King's College London

Overview

King's College London (KCL) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1829, KCL is one of England’s oldest universities and one of the founding colleges of the University of London. It is also the largest center of European medical teaching and biomedical research in terms of the number of graduate and postgraduate students.

KCL is renowned for its medical courses but offers undergraduate programs on a wide range of subject areas. These include Accounting and Finance, Electrical Engineering, Film Studies, Politics, Philosophy, and Law, and Culture, Media, and Creative Industries. Some of its programs under Health and Life Sciences include Mental Health Nursing, Neuroscience, Sports and Exercise Medical Sciences, and Pharmacy.

Students can also choose from a diverse list of subject areas for postgraduate and research courses. The subject areas include Computer Science, Conflict and Security, Education Management and Policy, Law, International Affairs and Management, and Pharmacy, Pharmacology, and Forensic Science. Examples of postgraduate courses are Geopolitics, Resources and Territory, Aerospace Medicine, Finance Analytics, Classical Art and Archaeology, and Risk Analysis, Disasters, and Resilience.

Aside from its undergraduate and postgraduate programs, KCL also has pre-university summer programs for high school students as well as university students. The university conducts various study-abroad programs to help enhance their students' university experience. Study-abroad program destinations include countries in Asia, Latin America, North America, Australasia, and Africa.

King's College London was founded by King George IV and Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington. It was a nonreligious alternative to the universities of Cambridge and Oxford, which mainly educated the sons of prominent Anglicans. KCL grew from several mergers throughout the 20th century. In 1985 it merged with Chelsea College of Science and Technology and Queen Elizabeth College. Several more mergers followed—one with Chelsea College of Science and Technology and Queen Elizabeth College in 1985, another with the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, and with Guy’s and St. Thomas hospital’s United Medical and Dental Schools back in 1998.

KCL’s notable alumni include the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale; anti-apartheid and human rights activist, Desmond Tutu; and leading theoretical physicist, Professor Peter Higgs. The university has produced 12 Nobel laureates such as Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins for his research on beriberi and vitamins in 1929; Sir Charles Scott Sherrington for his research on the nervous system in 1932; and Maurice Wilkins for his discovery of the structure of DNA in 1962.