King’s College London

King’s College London, or King’s, as most people call it, was established in 1829 by King George IV and Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, making it the fourth oldest university in England. It is one of the world's top research institutions and home to over 27,600 students, nearly 10,500 of which are graduate students, from 150 countries worldwide. With a proportion of international students of
about 40%, King’s has been recognised as one of the most international universities in the world. The concept of King’s as ‘an international community that serves the world’ is integral to the university’s mission to make the world a better place and to view the world through the lens of others. King’s motto is “sancte et sapienter” which is Latin and stands for “With Holiness and Wisdom”.

King’s offers 180 undergraduate courses and a wide range of postgraduate degrees at nine different faculties. While the university's main location is the Strand Campus located on the north bank o f the River Thames, right by Covent Garden and Trafalgar Square, King’s is also based at four other campuses around central London. The Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine and the Dental Institute are based at Guy's Campus on the south bank of the River Thames, next to the Shard and close to London Bridge, whereas the other locations are Waterloo, which is right across the bridge from Strand Campus, Denmark Hill, situated in Camberwell, in the London Borough of Southwark, and lastly, St Thomas, which overlooks the River Thames next to Westminster Bridge and opposite the Houses of Parliament and houses a museum dedicated to social reformer and founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale.


Libraries

King’s main research library is Maughan Library (pronounced Mawn like Lawn - strange, we know), a neo-gothic building which was finished in 1851 but contains parts that are over 700 years old! If you get there at the right time, you might manage to find a space at the Round Reading Room, the library's most impressive study space, which was rumoured (falsely, unfortunately) to have been used
as a filming location for Dumbledor’s office in Harry Potter. During exam season, Maughan is open 24/7, which has probably saved more than just one student’s grades. The collection at Maughan consists mainly of Humanities, Law, and Science books, while the
Medicine, Dentistry and Physiotherapy books are to be found in New Hunt's House Library and the Wills Library which are both located on Guys Campus. On Waterloo Campus, there is also the Franklin Wilkins Library and St Thomas House, whereas if you study at Denmark Hill, the IoPPN Library and the Weston Education Centre Library are your places to go.

Academic & Career opportunities

Career Centre

King’s career centre divides their program into three phases to meet students’ various needs: first there is the discover phase, when you’re still in the process of exploring different options and don’t know yet what to do after uni, then comes the focus phase, when you have a clearer vision of what type of career you might be interested in and what skills and knowledge you have to offer, and lastly
the action phase, when you have a concrete plan on where to go and how to get there. To access these services, students, recent alumni, staff and employers use CareerConnect, King’s online careers portal. Apart from hosting regular Career Events, Advice Sessions, and Workshops, the Career center can specifically tailor their advice and guidance to whatever it is a student needs and also offers
various one-to-one services. Furthermore, students can use the Career Portal to indicate which fields and employment areas they are interested in and can choose to opt into a weekly newsletter which showcases internship or work opportunities in the student’s field of interest.

Associateship of King’s College

Every student at King’s has the opportunity to take part in what is called the Associateship of King’s College, a research-led programme of lectures through which students can explore diverse religious and cultural perspectives, alongside their main programme of study. It is the original award of King's, dating back to its foundation in 1829 and reflects its first motto: sancte et sapienter. Upon successful
completion of the course, students can be elected as an Associate of King's College by the Academic Board and will be entitled to use the letters AKC after their name.

King’s Undergraduate Research Fellowship Scheme

An exciting opportunity exclusively for undergraduate students is King’s Undergraduate Research Fellowship Scheme, which gives undergraduates the opportunity to work as Research Assistants at King’s over the summer. Each year, there is a new variety of projects across the different departments at King’s to match students’ interests. Through the KURF, students get to work together with
professors and develop their research and writing skills. Previous Fellowship holders have even published peer-reviewed academic journal articles and conducted major laboratory research.

Study Abroad

King's has numerous prestigious partner universities around the world, so if you’re interested in studying abroad, check out what opportunities your department has to offer and which destinations are available to you. For more information, you can also attend Go Global, King’s annual celebration and promotion of study abroad opportunities, or check out King's Study Abroad Stories, where King’s
students who went to study abroad share their experiences. '

Languages

The Modern Language Centre provides King’s undergraduate and postgraduate students the opportunity to study a language module for free with their degree and offers a discount on Evening & Saturday Language Courses. Students have the choice of 26+ languages at different levels ranging from beginner to near-native speaker, all taught by experienced teachers who are native speakers of
the language.

Life at King’s - social

Societies

King’s offers such a large variety of opportunities to get involved in that it can be overwhelming to choose from! The KCL Student Union offers almost 300 different societies and sports clubs, uniting people with interests ranging from Baking, to Debating, to Skiing, up to Harry Potter. Societies can be purely social, academic, or often also a mix of the two, so there is really something for everyone.
Getting involved with societies is a big part of university life and a great way to meet people with a common interest and to connect with people from outside of your course. If you are really passionate about a specific society, you might even decide to join the committee and gain some experience for
your CV as a nice add-on.

Apart from its over 70 different sports clubs, King’s offers three gym facilities to students conveniently located close to campus: one located on Strand, one at London Bridge near Guy’s Campus, and lastly one at Waterloo. Another fitness opportunity for students is BeActive, a social and recreational activity programme with a weekly selection of over 50 activities ranging from Street Dance to Yoga.

Social Life

King’s has various cafes and restaurants on its multiple campuses. The Vegan Cafe on the top floor of Bush House offers solely vegan food options and a beautiful view over the London Skyline and the River Thames. On Strand campus, there is also the Shack, the Vault, the Arcade Cafe, and the River

Terrace Cafe which requires a little bit of searching to find. Even though it is not officially part of King’s, the WatchHouse cafe is located in the same wing that King’s Law School is based in and is especially in the summer a really nice place to sit outside and drink coffee at. For those based at Guy’s, there is the Shed Cafe and Guy’s Bar & Restaurant, as well as Henri's Restaurant and the New Hunt's House Keats Cafe. At Denmark Hill, there is the IoPPN Cafe, the Wohl Cafe, and The WEC Refectory, and on Waterloo Campus there is the Bytes Cafe at the Franklin Wilkins Building.

Sports Night

Wednesday is King’s dedicated student night where all sports teams go out to celebrate, usually dressed up in line with the weekly theme. The GKT Teams, the sports teams composed of students from Guy’s campus, go to Guy’s Bar, whereas the Strand based teams go to Bar Salsa or the Vault. If you’re not into sports, don't worry, you don't have to be a member of a team to go out, although that
might mean that you might have to wait in line for a bit longer (Guy’s Bar for example is notorious for its long and slowly moving queue, so make sure to get there early!). If you get too frustrated after waiting to get into Guy’s Bar for ages, Dover Castle is just around the corner and another student favorite, and apart from that, London has an overwhelming selection of pubs, bars, and clubs to
choose from.

Accomodation

Over 6,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students join King’s Residences each year to live in one of its 11 different residences, two of which are reserved for Postgraduate students only. The majority of the residences are located in central London and in walking distance from at least one of the different campuses. The residences are priced at different rates, and so students can indicate which
residence they want to live in depending on their budget. Students can choose between ensuite rooms, shared kitchens, shared bathrooms, studios and other options depending on the accommodation. Another option for accommodation are intercollegiate halls which King’s students share with students from other London unis such as UCL or LSE.

Most students choose to rent a flat in their second year, but those who wis h to stay in residences have the possibility to stay there as well. Many students move in with friends they met at uni or in their residence, and some departments even offer flatmate finder initiatives where students within the department who are looking for flatmates can connect.

Fun Facts about King’s

  • The notorious rivalry between King’s and University College London dates back to 1836 when the University of London was founded, but it was not until 1922, when King’s students first stole UCL’s mascot, the statue of Phineas MacLino, that the mascot wars between the two unis began. While King’s beloved mascot, Reggie the Lion, was kidnapped many times, King’s students took it a step further when they stole the head of philosopher Jeremy Bentham, the spiritual founder of UCL, whose preserved body is on display on their campus. Although his head was ultimately returned, it has been kept hidden away at an undisclosed location and replaced with a wax replica ever since the King’s student's audacious prank

  • Before Reggie, King’s first mascot was “bottled youth” - a giant papier mâché beer bottle

  • Maughan Library is a popular film location. Notable films that have been filmed there include Johnny English, The Imitation Game, Enola Holmes, and V for Vendetta

  • From November to January, students can ice skate on the ice skating rink in front of Somerset House adjacent to King’s East Wing

  • Fourteen people from King’s and its associated institutions have been awarded the Nobel Prize, including Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and Maurice Wilkins, who discovered the structure of DNA