic course of study at the time and depended for their continuance on the supply of occasional students.[20] In 1833 the general course was reorganised leading to the award of theAssociate of King's College (AKC), the first qualification issued by King's.[20] The course, which concerns questions of ethics and theology, is still awarded to students and staff who take an optional three-year course alongside their studies.[38]
The river frontage was completed in April 1835 at a cost of £7,100,[39] fulfilling a key stipulation required by King's College London securing the site from the Crown.[20] Unlike those in the school, student numbers in the Senior department remained almost stationary during King's first five years of existence. During this time the medical school was blighted by inefficiency and the divided loyalties of the staff leading to a steady decline in attendance. One of the most important appointments was that ofCharles Wheatstone as professor of Experimental Philosophy.[20]
At the time, neither King's, "London University", nor the medical schools at the London hospitals had the authority to confer degrees. In 1835 the government announced that it would establish an examining board to grant degrees, with "London University" and King's both becoming affiliated colleges. This became theUniversity of London in 1836, the former "London University" becomingUniversity College, London (UCL).[24] The first University of London degrees were awarded to King's College London students in 1839.[40]
In 1840, King's opened its ownhospital on Portugal Street nearLincoln's Inn Fields, an area composed of overcrowdedrookeries characterised by poverty and disease. The governance ofKing's College Hospital was later transferred to the corporation of the hospital established by the King's College Hospital Act 1851. The hospital moved to new premises inDenmark Hill,Camberwell in 1913. The appointment in 1877 ofJoseph Lister as professor of clinical surgery greatly benefited the medical school, and the introduction of Lister'santiseptic surgical methods gained the hospital an international reputation.[20]
In 1845, King's established a Military Department to train officers for the Army and theBritish East India Company, and in 1846 a Theological Department to train Anglican priests. In 1855, King's pioneered evening classes in London;[36] that King's granted students at the evening classes certificates of college attendance to enable them to sit University of London degree exams was cited as an example of the worthlessness of these certificates in the decision by the University of London to end the affiliated colleges system in 1858 and open their examinations to everybody.[41]
TheKing's College London Act 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. xiii) amended the constitution. The act removed the proprietorial nature of King's, changing the name of the corporation from "The Governors and Proprietors of King's College, London" to "King's College London" and annulling the 1829 charter (although King's remained incorporated under that charter). The act also changed King's College London from a (technically) for-profit corporation to a non-profit one (no dividends had ever been paid out in over 50 years of operation) and extended the objects of King's to include the education of women.[20][42] The Ladies' Department of King's College London was opened inKensington Square in 1885, which later in 1902 became King's College Women's Department.[40]
TheKing's College London Act 1903 (3 Edw. 7. c. xcii) abolished all remaining religious tests for staff, except within the Theological department. In 1910, King's was (with the exception of the Theological department) merged into the University of London under theKing's College London (Transfer) Act 1908 (8 Edw. 7. c. xxxix), losing its legal independence.[43]
During theFirst World War, the medical school was opened to women for the first time.[20] From 1916 to 1921, the college's Department of Italian was headed by a woman,Linetta de Castelvecchio.[44] The end of the war saw an influx of students, which strained existing facilities to the point where some classes were held in the Principal's house.[20]
Evacuated King's College London students at theUniversity of Bristol during the Second World War
InWorld War II, the buildings of King's College London were used by theAuxiliary Fire Service with a number of King's staff, mainly those then known as college servants, serving asfirewatchers. Parts of the Strand building, thequadrangle, and the roof ofapse and stained glass windows of the chapel suffered bomb damage inthe Blitz.[45][46] During post-war reconstruction, the vaults beneath the quadrangle were replaced by a two-storey laboratory, which opened in 1952, for the departments of Physics and Civil and Electrical Engineering.[20]
Major reconstruction of King's began in 1966 following the publication of theRobbins Report on Higher Education. A new block facing the Strand designed by E. D. Jefferiss Mathews was opened in 1972.[36] In 1980 King's regained its legal independence under a new Royal Charter. In 1993 King's, along with other large University of London colleges, gained direct access to government funding (which had previously been through the university) and the right to confer University of London degrees itself. This contributed to King's and the other large colleges being regarded asde facto universities in their own right.[50]
In July 2006, King's College London was granted independent degree-awarding powers in its own right, as opposed to through theUniversity of London, by thePrivy Council.[54] This power remained unexercised until 2007, when King's announced that all students starting courses from September 2007 onwards would be awarded degrees conferred by King's itself, rather than by the University of London. The new certificates however still make reference to the fact that King's is a constituent college of the University of London.[55] The first King's degrees were awarded in summer 2008.[56]
In April 2011, King's became a founding partner in the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation, subsequently renamed theFrancis Crick Institute, committing £40 million to the project.[57] The Chemistry department was reopened in 2011 following its closure in 2003.[58] In February 2012, theQueen officially opened Somerset House East Wing.[59]
In September 2014, King's College London openedKing's College London Mathematics School, afree schoolsixth form located inLambeth that specialises in mathematics.[60] In October 2014,Ed Byrne replacedRick Trainor as Principal of King's College London, the latter having served for 10 years. In December 2014, King's announced its plans to rebrand its name to 'King's London'. After concerns were raised by the students' union,[61] a statement from the college later in December emphasised that there were no plans to change the legal name of King's, and said that the branding of 'King's London' was "designed to promote King's and its place in London and also the fact that we are one of the world's great universities in our own right".[62] King's announced that the rebranding plans had been dropped in January 2015.[63][64]
In 2015, King's acquired a 50-year lease for the Aldwych Quarter site incorporating the historicBush House. It has been occupied since 2017.[65] Bush House was opened as part of the Strand Campus by the Queen in 2019.[59]
Campus
King's is based on five campuses in central London.[66] The main campus area is located on theStrand in theCity of Westminster, which includes theBush House. The Waterloo Campus is located nearby on the southern side of theRiver Thames. St. Thomas' Campus is located in Lambeth. TheGuy's Campus which houses the science-related courses is located nearLondon Bridge, whereas the Denmark Hill Campus is in Southwark.
The Strand Campus is the original campus of King's. The campus is based around theGrade I listed originalKing's Building constructed for the college in 1831, designed bySir Robert Smirke, adjacent toSomerset House and sharing its frontage along the River Thames, including theKing's College London Chapel, redesigned in 1864 bySir George Gilbert Scott.[67] The campus also includes buildings along the adjacent Surrey Street, the Strand Building and the east wing of Somerset House. Beyond this contiguous complex of buildings, the campus also includes Bush House on the opposite side of the Strand, theMaughan Library and etc.venues onChancery Lane.[68] The nearby Virginia Woolf Building was also part of the Strand Campus area until the lease expired in autumn 2025.[69]
The King's College London Chapel inside the King's Building, redesigned in 1864 bySir George Gilbert Scott
The Strand Campus houses the arts and science faculties of King's, including the faculties ofarts and humanities,law, natural and mathematical sciences, social science and public policy, and business, as well as the King's Foundation.[68]
Guy's Campus is close to London Bridge, right next toThe Shard, and it is adjacent toGuy's Hospital. It is home to thefaculty of life sciences and medicine (also at the Waterloo Campus), the dental institute, and the institute of psychiatry, psychology and neuroscience (also at the Denmark Hill Campus).[73]
The Hodgkin Building, Guy's Campus
Buildings include: the Henriette Raphael building,[73] the Hodgkin building[73] and Shepherd's House.[73] The campus is also home to theGordon Museum of Pathology and theMuseum of Life Sciences (neither of which is open to the public),[74][75] as well as the Chapel of Thomas Guy.[76] TheStudents' Union runs Guy's Bar, Guy's Café and a contact hub on the Guy's Campus.[72][77][78] The Great Dover Street Apartments and Wolfson House halls of residence are close to the campus.[73]
The hospital and the campus are named afterThomas Guy, who established the hospital with money from his investments in the slave-tradingSouth Sea Company.[79] Astatue of Thomas Guy, installed in 1734 and owned by the Guy's and St Thomas’ Foundation, stands outside the hospital, on the grounds of the university campus. This was boarded up in 2020, following theGeorge Floyd protests, it was de-boarded for conservation work, with temporary interpretation added, in November 2022.[80][81] Permanent interpretation was installed in November 2023.[82]
Waterloo Campus
The Franklin-Wilkins Building, Waterloo Campus
The Waterloo Campus is inLambeth, acrossWaterloo Bridge from the Strand Campus and adjacent to theSouthbank Centre. It has three main buildings: the James Clerk Maxwell Building, the Franklin–Wilkins Building (one of the largest university buildings in London) and the Stamford Street Apartments (student accommodation).[83]
The campus is home to the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery and parts of the faculty of life sciences and medicine (also on Guy's Campus); the faculty of social science and public policy (also on the Strand Campus); and the London Dental Education Centre, part of the Dental Institute (also on the Guy's and Denmark Hill campuses).[83] The students' union has a contact hub in the Franklin-Wilkins Building.[72]
The Denmark Hill Campus is situated inCamberwell in Southwark. It is the home of theInstitute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) and also houses parts of the dental institute and the faculty of medicine and life sciences.[86] The students' union has a contact hub in the IoPPN.[72]
Other sites
Halls of residence
King's has halls of residence across central London. With the exception of the Stamford Street Apartments on the Waterloo Campus, these are separate sites from the college's campuses.[83][87]
The King's Service Centre, established in 2015 to provide professional services and IT support to the university, is located inNewquay,Cornwall.[90][91]
The office of "President and Principal of the University" is established by King's College London royal charter as "theVice-Chancellor and chief academic and executive officer of the University"[92] and the statutes require the president and principal to have the general responsibility to the council for "ensuring that the objects of the University are fulfilled and for maintaining and promoting the efficiency, discipline and good order of the University".[93] The current president and principal,Shitij Kapur, uses the title "Vice-Chancellor and President".[94] The other senior officers of the college include three senior vice presidents, covering the sectors of: academic; health and life science; and operations. There are also five vice presidents covering the areas of: finance (also the college's chief financial officer); education and student success; international, engagement and service; research and innovation; and people and talent.[95]
Thecouncil is the supreme governing body of King's College London established under the charter and statutes, comprising up to 20 members. Its membership includes the President ofKing's College London Students' Union as the student member; seven staff members (including the President and Principal); and 12 lay members who must not be employees of King's.[92][93] It is supported by a number of standing committees.[96]Christopher Geidt has been the chair of council since 2016.[97][98]
Theacademic board is established under the charter as "the body responsible under delegated authority from the Council for the regulation of the academic work of the University in teaching and examining and in research".[92] Under the college ordinances, they are the body responsible for the award of degrees and other academic distinctions of the university.[99] The academic board is chaired by the vice-chancellor and president withex officio members being the senior vice presidents, vice presidents, executive deans, the president and education vice presidents of the students' union, the dean for doctoral studies, and the Dean of King's College; 45 academic staff elected by the faculties; 3 teaching staff elected from the Centre for International Education & Languages; three members elected from the professional staff; and an elected student representative from each faculty.[99]
The Dean of King's College London is established by the ordinances as being "responsible for ensuring that the College builds upon the Anglican tradition associated with its foundation and, in recognition of the multiethnic and international nature of its community, encourages and supports all its members of all beliefs and backgrounds" and has to be an ordained minister of the Church of England. They are also responsible for the academic direction of theAssociateship of King's College and coordinate the college chaplaincy,[99] and the Choir of King's College London, which includes a number of choral scholarships,[100] and to encourage and foster vocations to the Church of Englandpriesthood.[101] The current dean isEllen Clark-King.[95] That the dean is an ordained person is unusual among British universities, but reflects King's foundation in the tradition of the Church of England in 1829.[102]
TheArchbishop of Canterbury was previously King's College London'svisitor by right of office owing to the Anglican foundation of King's.[103] Under the 2023 royal charter, the visitor is appointed by the monarch on the representation of the council of the university.[92]
Faculties and departments
In the 19th century, King's College London had five departments: theological, general literature and science, applied sciences, medical, and military.[104][105] The theological department provided studies inecclesiastical history,pastoral theology andexegesis of the Bible.[105] Languages and literature, history, law and jurisprudence, political economy, commerce, fencing, mathematics, zoology and natural history were taught within the department of general literature and science,[105] and natural philosophy, geology, mineralogy and engineering-related subjects were taught within the department of applied sciences.[105]
As of 2024[update], King's comprises nine academic faculties: arts and humanities; business; dentistry, oral and craniofacial sciences; law; life sciences and medicine; natural, mathematical and engineering sciences; nursing, midwifery and palliative care; psychiatry, psychology and neuroscience; and social science and public policy.[106]
Faculty of arts and humanities
Life-size wax sculpture ofVirginia Woolf, a writer and alumna of King's
The faculty of arts and humanities is based on the Strand Campus in the heart of centralLondon, in the vicinity of many cultural institutions, and has established collaborations with many of these, includingShakespeare's Globe, theCourtauld Institute of Art and theRoyal Academy of Music.[107] The faculty was formed in 1989 by the amalgamation of the faculties of arts, music and theology.[108]
Faculty of dentistry, oral and craniofacial Sciences
The faculty of dentistry, oral and craniofacial sciences (formerly the dental institute) is thedental school of King's and focuses on understanding disease, enhancing health and restoring function.[109] It is the successor of education carried out at Guy's Dental Hospital, theRoyal Dental Hospital's London School of Dental Surgery, and King's College Hospital Dental School. These became a single institution in 1998 with the merger of the united medical and dental schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals with King's school of medicine and dentistry.[110]
The history of dentistry education at the institutions that would eventually become the faculty started in 1799, when Joseph Fox gave a series of lectures on dental surgery at Guy's Hospital and was appointed dental surgeon in the same year.[111]Thomas Bell succeeded Fox as dental surgeon either in 1817 or 1825.[111]Frederick Newland-Pedley, who was appointed assistant dental surgeon at Guy's Hospital in 1885, advocated the establishment of a dental school within the hospital, and he flooded the two dental schools in London, the Metropolitan School of Dental Science and the London School of Dental Surgery, with patients to prove that a further hospital was needed.[111] In December 1888, Guy's Hospital Dental School was established.[111][112] Guy's Hospital Dental School was recognised as a school of the University of London in 1901. In the 1970s, since there was a decline in the demand for dental services, theDepartment of Health of the UK suggested that there should be a decrease in the number of dental undergraduate students as well as the duration of all courses.[111] In response to the recommendations, Royal Dental Hospital of London School of Dental Surgery amalgamated with the Guy's Hospital Dental School of theUnited Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals on 1 August 1983.[111]
The establishment of King's College Hospital Dental School was proposed byViscount Hambleden at a Hospital Management Committee meeting on 12 April 1923. The dental school was opened on 12 November 1923 in King's College Hospital.[52] Under the 1948 National Health Act, King's Medical and Dental School split from King's and became an independent school, but the school remerged with King's in 1983.[52] The school further merged with the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals in 1998.[52]
Faculty of life sciences and medicine
The faculty of life sciences and medicine is located at four campuses including Guy's Campus
The faculty of life sciences and medicine was created as a result of the merger of the school of medicine with the school of biomedical sciences in 2014.[113]
There are two schools of education in the Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine: theGKT School of Medical Education is responsible for the medical education and training of students on theMBBS programme, and the school of bioscience education is responsible for the biomedical and health professions education and training.[114] The faculty is divided into schools of basic and medical biosciences; biomedical engineering and imaging sciences; cancer and pharmaceutical science, cardiovascular medicine and sciences; immunology and microbial sciences; life course sciences; and population health sciences.[115]
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience
TheInstitute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) is a faculty and a research institution dedicated to discovering what causesmental illness and diseases of thebrain, and to help identify new treatments of the diseases.[116] The institute is the largest centre for research and postgraduate education in psychiatry, psychology and neuroscience in Europe.[117] Originally established in 1924 as the Maudsley Hospital Medical School, the institute changed its name to the Institute of Psychiatry in 1948, merged with King's College London in 1997, and was renamed IoPPN in 2014.[118][119]
Somerset House – showing the East Wing, a part of the Strand Campus, which houses the Dickson Poon School of Law.
TheDickson Poon School of Law is thelaw school of King's. Law has been taught at King's since 1831 and the faculty of laws was founded (in association with theLondon School of Economics) in 1909, becoming the school of law in 1991.[120] The school includes various research centres and groups which serve as focal points for research activity.[121]
Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences
John Frederic Daniell was the first professor of chemistry at King's and established the first chemical laboratory in 1834. Chemistry was originally part of the medical department and became a separate department in 1958; this closed in 2003 due to a decline in student numbers and reduced funding. The department was reestablished in 2012.[124]
Teaching of engineering at King's was established in 1838, a year after Durham, making it the secondschool of engineering established in the United Kingdom.[125] The department of engineering was the largest engineering school in the UK in 1893.[126][127] The division of engineering was closed in 2013, with the current department of engineering being established in 2019.[126][128]
Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care
The Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care is a school for nurses and midwives. It also conducts nursing research and provides continuing professional development and postgraduate programmes. Formerly known as the Nightingale Training School and Home for Nurses, the faculty was established byFlorence Nightingale in 1860, and was the first nursing school in the world to be continuously connected to a fully serving hospital and medical school.[129]
The Nightingale Training School amalgamated with the Olive Haydon School of Midwifery and the Thomas Guy and Lewisham School of Nursing between 1991 and 1993 to form the Nightingale College of Health, which became part of King's in 1993. In 2017 it merged with the Cicely Saunders Institute, a centre for research and education in palliative care, to become the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care.[130]
Faculty of social science and public policy
The faculty of social science and public policy contains the schools of politics and economics;education, communication and society; global affairs; security studies; the international school for government; and the policy institute.[131]
In the fiscal year ending 31 July 2024, King's had a total income of £1.271 billion (2022/23 – £1.230 million) and total expenditure of £944 million (2022/23 – £1.102 billion).[4] Key sources of income included £630.5 million from tuition fees and education contracts (2022/23 – £607.8 million), £144.9 million from funding body grants (2022/23 – £148.3 million), £256.9 million from research grants and contracts (2022/23 – £236.3 million), £26.7 million from investment income (2022/23 – £18 million) and £23.7 million from donations and endowments (2022/23 – £28.9 million).[4]
At year end, King's had endowments of £324.8 million (2022/23 – £301 million) and total net assets of £1.671 billion (2022/23 – £1.323 billion).[4] It holds thefourth-largest endowment of any university in the UK behind onlyOxford,Cambridge andEdinburgh.[135]
King's coat of arms used from 1829 to 1985Entrance and coat of arms of the 19th century King's Building, Strand Campus
Thecoat of arms displayed on the King's College London charter is that of George IV. The shield depicts theroyal coat of arms together with aninescutcheon of theHouse of Hanover, while the supporters embody King's motto ofsancte et sapienter. No correspondence is believed to have survived regarding the choice of this coat of arms, either in King's archives or at theCollege of Arms, and a variety of unofficial adaptations were used. The college was fined byLondon County Council in 1911 for using these arms without a licence. The current arms came into use in October 1989 but were not formally granted until 1995.[136] These were developed following the mergers with Queen Elizabeth College and Chelsea College in 1985 and incorporate aspects of their heraldry.[8] The official coat of arms, inheraldic terminology, is:[137]
Arms:
Or on a Pale Azure between two Lions rampant respectant Gules an Anchor Gold ensigned by a Royal Crown proper on a Chief Argent an Ancient Lamp proper inflamed Gold between two Blazing Hearths also proper.
The crest and supporters:
On a Helm with a Wreath Or and Azure Upon a Book proper rising from a Coronet Or the rim set with jewels two Azure (one manifest) four Vert (two manifest) and two Gules a demi Lion Gules holding a Rod of Dexter a female figure habited Azure the cloak lined coif and sleeves Argent holding in the exterior hand a Lond Cross botony Gold and sinister a male figure the Long Coat Azure trimmed with Sable proper shirt Argent holding in the interior hand a Book proper.
Coats of arms of the medical schools
Guy's coat of arms, displayed above the entrance to Guy's Campus
In 1949, St Thomas's Hospital Medical School was granted its own coat of arms. However, the St Thomas' Hospital coat of arms has still been used.[138] Guy's Medical School proposed to apply for its own coat of arms after separating from Guy's Hospital, yet the school decided to continue to use Guy's Hospital's arms in 1954.[138] The two medical schools merged in 1982 and became theUnited Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals (UMDS). Simon Argles, secretary of UMDS, said that because of the name of the medical school it was more appropriate to use the hospital's coat of arms.[138]
King's is typically regarded as part of the "golden triangle", a grouping of research universities located in the English cities of Cambridge, Oxford and London that generally also includes the universities of Cambridge and Oxford, Imperial College London, the London School of Economics, and University College London.[159]
In the field ofmathematics, King's College London has a joint venture withImperial College London andUniversity College London running the London School of Geometry and Number Theory (LSGNT), which is an EPSRC-funded Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT). The LSGNT offers a wide range of 4-yearPhD research projects in different aspects of number theory, geometry and topology.[173]
Another partnership King's College London has with bothImperial College London andUniversity College London is the field of Nanotechnology where all 3 universities jointly run theLondon Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN). LCN is a multidisciplinary research centre in physical and biomedical nanotechnology focused on exploitation and commercialisation of research generated in the relevant fields, established in 2003, which King's joined in 2018.[174]
King's College London joined theSES engineering and physical sciences research alliance in 2016, which includes the universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Southampton, Imperial College London, Queen Mary University of London, and University College London as members.[175] King's College London is also a member of theThomas Young Centre, an alliance of London research groups working on the theory and simulation of materials, along with Imperial College London, University College London and Queen Mary University of London.[176]
King's had the 18th highest average entry qualification for undergraduates of any UK university in 2022, with new students averaging 168 UCAS points.[179] In 2022, the university gave offers of admission to 39.3% of its applicants, the 8th lowest across the country.[184]
Teaching
King's academic year runs from the last Monday in September to the first Friday in June.[185] Different faculties and departments adopt different academic term structures. For example, the academic year of the Mathematics School and Department of War Studies is divided into three terms (Autumn, Spring and Summer terms);[186][187] while the Faculty of Arts & Humanities academic year runs in two semesters.[188]
Graduation ceremonies are held in January (winter) and June or July (summer), with ceremonies for non-medical students held at theRoyal Festival Hall in theSouthbank Centre, near the Waterloo Campus. Ceremonies were held at theRoyal Albert Hall until 1992 and then at theBarbican Centre until 2018.[189]
Owing to St Thomas's Medical School roots that could be traced toSt Mary Overie Priory, students from the GKT School of Medical Education and Faculty of Dental, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences graduate fromSouthwark Cathedral adjacent to Guy's Campus.[190]
After being granted the power to award its own degrees separately from theUniversity of London in 2006,[54] graduates began wearing King's College London academic dress in 2008. King's graduates have since worn gowns designed byVivienne Westwood.[191]
Research
In 2023/24 King's had a total research income of £256.9 million, of which £69.5 million came from research councils; £57.2 million from the UK central government; £14.6 million from UK industry; £58.1 million from UK charitable bodies; £25.3 million from EU sources; £32.2 million from other sources.[4]
Medical research at King's College London is spread across multiple faculties, particularly the Faculty of Dentistry, Oral and Craniofacial Sciences, the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care, and the Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine.[193]
King's claims to be the largest centre for healthcare education in Europe.[15] The Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine has three main teaching hospitals –Guy's Hospital,King's College Hospital andSt Thomas' Hospital[194] – and a branch campus in Portsmouth run in collaboration with theUniversity of Portsmouth.[195] King's College London Dental Institute was the largest dental school in Europe as of 2010[update].[196] The Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery, which became part of King's in 1993, is the oldest professional school of nursing in the world.[197]
King's is a major centre for biomedical research. It is a founding member ofKing's Health Partners, one of the largestacademic health sciences centres in Europe with a turnover of over £2 billion and approximately 25,000 employees.[15] It also is home to theMedical Research Council's MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders,[198] and is part of two of the twelve biomedical research centres established by theNational Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) in England – the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London, and the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London.[199]
The Drug Control Centre at King's was established in 1978 and is the onlyWADA accredited anti-doping laboratory in the UK and holds the official UK contract for runningdoping tests on UK athletes.[200] In 1997, it became the firstInternational Olympic Committee accredited laboratory to meet theISO/IEC 17025 quality standard.[201] The centre was the anti-doping facility for theLondon 2012 Olympic andParalympic Games.[202]
Foyle Special Collections Library: Situated inside the Maughan Library, the special collections library houses a collection of 200,000 printed works as well as maps, slides, sound recordings and manuscript material, including 17incunabula.[205] The Foyle Special Collections Library also houses a number of special collections, range in date from the 15th century to present, and in subject from human anatomy to Modern Greek poetry.[209] The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Historical Collection is the largest collection contains material from the former FCO Library. The collection was a working tool used by the British government to inform and influence foreign and colonial policy.[210] Transferred to King's in 2007, the FCO Historical Collection contains over 80,000 items including books,pamphlets, manuscript, and photographic material.[210] The Medical Collection include the historical library collections of the constituent medical schools and institutes of King's. The Rare Books Collection holds 12,000 printed books, including a 1483 Venice printing ofSilius Italicus'sPunica, first editions ofCharles Dickens' novels, and the 1937 (first) edition ofGeorge Orwell'sThe Road to Wigan Pier.[211]
Archives Reading Room: Situated in the King's Building on the Strand campus,[212] this includes the college archives and theLiddell Hart Centre for Military Archives.[213] The college archives include institutional archives of King's since 1828, archives of institutions and schools that were created by or have merged with King's, and records relating to the history of medicine.[214] The Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, established in 1964, holds the private papers of over 800 senior British defence personnel who held office since 1900.[215]
Franklin-Wilkins Library: Situated on the Waterloo Campus, the library supports nursing and midwifery students and law students, with holdings on management, bioscience and education.[216]
Wills Library: Situated in the Hodgkin Building at Guy's Campus, it was originally the main library for the Guy's Hospital Medical School.[217] The Wills Library was a gift in 1903 by the former governor of Guy's Hospital, thelate Sir Frederick Wills[218] and it was opened as the Medical School Library.[219] Many books, archives and documents that were kept in the Wills Library, such as Guy's committee minute books, have been moved to the King's College London Archives in 2004,[219] although the library still contains a collection of books in locked cabinets that can be retrieved by request.[217]
New Hunt's House Library: Situated on the Guy's Campus, the library covers all aspects of biomedical science.[220]
St Thomas' House Library: Situated at St Thomas' Campus, the library has resources on complimentary clinical healthcare and a variety of study spaces.[221]
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience Library: Situated on the Denmark Hill Campus, the IoPPN library is one of the largest psychiatric libraries in Western Europe.[222]
Additionally, King's students and staff have full access toSenate House Library, the central library for the University of London and theSchool of Advanced Study.[224] Undergraduate and postgraduate students also have reference access to libraries of other University of London institutions under the University of London Libraries Access Agreement.[225]
King's operates two museums: theGordon Museum of Pathology and theMuseum of Life Sciences, neither of which are open to the public. The Gordon Museum collection dates back to the opening of the medical school at Guy's Hospital in 1826; the current museum was opened by the hospital in 1905.[226] The Gordon Museum says it is the largest medical museum in the United Kingdom, with a collection of approximately 8,000 pathological specimens, artefacts, models and paintings, includingAstley Cooper's specimens andSir Joseph Lister's antiseptic spray.[74][227] The Museum of Life Sciences was founded in 2009 adjacent to the Gordon Museum, and holds historic biological and pharmaceutical collections from the colleges that are now part of King's College London.[75]
Between 1843 and 1927, theKing George III Museum was a museum within King's College London which housed the collections of scientific instruments ofGeorge III and eminent nineteenth-century scientists (includingSir Charles Wheatstone andCharles Babbage). Due to space constraints, much of the museum's collections were transferred on loan to theScience Museum in London or kept in King's College London Archives.[228]
The Anatomy Museum was a museum situated on the 6th floor of theKing's Building at the Strand Campus. The Anatomy Theatre was built next door to the museum in 1927,[229] where anatomical dissections and demonstrations took place. The Anatomy Museum's collection includes casts of injuries, leather models, skins of animals from Western Australia donated to the museum in 1846,[230] and casts of heads of John Bishop and Thomas Williams, the murderers in theItalian Boy's murder in 1831.[231] The last dissection in the Anatomy Theatre was performed in 1997.[229] The Anatomy Theatre and Museum was renovated and refurbished in 2009, and is now a facility for teaching, research and performance at King's.[232]
Science Gallery London is a publicscience centre on the Guy's Campus. Admission to exhibitions and events at the centre is free of charge.[233]
According to the 2025Complete University Guide, 16 subjects offered by King's rank within the top 10 nationally, including Health Studies (1st), Social Policy (2nd), Business & Management Studies (3rd), Anthropology (4th), Law (5th), Music (6th), Classics (6th), Economics (8th), Politics (8th), Communication & Media Studies (8th), Food Science (9th), Philosophy (9th), Dentistry (9th), Biological Sciences (10th), History (10th), and Computer Science (10th).[241]The Guardian University Guide 2021 ranks King's in the top ten in 6 subjects, including Psychology (2nd), Politics (5th), Law (6th), Anatomy & physiology (8th), Media & film studies (9th), and Philosophy (9th). TheTimes Higher Education ranks King's College London the top 20 universities in the world for Psychology (11th), and Clinical, pre-clinical & health (16th) in the 2021 World University Rankings by subject.[242]
King's was ranked 7th in the UK for Graduate Employability in the Times Higher Education's Global Employability University Ranking 2023.[247] King's was further recognised by the High Fliers' Graduate Market Report 2024 as one of the top universities targeted by leading UK employers.[248] This was reaffirmed by the Teaching Excellence Framework (2023) which gave King's a gold rating for student outcomes.[249]
Associateship of King's College
TheAssociateship of King's College (AKC) dates to its foundation in 1829 and was first awarded in 1835. It was designed to reflect the twin objectives of King's College's 1829 royal charter to maintain the connection between "sound religion and useful learning" and to teach the "doctrines and duties of Christianity".[250]
Today, the AKC is a modern tradition that offers an inclusive, research-led programme of lectures that gives students the opportunities to engage with religious, philosophical and ethical issues alongside their main degree course. Graduates of King's College London may be eligible to be elected as 'Associates' of King's College by the authority of King's College London council, delegated to the academic board. After election, they are entitled to use thepost-nominal letters "AKC".[251]
TheFellowship of King's College (FKC) is the highest award that can be bestowed upon an individual by King's College London. The award of the fellowship is governed by a statute of King's College London and reflects distinguished service to King's by a member of staff, conspicuous service to King's, or the achievement of distinction by those who were at one time closely associated with King's College London.[252]
The proposal to establish a fellowship of King's was first considered in 1847.[253] John Allen, a formerchaplain of King's, was the first FKC. Each fellow had to pay twoguineas for the fellowship privilege initially, but the fee ceased in 1850.[253] A wide variety of people were elected as fellows of King's, including former principalAlfred Barry, former King's student then professorThorold Rogers, architectWilliam Burges and ornithologistRobert Swinhoe.[253] The first women fellows were elected in 1904.[253]Lilian Faithfull, vice-principal of the King's Ladies' Department from 1894 to 1906, was one of the first women fellows.[253]
Logo of the King's College London Students' Union (KCLSU)
King's College, London Union Society was founded in 1873.[254] In 1905, this was reorganised, providing common rooms, student clubs and entertainment, with a further reorganisation in 1908 seeing it take over the athletics club (established in 1884) and other social activities, and becoming astudents' union.[255][256]
AsKing's College London Students' Union (KCLSU), it now provides a wide range of activities and services, including more than 50 intramural sports clubs,[257] more than 300 activity groups,[258] and bars and cafes (the Shack and the Vault in Bush House on the Strand Campus, and Guy's Café and Guy's Bar on Guy's Campus).[70][71][77][78]
A papier-mâché version ofReggie the Lion, the mascot ofKCLSU, outside the Great Hall in King's Strand Campus
Reggie the Lion is the official mascot of the students' union. In total there are four Reggies in existence. The original can be found on display in the undercroft of the Union's Bush House base at the Strand Campus. Apapier-mâché Reggie lives outside the Great Hall at the Strand Campus. The third Reggie, given as a gift by alumnus Willie Kwan, guards the entrance of Willies Common Room in Somerset House East Wing.[259] A smallsterling silver incarnation is displayed during graduation ceremonies, which was presented to King's by former Halliburton Professor of Physiology, Robert John Stewart McDowall, in 1959.[260]
Student media
KCLSU Student Media won Student Media of the Year 2014 at the Ents Forum awards[261] and came in the top three student media outlets in the country at the NUS Awards 2014.[262]
Roar News is a tabloid newspaper for students at King's which is owned and funded by KCLSU. It is editorially independent of both the university and the students' union and its award-winning website is read by tens of thousands of people per month in over 100 countries.[263] In 2014 it had a successful awards season, scooping several national awards and commendations, including aMind Media Award and Student Media of the Year.[262][264]
The radio station of KCLSU, KCL Radio, was founded in 2009 as a podcast producer. The first live broadcast of KCL Radio was in 2011 atthe London Varsity.[265] In 2013, KCL Radio relaunched as a live station with more than 45 hours of live programming a week. The schedule of the radio station includes news, music, entertainment, debate, sport and live performance.[265]
Other King's student media groups include the King's College London Film Society,student television station KingsTV, and the photographic society KCLSU PhotoSoc.[266]
Sports
The annualMacadam CupKing's College London cheerleaders
King's Sport, a partnership between King's College London and KCLSU, manages all the sports activities and facilities of King's since 2013.[268][269] King's Sport runs three fitness centres at the Waterloo, Guy's and Strand Campuses which include various studio spaces. King's Sport also operates two sports grounds, inNew Malden andHonor Oak.[88] Honor Oak Park Sports Ground has a floodlit 3G field hockey pitch and a floodlit 2G football/multi-sport pitch, as well as a grass football pitch, a grass rugby pitch and a netball or tennis court.[270] New Malden Sports Ground has four football pitches, two rugby pitches, a lacrosse pitch, and two all-weather netball or tennis courts, with a cricket ground being set up in the summer.[271] There are also on-campus sports facilities at Guy's, St Thomas's and Denmark Hill campuses.[272] King's students and staff can utilizeGuy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust's fitness centre and swimming pool based within the Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals.[272][273]
Societies and organisations
In addition to sporting clubs, King's College London Students' Union also has around 300 other societies and groups in a wide variety of activities.[258]
Student-led think tank
Following the 2010 student demonstrations against increased tuition fees, King's College London students founded London's first student-ledthink tank, King's Think Tank (formerly known as KCL Think Tank).[274] With a membership of more than 2000,[275][276] it is the largest organisation of its kind in Europe.[277] This student initiative organises lectures and discussions in seven different policy areas, and assists students in lobbying politicians,non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other policymakers with their ideas. Every May, it produces a peer-reviewed journal of policy recommendations namedThe Spectrum.[278][279]
Music
There are many music societies at King's includinga cappella groups, orchestras, choir, musical theatre and jazz society.[280] King's has three orchestras: King's College London Symphony Orchestra (KCLSO), King's College London Chamber Orchestra and KCL Concert Orchestra.[280]
All the King's Men is an all-male a cappella ensemble from King's College London. Founded in 2009, it become the first group outside ofOxford andCambridge to win The Voice Festival UK in 2012.[282][283][better source needed]
American rock bandFoo Fighters played their first UK gig at King's College London Students Union in 1995.[284] Pop singerTaylor Swift played her first UK gig at the Strand Campus in 2008.[285]
King's traditional rivalry withUCL is nowadays most noted at the yearly varsity rugby match
Competition within theUniversity of London is most intense between King's andUniversity College London, the two oldest institutions. Indeed, the University of London when it was established has been described as "an umbrella organisation designed to disguise the rivalry between UCL and KCL."[286] In the early twentieth century,King's College London and UCL rivalry was centred on their respectivemascots.[287] University College's was Phineas Maclino, a woodentobacconist's emblem of a kilted JacobiteHighlander purloined from outside a shop inTottenham Court Road during the celebrations of the relief ofLadysmith in 1900. King's later addition was a giant beer bottle representing "bottled youth". In 1923 it was replaced by a new mascot to rival Phineas – Reggie the Lion, who made his debut at a King's–UCL sportingrag in December 1923, protected by a lifeguard of engineering students armed with T-squares. Thereafter, Reggie formed the centrepiece of annualfreshers' processions by King's students aroundAldwych in which new students were typically flour bombed.[288]
Although riots between respective college students occurred in central London well into the 1950s, rivalry is now limited to therugby union pitch and skulduggery over mascots, with the annualLondon Varsity series culminating in the historic match betweenKing's College London RFC and University College London RFC.[287][289]
Rivalry with the London School of Economics
On 2 December 2005, tensions between King's and theLondon School of Economics (LSE) were ignited when at least 200 students from LSE (located inAldwych near the Strand Campus) diverted off from the annual "barrel run" and caused an estimated £32,000 of damage to the English department at King's.[290][291] King's principal,Sir Rick Trainor, deplored the behaviour and called for no retaliation.[292][293] TheLSE Students' Union on 6 December issued a formal apology and promised to pay for the damage repair.[294][293]
King's has 14 halls of residence in central London.[87] The university guarantees accommodation for new first-year undergraduate or foundation year students who make a firm acceptance of their offer and apply for accommodation by a defined date,[295] and to postgraduates who make a firm acceptance of their offer and apply for accommodation by a different defined date.[296] Accommodation is also guaranteed for care-experienced students, and students who are under 18 on move-in day.[295] The university also has a scheme, King's Affordable Accommodation Scheme (KAAS) which enables undergraduate students to access accommodation priced at below market levels, provided applicants for the scheme meet the eligibility criteria. There is a limited quota for KAAS rooms in a number of King's residences.[297]
There are also five intercollegiate halls shared with the constituent colleges of theUniversity of London, which full-time students at King's are eligible to live in.[298]
The university'sChampion Hill residence has been empty since 2020, following the discovery of fire safety concerns and subsequent relocation of students and staff. A university spokesperson stated in March 2024, "We are working to refurbish these buildings with the aim to have them available as student accommodation as soon as work is completed, and it is safe to do so."[299]
King's newest residence opened inBattersea, in September 2024, and contains 452 rooms. A number of affordable rooms have been secured under the KAAS scheme.[300]
The neoclassical facade of King's, with the passage which connects the Strand to theSomerset House terrace, has been utilised to reproduce the late Victorian Strand in the opening scenes ofOliver Parker's 2002 filmThe Importance of Being Earnest. The East Wing of King's appears, as a part of Somerset House, in a number of other productions, such asWilde andThe Duchess.[334]
In September 1979, The Greenwood Theatre at Guy's Medical School (now King'sGKT Medical School) became the first home for theBBC'sQuestion Time programme. In December 2018,Question Time returned to the Greenwood Theatre forDavid Dimbleby's last programme as host.[337]
^Includes those who indicate that they identify asAsian,Black,Mixed Heritage,Arab or any other ethnicity except White.
^Calculated from the Polar4 measure, using Quintile1, in England and Wales. Calculated from theScottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) measure, using SIMD20, in Scotland.
^ab"Our history". King's College London Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine. Archived fromthe original on 18 October 2018. Retrieved13 February 2016.
^abc"Key Facts". King's Health Partners. Retrieved17 October 2015.
^Petroni, A (1969). "[The first nursing school in the world—St. Thomas Hospital School in London]".Munca Sanit.17 (8):449–54.PMID5195090.
^Mike Savage (5 November 2015).Social Class in the 21st Century. Penguin. p. 167.ISBN9780141978925.Higher education researchers often talk about a 'Golden Triangle' of universities. The 'triangle' describes an imaginary three-sided shape with corners in Oxford, Cambridge and London. The exact composition of the London 'corner' can vary, but typically it includes the London School of Economics, King's College London, University College London and Imperial College London.
^McNair, Philip (January 1977). "Linetta de Castelvecchio Richardson".Italian Studies.32 (1). The Society for Italian Studies:1–3.doi:10.1179/its.1977.32.1.1.
^Smithers, Rebecca; MacLeod, Donald (10 December 2005)."College vote brings break-up of university a step nearer".The Guardian.Over the past 10 years the university has become an increasingly loose federation of independent institutions that are universities in their own right and receive their grants directly from the Higher Education Funding Council for England, although they still hand out degrees on behalf of the central university.
^"Our members".Universities UK. Retrieved3 January 2025.
^"Golden opportunities".Nature. 6 July 2005.No longer rivals, Oxford, Cambridge and London are now working towards a common goal – ensuring the 'golden triangle' becomes a global science hub.
^"Oxbridge windfall".Times Higher Education. 4 August 1995.: "A large amount of the cash awarded to humanities postgraduates still goes to the "Golden Triangle" of Oxford, Cambridge and London, British Academy figures reveal."
^"'Golden triangle' to win funding riches".Times Higher Education. 11 February 2010.The other institutions in the Cambridge-Oxford-London 'golden triangle' – University College London, Imperial College London and the London School of Economics – will also receive big cash windfalls, as will the University of Manchester.
^ab"Wills Library". King's College London. Retrieved30 December 2024.
^"Seventy-eighth Annual Meeting of the British Medical Association London, JUL".Br Med J.2 (2553):1622–1624. 4 December 1909.doi:10.1136/bmj.2.2553.1622.S2CID220177133.
^"Dates". King's College London. 1850–1899. Archived fromthe original on 2 February 2013. Retrieved21 January 2013.1873 – The first students' Union Society is instituted at King's
Report – annual publication of King's College London.
Further reading
Hearnshaw, F. J. C. (1929).The Centenary History of King's College, London, 1828–1928. George G. Harrap & Co.
Huelin, G. (1978)King's College London, 1828–1978.
Jones, C. K. (2004)King's College London: In the service of society.
Taylor, Claire; Williams, Gwyn; Kenyon-Jones, Christine (2006).King's College London Contributions to biomedicine A continuing story. King's College London School of Medicine.ISBN978-0-9552620-0-5.
"Student Records, 1836–1930".University of London. Archived fromthe original on 14 September 2010. Retrieved6 May 2017. (Includes King's students who matriculated in or graduated from the University of London)
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