King's College London

King's College London
Coat of arms
Latin: Collegium Regale Londinense[1] or Collegium Regium apud Londinenses[2]
MottoLatin: Sancte et Sapienter
Motto in English
With Holiness and Wisdom
TypePublic research university
Established1829 (earliest recorded teaching in medical school 1561)[3]
Endowment£301.0 million (2023)[4]
Budget£1.230 billion (2022/23)[4]
ChairLord Geidt
VisitorJustin Welby
(as Archbishop of Canterbury ex officio)
ChancellorAnne, Princess Royal
(as Chancellor of the University of London)
Vice-Chancellor and PresidentShitij Kapur
Academic staff
6,195 (2022/23)[5]
Administrative staff
4,510 (2022/23)[5]
Students41,045 (2022/23)[6]
Undergraduates23,435 (2022/23)[6]
Postgraduates17,610 (2022/23)[6]
Location
London
,
England

51°30′43″N 0°06′58″W / 51.51194°N 0.11611°W / 51.51194; -0.11611
CampusUrban
PatronCharles III[7]
Colours
                   
Blue & King's red[8]
Affiliations
MascotReggie the Lion
Websitekcl.ac.uk Edit this at Wikidata

King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington.[9][10] In 1836, King's became one of the two founding colleges of the University of London.[11] It is one of the oldest university-level institutions in England.[12][13] 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 (in 1985), the Institute of Psychiatry (in 1997), the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals and the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery (in 1998).

King's has five campuses: its historic Strand Campus in central London, three other Thames-side campuses (Guy's, St Thomas' and Waterloo) nearby and one in Denmark Hill in south London. It also has a presence in Shrivenham, Oxfordshire, for its professional military education, and another in Newquay, Cornwall, where its information service centre is based. Its academic activities are organised into nine faculties, which are subdivided into numerous departments, centres, and research divisions. In 2022/23, King's had a total income of £1.230 billion, of which £236.3 million was from research grants and contracts.[4] It has the fourth largest endowment of any university in the United Kingdom, and the largest of any in London. King's is the fifth-largest university in the United Kingdom by total enrolment[6] and receives over 69,000 undergraduate applications per year (36,000 domestic and 33,000 international).[14]

King's is a member of academic organisations including the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the European University Association, and the Russell Group. King's is home to the Medical Research Council's MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders and is a founding member of the King's Health Partners academic health sciences centre, Francis Crick Institute and MedCity. It is the largest European centre for graduate and post-graduate medical teaching and biomedical research, by number of students,[15] and includes the world's first nursing school, the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery.[16] King's is generally regarded as part of the "golden triangle" of universities located in the cities of Oxford, Cambridge and London.[17] King's has often had royal patronage by virtue of its foundation, with the late Queen Elizabeth II having been patron and her son King Charles III taking over patronage in May 2024.[18][19]

King's alumni and staff include 14 Nobel laureates; contributors to the discovery of DNA structure, Hepatitis C, the Hepatitis D genome, and the Higgs boson; pioneers of in-vitro fertilisation, stem cell/mammal cloning and the modern hospice movement; and key researchers advancing radar, radio, television and mobile phones. Alumni also include heads of states, governments and intergovernmental organisations; seventeen members of the current House of Commons, two Speakers of the House of Commons and thirteen members of the current House of Lords; and the recipients of three Oscars, three Grammys, one Emmy, one Golden Globe, and one Booker Prize.

  1. ^ Trapp, Michael. "The memorial inscription to Joseph Anstice" – via www.academia.edu.
  2. ^ Record of the Celebration of the Quatercentenary of the University of Aberdeen. University of Aberdeen. 1907. p. 539.
  3. ^ "Our history". King's College London Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine. Archived from the original on 18 October 2018. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  4. ^ a b c "Financial Statements for the year to 31 July 2023" (PDF). King's College London. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  5. ^ a b "Who's working in HE?". www.hesa.ac.uk. Higher Education Statistics Agency.
  6. ^ a b c d "Where do HE students study? | HESA". hesa.ac.uk. Higher Education Statistics Agency.
  7. ^ "His Majesty the King becomes Royal Patron of King's College London".
  8. ^ "Branding Essentials" (PDF). Branding Essentials November 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2019.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ "Foundation of the College". King's College London. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  10. ^ "Royal Charter of King's College London" (PDF). King's College London. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 August 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
  11. ^ "A brief history". University of London. Archived from the original on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  12. ^ "King's College London". Russell Group. 27 January 2024.
  13. ^ "King's College London". University of London.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference UCASEoC23 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference kingspartnersfacts was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Petroni, A (1969). "[The first nursing school in the world—St. Thomas Hospital School in London]". Munca Sanit. 17 (8): 449–54. PMID 5195090.
  17. ^ Mike Savage (5 November 2015). Social Class in the 21st Century. Penguin. p. 167. ISBN 9780141978925. 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.
  18. ^ "Remembering Her Majesty The Queen". King's College London. 8 September 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  19. ^ "His Majesty The King becomes Royal Patron of King's College London". King's College London. 14 May 2024. Archived from the original on 5 June 2024. Retrieved 5 June 2024.