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King's College London

King's College London is a public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's became one of the two founding colleges of the University of London. It is one of the oldest university-level institutions in England. In the late 20th century, King's grew through a series of mergers, including with Queen Elizabeth College and Chelsea College of Science and Technology (1985), the Institute of Psychiatry (1997), the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals and the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery.

History
Foundation , shown in a portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence King's College, so named in recognition of the patronage of King 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) London University was founded, with the backing of Utilitarians, Jews and Nonconformists, 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" giving its nickname, "the godless college in Gower Street". 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 of wealthy Anglicans. 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". The creation of King's College as a rival institution represented a Tory response to reaffirm the educational values of the established order. More widely, King's was one of the first of a series of institutions which came about in the early nineteenth century as a result of the Industrial Revolution and great social changes in England following the Napoleonic Wars. By virtue of its foundation, King's enjoys the patronage of the monarch, had the Archbishop of Canterbury as its visitor, and during the nineteenth century counted among its official governors the Lord Chancellor, Speaker of the House of Commons and the Lord Mayor of London. but this was not Wellington's intent. Winchilsea and about 150 other contributors withdrew their support of King's College London in response to Wellington's support of Catholic 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". 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." The result was a duel in Battersea Fields on 21 March 1829. 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. Honour was saved and Winchilsea wrote Wellington an apology. 19th century (1831–36), the first Principal of King's College London King's opened in October 1831 with the cleric William Otter appointed as first principal and lecturer in divinity. 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, though attendance at chapel was compulsory. King's was divided into a senior department and a junior department, also known as King's College School, which was originally situated in the basement of the Strand Campus. , originally designed by Sir William Chambers, was completed by Sir Robert Smirke in 1835|thumb|right The river frontage was completed in April 1835 at a cost of £7,100, fulfilling a key stipulation required by King's College London securing the site from the Crown. In 1840, King's opened its own hospital on Portugal Street near Lincoln's Inn Fields, an area composed of overcrowded rookeries characterised by poverty and disease. The governance of King'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 in Denmark Hill, Camberwell in 1913. The appointment in 1877 of Joseph Lister as professor of clinical surgery greatly benefited the medical school, and the introduction of Lister's antiseptic surgical methods gained the hospital an international reputation. The '''''' (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. The Ladies' Department of King's College London was opened in Kensington Square in 1885, which later in 1902 became King's College Women's Department. During the First World War, the medical school was opened to women for the first time. 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. 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. Major reconstruction of King's began in 1966 following the publication of the Robbins Report on Higher Education. A new block facing the Strand designed by E. D. Jefferiss Mathews was opened in 1972. King's College London underwent several mergers with other institutions in the late 20th century. These including the reincorporation in 1983 of the King's College School of Medicine and Dentistry, which had become independent of King's College Hospital at the foundation of the National Health Service in 1948, mergers with Queen Elizabeth College and Chelsea College in 1985, and the Institute of Psychiatry in 1997. In 1998 the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals merged with King's to form the GKT School of Medical Education. In July 2006, King's College London was granted independent degree-awarding powers in its own right, as opposed to through the University of London, by the Privy Council. 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. The first King's degrees were awarded in summer 2008. , Strand Campus In April 2011, King's became a founding partner in the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation, subsequently renamed the Francis Crick Institute, committing £40 million to the project. The Chemistry department was reopened in 2011 following its closure in 2003. In February 2012, the Queen officially opened Somerset House East Wing. In September 2014, King's College London opened King's College London Mathematics School, a free school sixth form located in Lambeth that specialises in mathematics. In October 2014, Ed Byrne replaced Rick 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, 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". King's announced that the rebranding plans had been dropped in January 2015. In 2015, King's acquired a 50-year lease for the Aldwych Quarter site incorporating the historic Bush House. It has been occupied since 2017. Bush House was opened as part of the Strand Campus by the Queen in 2019. Following approval by the Office for Students, a supplemental charter granting university status was sealed on 18 May 2023. == Campus ==
Campus
King's is based on five campuses in central London. The main campus area is located on the Strand in the City of Westminster, which includes the Bush House, and the Waterloo Campus is located nearby on the southern side of the River Thames. The Guy's Campus which houses the science-related courses is located near London Bridge, St. Thomas' Campus is located in Lambeth, and the Denmark Hill Campus is in Southwark. Strand Campus King's Building in the Strand Quadrangle, designed by Sir Robert Smirke|thumb The Strand Campus is the original campus of King's. The campus is based around the Grade I listed original King's Building constructed for the college in 1831, designed by Sir Robert Smirke, adjacent to Somerset House and sharing its frontage along the River Thames, including the King's College London Chapel, redesigned in 1864 by Sir George Gilbert Scott. 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 and the Maughan Library on Chancery Lane. The nearby Virginia Woolf Building was also part of the Strand Campus area until the lease expired in autumn 2025. The Strand Campus houses the arts and science faculties of King's, including the faculties of arts and humanities, law, natural and mathematical sciences, social science and public policy, and business, as well as the King's Foundation. and has two contact hubs on the campus, also in Bush House. Guy's Campus Guy's Campus is close to London Bridge, right next to The Shard, and it is adjacent to Guy's Hospital. It is home to the faculty 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). Buildings include: the Henriette Raphael building, as well as the Chapel of Thomas Guy. The Students' Union runs Guy's Bar, Guy's Café and a contact hub on the Guy's Campus. The Great Dover Street Apartments and Wolfson House halls of residence are close to the campus. A statue 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 the George Floyd protests, it was de-boarded for conservation work, with temporary interpretation added, in November 2022. Permanent interpretation was installed in November 2023. Waterloo Campus The Waterloo Campus is in Lambeth, across Waterloo Bridge from the Strand Campus and adjacent to the Southbank 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). 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). Denmark Hill Campus The Denmark Hill Campus is situated in Camberwell in Southwark. It is the home of the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) and also houses parts of the dental institute and the faculty of medicine and life sciences. The students' union has a contact hub in the IoPPN. Sports grounds The college has two sports grounds, at New Malden and Honor Oak Park in London. Shrivenham Whilst not a formal campus, King's retains an academic presence and estate at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom in Shrivenham, Oxfordshire. Through its Defence Studies Department, King's has delivered professional military training to much of the UK armed services through the Joint Services Command and Staff College since 2000 under contract to the Ministry of Defence. Newquay The King's Service Centre, established in 2015 to provide professional services and IT support to the university, is located in Newquay, Cornwall. == Organisation and administration ==
Organisation and administration
Governance The office of "President and Principal of the University" is established by King's College London royal charter as "the Vice-Chancellor and chief academic and executive officer of the University" 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". The current president and principal, Shitij Kapur, uses the title "Vice-Chancellor and President". 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. The council 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 of King'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. Christopher Geidt has been the chair of council since 2016. The academic 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". The academic board is chaired by the vice-chancellor and president with ex 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. and to encourage and foster vocations to the Church of England priesthood. The current dean is Ellen Clark-King. The Archbishop of Canterbury was previously King's College London's visitor by right of office owing to the Anglican foundation of King's. Under the 2023 royal charter, the visitor is appointed by the monarch on the representation of the council of the university. The theological department provided studies in ecclesiastical history, pastoral theology and exegesis of the Bible. Faculty of arts and humanities , a writer and alumna of King's|thumb|right The faculty of arts and humanities is based on the Strand Campus in the heart of central London, in the vicinity of many cultural institutions, and has established collaborations with many of these, including Shakespeare's Globe, the Courtauld Institute of Art and the Royal Academy of Music. The faculty was formed in 1989 by the amalgamation of the faculties of arts, music and theology. Faculty of dentistry, oral and craniofacial sciences The faculty of dentistry, oral and craniofacial sciences (formerly the dental institute) is the dental school of King's and focuses on understanding disease, enhancing health and restoring function. It is the successor of education carried out at Guy's Dental Hospital, the Royal 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. 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. Thomas Bell succeeded Fox as dental surgeon either in 1817 or 1825. 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, the Department 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. Under the National Health Service Act 1946, King's Medical and Dental School split from King's and became an independent school, but the school remerged with King's in 1983. There are two schools of education in the Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine: the GKT School of Medical Education is responsible for the medical education and training of students on the MBBS programme, and the school of bioscience education is responsible for the biomedical and health professions education and training. 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. Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) is a faculty and a research institution dedicated to discovering what causes mental illness and diseases of the brain, and to help identify new treatments of the diseases. The institute is the largest centre for research and postgraduate education in psychiatry, psychology and neuroscience in Europe. 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. Dickson Poon School of Law – showing the East Wing, a part of the Strand Campus, which houses the Dickson Poon School of Law. The Dickson Poon School of Law is the law school of King's. Law has been taught at King's since 1831 and the faculty of laws was founded (in association with the London School of Economics) in 1909, becoming the school of law in 1991. The school includes various research centres and groups which serve as focal points for research activity. Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences The faculty includes the departments of chemistry, engineering, informatics, mathematics, and physics. The teaching of experimental physics at King's was the first in England and professors of experimental physics have included James Clerk Maxwell, Harold A. Wilson, Charles Glover Barkla, Sir Owen Richardson, Sir Edward Appleton and Sir Charles Ellis, three of whom became Nobel laureates. 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. Teaching of engineering at King's was established in 1838, a year after Durham, making it the second school of engineering established in the United Kingdom. The department of engineering was the largest engineering school in the UK in 1893. The division of engineering was closed in 2013, with the current department of engineering being established in 2019. Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care and her class of nurses 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 by Florence Nightingale in 1860, and was the first nursing school in the world to be continuously connected to a fully serving hospital and medical school. 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. 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. The department of war studies, within the school of security studies, is unique in the UK and is supported by research facilities such as the King's Centre for Strategic Communications, Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives and the King's Centre for Military Health Research. King's Business School , Aldwych in Central London|thumb|160px King's Business School was established in 1989. In 2017 it became a faculty of the college as King's Business School and moved into Bush House. From 2023, it has held triple accreditation from the Association of MBAs, the EFMD Quality Improvement System and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Finances 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). 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). Coat of arms The coat of arms displayed on the King's College London charter is that of George IV. The shield depicts the royal coat of arms together with an inescutcheon of the House of Hanover, while the supporters embody King's motto of ''''. No correspondence is believed to have survived regarding the choice of this coat of arms, either in King's archives or at the College of Arms, and a variety of unofficial adaptations were used. The current arms came into use in October 1989 but were not formally granted until 1995. These were developed following the mergers with Queen Elizabeth College and Chelsea College in 1985 and incorporate aspects of their heraldry. 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 Although the St Thomas's Hospital Medical School and Guy's Medical School became legal bodies separate from St Thomas' Hospital and Guy's Hospital in 1948, the tradition of using the hospitals' shields and coat of arms continues today. 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. In 1998, King's joined the Russell Group, an association of 24 public research universities established in 1994. King's is also a member of the Institutional Network of the Universities from the Capitals of Europe (UNICA), a network of higher education institutions based in European capital cities, the Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities, the Circle U European University alliance, the European University Association (EUA) and Universities UK. 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. King's College London is also a part of King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre comprises Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London itself. King's is a participant and one of the founding members of the Francis Crick Institute. Furthermore, launched in 2014, MedCity is the collaboration between King's and the other two main science universities in London, Imperial College and University College London. In 2016, King's College London, together with Arizona State University and University of New South Wales, formed the PLuS Alliance, an international university alliance to address global challenges. King's was also a founding member of FutureLearn, a massive open online course platform established in December 2012. King's offers joint degrees with many universities and other institutions, including Columbia University, University of Paris I, Royal Academy of Music, British Library, In the field of mathematics, King's College London has a joint venture with Imperial College London and University 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-year PhD research projects in different aspects of number theory, geometry and topology. Another partnership King's College London has with both Imperial College London and University College London is the field of Nanotechnology where all 3 universities jointly run the London 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. King's College London joined the SES 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. King's College London is also a member of the Thomas 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. The university is also a member of the University of London Screen Studies Group with other institutions from the University of London. == Academic profile ==
Academic profile
Admissions In the academic year, the student body consisted of students, composed of undergraduates and postgraduate students. The university is consistently designated as a 'high-tariff' institution by the Department for Education, with the average undergraduate entrant to the university in recent years amassing between 148–151 UCAS Tariff points in their top three pre-university qualifications – the equivalent of AAA to A*AA at A-Level. Teaching King's academic year runs from the last Monday in September to the first Friday in June. 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); while the Faculty of Arts & Humanities academic year runs in two semesters. Graduation designed by Vivienne Westwood Graduation ceremonies are held in January (winter) and June or July (summer), with ceremonies for non-medical students held at the Royal Festival Hall in the Southbank Centre, near the Waterloo Campus. Ceremonies were held at the Royal Albert Hall until 1992 and then at the Barbican Centre until 2018. Owing to St Thomas's Medical School roots that could be traced to St Mary Overie Priory, students from the GKT School of Medical Education and Faculty of Dental, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences graduate from Southwark Cathedral adjacent to Guy's Campus. After being granted the power to award its own degrees separately from the University of London in 2006, 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. Medicine 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. King's claims to be the largest centre for healthcare education in Europe. The Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine has three main teaching hospitals – Guy's Hospital, King's College Hospital and St Thomas' Hospital – and a branch campus in Portsmouth run in collaboration with the University of Portsmouth. King's College London Dental Institute was the largest dental school in Europe . 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. King's is a major centre for biomedical research. It is a founding member of King's Health Partners, one of the largest academic health sciences centres in Europe with a turnover of over £2 billion and approximately 25,000 employees. and is part of two of the twelve biomedical research centres established by the National 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. The Drug Control Centre at King's was established in 1978 and is the only WADA accredited anti-doping laboratory in the UK and holds the official UK contract for running doping tests on UK athletes. In 1997, it became the first International Olympic Committee accredited laboratory to meet the ISO/IEC 17025 quality standard. The centre was the anti-doping facility for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Libraries Maughan Library The Maughan Library is King's largest library and is housed in the Grade II* listed 19th century gothic revival former Public Record Office building designed by Sir James Pennethorne, situated on Chancery Lane near the Strand Campus. The building is home to collections supporting humanities, law and science. It also houses the special collections and rare books within the Foyle Library (see below). and the former Chapel of the Masters of the Rolls (renamed the Weston Room following a donation from the Garfield Weston Foundation) with its stained glass windows, mosaic floor and monuments, including a Renaissance terracotta figure by Pietro Torrigiano of John Yonge, Master of the Rolls, who died in 1516. Other libraries • 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 17 incunabula. 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. 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. Transferred to King's in 2007, the FCO Historical Collection contains over 80,000 items including books, pamphlets, manuscript, and photographic material. • Archives Reading Room: Situated in the King's Building on the Strand campus, this includes the college archives and the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. 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. 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. • 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. • Wills Library: Situated in the Hodgkin Building at Guy's Campus, it was originally the main library for the Guy's Hospital Medical School. The Wills Library was a gift in 1903 by the former governor of Guy's Hospital, the late Sir Frederick Wills and it was opened as the Medical School Library. 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, • '''St Thomas' House Library:''' Situated at St Thomas' Campus, the library has resources on complimentary clinical healthcare and a variety of study spaces. • 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. • Weston Education Centre Library: Situated on the Denmark Hill Campus, the library supports teaching and research in the faculties of medicine and dentistry. It also supports clinical work and research in the King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Additionally, King's students and staff have full access to Senate House Library, the central library for the University of London and the School of Advanced Study. Undergraduate and postgraduate students also have reference access to libraries of other University of London institutions under the University of London Libraries Access Agreement. Museums, galleries and collections on 1 July 1843 King's operates two museums: the Gordon Museum of Pathology and the Museum 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. 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, including Astley Cooper's specimens and Sir Joseph Lister's antiseptic spray. 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. The Anatomy Museum was a museum situated on the 6th floor of the King's Building at the Strand Campus. The Anatomy Theatre was built next door to the museum in 1927, 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, and casts of heads of John Bishop and Thomas Williams, the murderers in the Italian Boy's murder in 1831. The last dissection in the Anatomy Theatre was performed in 1997. Science Gallery London is a public science centre on the Guy's Campus. Admission to exhibitions and events at the centre is free of charge. Reputation and ranking performance over the past ten years King's was Sunday Times University of the Year for 2010 to 2011. According to the 2025 Complete 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). 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). The Times 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. Among global university rankings, King's is ranked 31st by the 2026 QS World University Rankings, 36th equal by the 2025 world university rankings of the Times Higher Education, 36th equal by the 2024 U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities Rankings, 53rd by the 2024 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). King's was ranked 7th in the UK for Graduate Employability in the Times Higher Education's Global Employability University Ranking 2023. King's was further recognised by the High Fliers' Graduate Market Report 2024 as one of the top universities targeted by leading UK employers. This was reaffirmed by the Teaching Excellence Framework (2023) which gave King's a gold rating for student outcomes. Associateship of King's College The Associateship 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". 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 the post-nominal letters "AKC". Fellowship of King's College The Fellowship 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. The proposal to establish a fellowship of King's was first considered in 1847. John Allen, a former chaplain of King's, was the first FKC. Each fellow had to pay two guineas for the fellowship privilege initially, but the fee ceased in 1850. A wide variety of people were elected as fellows of King's, including former principal Alfred Barry, former King's student then professor Thorold Rogers, architect William Burges and ornithologist Robert Swinhoe. The first women fellows were elected in 1904. Lilian Faithfull, vice-principal of the King's Ladies' Department from 1894 to 1906, was one of the first women fellows. == Student life ==
Student life
Students' union King's College, London Union Society was founded in 1873. 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 a students' union. As King's College London Students' Union (KCLSU), it now provides a wide range of activities and services, including more than 50 intramural sports clubs, more than 300 activity groups, 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). A small sterling 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. Student media KCLSU Student Media won Student Media of the Year 2014 at the Ents Forum awards and came in the top three student media outlets in the country at the NUS Awards 2014. 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. In 2014 it had a successful awards season, scooping several national awards and commendations, including a Mind Media Award and Student Media of the Year. 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 at the London Varsity. Other King's student media groups include the King's College London Film Society, student television station KingsTV, and the photographic society KCLSU PhotoSoc. Sports There are over 60 sports clubs, many of which compete in the University of London and British Universities & Colleges (BUCS) leagues across the South East. King's Sport, a partnership between King's College London and KCLSU, manages all the sports activities and facilities of King's since 2013. 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, in New Malden and Honor Oak. 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. There are also on-campus sports facilities at Guy's, St Thomas's and Denmark Hill campuses. King's students and staff can utilize Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust's fitness centre and swimming pool based within the Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals. 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. With a membership of more than 2000, it is the largest organisation of its kind in Europe. 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 named The Spectrum. Music There are many music societies at King's including a cappella groups, orchestras, choir, musical theatre and jazz society. King's has three orchestras: King's College London Symphony Orchestra (KCLSO), King's College London Chamber Orchestra and KCL Concert Orchestra. The choir regularly broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4 and has made recordings mainly focus on 16th-century English and Spanish repertoire. American rock band Foo Fighters played their first UK gig at King's College London Students Union in 1995. Pop singer Taylor Swift played her first UK gig at the Strand Campus in 2008. Rivalry with University College London is nowadays most noted at the yearly varsity rugby match Competition within the University of London is most intense between King's and University 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." In the early twentieth century, King's College London and UCL rivalry was centred on their respective mascots. University College's was Phineas Maclino, a wooden tobacconist's emblem of a kilted Jacobite Highlander purloined from outside a shop in Tottenham Court Road during the celebrations of the relief of Ladysmith 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 sporting rag in December 1923, protected by a lifeguard of engineering students armed with T-squares. Thereafter, Reggie formed the centrepiece of annual freshers' processions by King's students around Aldwych in which new students were typically flour bombed. Although riots between respective college students occurred in central London well into the 1950s, rivalry is now limited to the rugby union pitch and skulduggery over mascots, with the annual London Varsity series culminating in the historic match between King's College London RFC and University College London RFC. Rivalry with the London School of Economics On 2 December 2005, tensions between King's and the London School of Economics (LSE) were ignited when at least 200 students from LSE (located in Aldwych 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. King's principal, Sir Rick Trainor, deplored the behaviour and called for no retaliation. The LSE Students' Union on 6 December issued a formal apology and promised to pay for the damage repair. and to postgraduates who make a firm acceptance of their offer and apply for accommodation by a different defined date. Accommodation is also guaranteed for care-experienced students, and students who are under 18 on move-in day. There are also five intercollegiate halls shared with the constituent colleges of the University of London, which full-time students at King's are eligible to live in. The university's Champion 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." King's newest residence opened in Battersea, in September 2024, and contains 452 rooms. A number of affordable rooms have been secured under the KAAS scheme. == Notable people ==
Notable people
Notable alumni There are 14 Nobel laureates who were associated with either King's College London or one of the institutions that have since merged with it. Notable alumni in the sciences include Nobel laureates Peter Higgs (Physics), Sir Michael Houghton (Medicine) Alumni in performing arts include impressionist Rory Bremner; Queen bassist John Deacon; Edmund Gwenn and Anne Dudley. In law, alumni include Karim Ahmad Khan, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and Patrick Lipton Robinson, a judge of the International Court of Justice. In literature, alumni include the dramatist Sir W. S. Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan, and the writers Thomas Hardy, Sir Arthur C. Clarke and Virginia Woolf. and James Lowther), and one Foreign Secretary (David Owen). King's has also educated numerous foreign heads of state and government including two presidents of Cyprus, Tassos Papadopoulos and Glafcos Clerides; Marouf al-Bakhit, Prime Minister of Jordan; France-Albert René, President of the Seychelles; Sir Lynden Pindling, Prime Minister of the Bahamas; Godfrey Binaisa, President of Uganda; Abdul-Rahman al-Bazzaz, Prime Minister of Iraq; Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada; and Sir Lee Moore, Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis. King's alumni in religion include Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Archbishop of Cape Town; George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury; and Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. While in the military, alumni include Sir Tony Radakin, Chief of the Defence Staff; Lord Harding, Chief of the Imperial General Staff; two Chiefs of the Air Staff, Sir Stephen Hillier and Sir Michael Wigston; and two recipients of the Victoria Cross, Ferdinand Le Quesne and Mark Sever Bell. King's is also the alma mater of the founder of Bentley Motors, Walter Bentley; oil magnate and philanthropist Calouste Gulbenkian, and Olympic gold medalists Dame Katherine Grainger, Paul Bennett and Kieran West. Notable academics and staff Notable academics at King's have included Sir Charles Lyell (geologist and author of Principles of Geology), Sir Charles Wheatstone (best known for the Wheatstone bridge), James Clerk Maxwell (mathematical physicist known for Maxwell's equations describing the motion of light as an electro-magnetic wave), Joseph Lister (pioneer of antiseptic surgery), Charles Barkla (winner of the 1917 Nobel Prize in Physics), Mario Vargas Llosa (writer and winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature), and Sir Roger Penrose (winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics). == In popular culture ==
In popular culture
Film and television settings The neoclassical facade of King's, with the passage which connects the Strand to the Somerset House terrace, has been utilised to reproduce the late Victorian Strand in the opening scenes of Oliver Parker's 2002 film The Importance of Being Earnest. The East Wing of King's appears, as a part of Somerset House, in a number of other productions, such as Wilde and The Duchess. The Maughan Library has also been the location of some film shoots of popular movies and TV series, most notably Johnny English, The Imitation Game and V for Vendetta. Part of Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code was set in the Round Reading Room of the Maughan Library, although no part of the film adaption was filmed there. In September 1979, The Greenwood Theatre at Guy's Medical School (now King's GKT Medical School) became the first home for the ''BBC's Question Time programme. In December 2018, Question Time'' returned to the Greenwood Theatre for David Dimbleby's last programme as host. ==See also==
Source: Wikipedia ↗
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