King's College London

King's College London is one of the UK's most historic university institutions, rated by one survey as the fourth-best multifaculty university institution in the UK and, having been founded in 1829, England's fourth-oldest. (King's in fact received its royal charter before University College London, technically making it England's third oldest, predated only by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge). In 1836 it joined UCL in becoming one of the two founding colleges of the University of London. Today, it is the University's largest college, with nearly 25,000 students and staff, and is a member of the Russell Group of UK universities. Consistently ranked within the ^* and is one of only 11 UK universities ranked in the top 100 in the global league tables produced by Shanghai Jiao Tong University. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe and is home to four Medical Research Council Centres – more than any other UK university. King's occupies four Thames-side campuses in central London and one in Denmark Hill, South London, making it the city's most central university.

History

The first qualification issued by King's was the Associate of King's College, or AKC. The course, which concerns questions of ethics and theology, is still awarded today to students (and staff) who take an optional three year course alongside their standard degree. Successful completion entitles the graduate to bear the letters AKC after their name.

The College today is the product of King's mergers with a number of other institutions over the years, including Queen Elizabeth College, Chelsea College, the Institute of Psychiatry, and the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals. Florence Nightingale's original training school for nurses is now incorporated as the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery. Perhaps the most famous scholarly research performed at King's was the work by Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins that was essential to the discovery by James D. Watson and Francis Crick of the structure of DNA.

There are now nine schools of study: in addition to the Institute of Psychiatry, the Institute of Dentistry and the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, there are Schools of Law, Medicine, Social Science & Public Policy, Humanities, Biomedical & Health Sciences and Physical Sciences & Engineering.

Campuses

The five campuses of King's are:

The Strand Campus near Covent Garden, which houses most of the Schools of Humanities, Law, Social Science & Public Policy, and Physical Sciences & Engineering (nearest tubes: Temple, Covent Garden)
Across the Thames, the Waterloo Campus near the South Bank Centre houses the School of Biomedical & Health Sciences, the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery (nearest tube: Waterloo)
The Guy's Campus at London Bridge houses parts of the Dental Institute and School of Medicine and the School of Biomedical & Health Sciences (nearest tube: London Bridge, Borough)
St Thomas' Campus, facing the Houses of Parliament across the Thames, houses parts of the School of Medicine and the Dental Insitute (nearest tube: Westminster)
Further South, the Denmark Hill Campus, the only one not situated on the River Thames, houses the Institute of Psychiatry, part of the Dental Institute and part of the School of Medicine (nearest station: Denmark Hill)
Refurbishment
King's is coming to the end of a decade of restorative and refurbishment projects, with investment of over £500 million ^*. These include the Franklin-Wilkins building in the Waterloo campus, the largest university building in the UK; the Maughan library in Chancery Lane, the most elaborate university library project ever undertaken in the UK; and the renovation of the chapel in the Strand campus at a cost of £750,000.
Schools
Undergraduate Courses
A complete list of undergraduate courses taught at King's can be found here.
Postgraduate Courses
The various postgraduate courses offered at King's can be divided into taught programmes and research programmes.
Students' Union

Main article: King's College London Students' Union
King's College London Students' Union (KCLSU) is the oldest in London, founded just before University College London Union, and provides a good range of activities and services: over 50 sports clubs - including the Boat Club, that rows on the River Thames, and the Rifle Club that uses the college's shooting range on the Main Strand Campus-, 60 societies, a wide range of volunteering opportunities, 2 bars, 2 nightclubs, shops, eating places and a gym. Recently, a third site was opened at the Waterloo campus.
A former President of KCLSU, Sir Ivison Macadam (after whom the Students' Union building on the Strand Campus has since been named) went on to be elected as the first President of the NUS and the Union has played an active role there and in the University of London Union ever since. Competition and rivalries within the University of London between King's and University College London are still fierce but unlike the riots between respective College students in central London that still occurred until the 1950s, things are now limited to the rugby pitch and skullduggery over mascots, with an annual Varsity match taking place between King's College London RFC and UCL RFC.
Tensions were re-ignited on 2 December 2005 when students from LSE (across the road from the Strand campus) diverted off from the annual "barrel run" and caused an estimated £30,000 of damage to the English department ^*^*. Principal Rick Trainor and the then KCLSU President, Matthew Pusey, called for no retaliation and LSE Students' Union were forced to issue an apology as well as foot the bill for the damage repair. While LSE officially condemned the action, a photograph was published in The Times that showed LSE Director Howard Davies drinking with members of the LSE Students Union shortly before the barrel run - and the "rampage" - began.
Students' Accommodation

King’s halls of residence offer a range of accommodation to suit the varied needs of students. These include:
- Brian Creamer & Rectory Houses, self-catered, in Lambeth
- Hampstead Halls, self-catered
- Wolfson House at Guy's Hospital, self-catered
- King's College Hall, catered, in Denmark Hill, South London
- The Great Dover Street Apartments in Southwark
- The Stamford Street Apartments at the Waterloo campus
Four of these halls let their rooms to visitors during the summer months when the students leave King's Conference & Vacation Bureau.
Intercollegiate Halls
King's also has the largest number of bedspaces in the University of London Intercollegiate Halls, which provide accommodation for those studying at the University. These are also open to the public over the summer:
- College Hall (currently under reburbishment and female-only) in Malet Street
- International Hall near Russell Square
- Lillian Penson Hall (postrgraduates only) in Paddington
- Nutford House in Marble Arch
- Canterbury, Commonwealth, Connaught and Hughes Parry Halls in Bloomsbury
Graduates
King's graduates have some of the highest average starting salaries among all UK universities - The Sunday Times estimates the average starting salary is £20,672: third highest in the UK. ^*
Famous alumni

See also Category:Academics of King's College London, Category:Alumni of King's College London and Category:People associated with King's College London
King's has educated many significant figures since its foundation. Its strong tradition in the sciences might be represented by some recipients of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine: Sir James Black, Maurice Wilkins, Sir Charles Scott Sherrington or Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins; or pioneering nurse Florence Nightingale. John Keats, Sir William Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan, Thomas Hardy and Michael Nyman are some celebrated examples from the arts; more recently, Rory Bremner, David Bellamy, Martin Bashir and another Nobel Laureate, Desmond Tutu, all attended King's.
Ratings
- The Guardian newspaper ranks King's as the fourth best multifaculty university in the United Kingdomthe THES ranks King's as twenty-third in Europe and seventy-third globally. [http://www.kcl.ac.uk/phpnews/wmview.php?ArtID=1006
- King's is one of only 11 UK universities to be ranked in to the top 100 of the world, according to a league table produced by Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
- King's was placed third overall in a 2005 Times_Higher_Education_Supplement survey in which 10,000 undergraduates rated universities on academic reputation, the quality of courses and teaching, admissions, campus location and facilities.
- According to a Sunday Times survey, King's is 3rd in the UK both for graduate starting salary and graduate employability.
- Entry to King's is competitive: the Sunday Times rates it as the 6th most difficult UK university to get into ^*.
- According to the 2005 Times_Higher_Education_Supplement league table, King's is positioned fourth in terms of staff-student ratio.
- Many departments are considered to be at the top of their field; most notably, The Guardian newspaper ranks the English, Chemistry, Dentistry and American Studies departments as the best in the country.
- King's is a member of the Russell Group of research universities and, in addition to the two departments listed above, is highly distinguished in Law, Medicine, Music and War Studies. This latter department attracts students with both a civilian and military background across the world. It is supported by world-class facilities such as the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives and the King's Centre for Military Health.
- The College has had 24 of its subject-areas awarded the highest rating of 5* and 5 for research quality, demonstrating excellence at an international level, and it has recently received an excellent result in its audit by the Quality Assurance Agency. It is in the top group (of six universities) for research earnings.
- In February 2006, UCAS revealed that, offset by a fall in applications for the vast majority of UK universities, King's received 4.0% more than the previous year ^*.
- In August 2005 the Guardian newspaper stated that LSE, Imperial College, King's and UCL each 'have international reputations that in this country only Oxbridge can beat' ^*.
- It has the fifth largest endowment of UK universities at £100m (2002), the fourth largest endowment per student, and has credit ratings of AA-/Stable/A-1 (Standard & Poor's). King's has an annual turnover of nearly £375 million.
Commercialisation
King's has a wholly owned and dedicated technology transfer, enterprise, and innovation company known as KCL Enterprises: one of the most successful in the UK. KCL Enterprises are responsible for business development and commercialisation and for the management of the university’s research grants and contracts. In collaboration with KCL Enterprises, King's actively encourages its staff to commercialise its research and as a result has given rise to a large number of spin-out companies based on academic research. These include Proximagen Neuroscience Plc, and Cerogenix Ltd.
Trivia
Aldwych tube station, a well-preserved but disused London Underground station, is part of the King's Strand campus. Its constant use as a filming location makes it supposedly the most profitable station on the tube network.
The School of Medicine, which admits 360 undergraduates every year, is the largest in the UK.
The College mascot, "Reggie", was lost for many years in the 1990s. It was recovered after being found dumped in a field, restored at the cost of around £15,000 and placed on display in the Students' Union. Protected in a glass case, it is filled with concrete to prevent theft, particularly by UCL students who once castrated it. (King's students had also stolen one UCL mascot, Phineas, and played football with the head of another, Jeremy Bentham). There are two further "Reggies" in existence: a papier-mâché Reggie outside the Great Hall at the Strand Campus, and a small incarnation displayed during Graduation ceremonies.
RADA is administered through King's.
King's is featured in the novel The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown; the Reading Room of the Maughan Library is described as an 'octagonal chamber'. The Library, however, was not used in filming for the novel's screen adaptation.
An innovative e-learning MA/Diploma is taight through King's - War in the Modern World. This postgraduate course is delivered purely online for students around the world.
King's runs the London Air Quality Network ^*.

References

F.J.C. Hearnshaw (1929). The Centenary History of King's College London. George G. Harrap & Co.
Gordon Huelin (1978), King's College London, 1828-1978.
Christine Kenyon Jones (2004), King's College London: In the service of society.

External links

King's College website
University of London
King's College London Libraries
King's Conference & Vacation Bureau
King's College London 175th Anniversary website - includes complete history
KCLSU
KCL Enterprises

Gourt Home::Gourt :: King's College London

History

Campuses

Refurbishment

Schools

Undergraduate Courses

Postgraduate Courses

Students' Union

Students' Accommodation

Intercollegiate Halls

Graduates

Famous alumni

Ratings

Commercialisation

Trivia

References

See also

External links