King’s College London
When was King’s College London founded?
What is King’s College London’s relationship with the University of London?
Who are some notable alumni of King’s College London?
What are King’s College London’s specialties?
What was the purpose of the World Questions | King’s Answers campaign?
King’s College London, one of the two founding colleges of the University of London, founded in 1829 by King George IV and then prime minister the duke of Wellington. It is a public university and a member of the Russell Group of leading research universities in the United Kingdom.
King’s College was founded as a secular institution, at a time when the ancient universities of Oxford and Cambridge were closed to students who were not members of the Church of England. From the beginning, King’s was marked by an openness to religious nonconformists and an emphasis on newer subjects, such as engineering, modern languages, and commerce, which diverged from the classical focus of Oxbridge.
In 1836 King’s joined with University College London to found the University of London. Other mergers took place in the following century, when King’s merged with Chelsea College and Queen Elizabeth College (1985), the Institute of Psychiatry (1997), and the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospitals (1998). Although King’s is part of the University of London, it awards its own degrees and has been financially distinct since 1994.
King’s College London is internationally renowned for its superior teaching and focus on research. As of 2023 the school’s urban campuses included Denmark Hill, Guy’s, St. Thomas’, Strand, and Waterloo. King’s serves more than 33,000 students from more than 190 countries. There are about 250,000 alumni all over the world. The institution ranks highly in international surveys. Specialties include law, humanities, the sciences, and social sciences. The school’s partner organizations in government, business, the arts, sports, charities, and others give students valuable practical experience. The largest European center for health care education, King’s is an Academic Health Science Centre and has three teaching hospitals. King’s also counts more than 150 international partner institutions, from Paris to Hong Kong, which provide study-abroad programs.
Many alumni of King’s have distinguished themselves in their fields. Desmond Tutu, former archbishop of South Africa and Nobel Peace laureate in 1984, studied theology at King’s in the mid-1960s. Biophysicist Michael Levitt received a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2013 for his contribution to modeling complex chemical processes. Athlete Dina Asher-Smith holds several world records in sprinting. Award-winning children’s author Michael Morpurgo was knighted in 2018. Biophysicist Rosalind Franklin’s images of the structure of DNA helped James Watson and Francis Crick create the first model of the molecule. Other notable affiliates of King’s include authors Virginia Woolf and Arthur C. Clarke.
As part of its philanthropic efforts, King’s launched the World Questions | King’s Answers campaign in 2010. Fronted by John Major, the effort raised more than £610 million. The funds provided scholarships, founded a law school, and trained young leaders at the African Leadership Centre. Research initiatives included the study of radicalized fighters at the King’s International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and the creation of a vaccine that may prevent the recurrence of leukemia. Finally, service initiatives included fighting ebola in Sierra Leone, creating the Cancer Centre at Guy’s, and supporting the Evelina London Children’s Hospital.