King's College, Cambridge
King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.[4] This college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city.
This article is about the constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded in 1441. For other and similar uses, see King's College.King's College
King's Parade, Cambridge CB2 1ST (map)
The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge
Collegium Regale beate Marie et sancti Nicholai Cantebrigie
K[2]
1441
463 (2022–23)
326 (2022–23)
£300m (2022)
King's was founded in 1441 by King Henry VI soon after founding its sister institution, Eton College. Initially, King's accepted only students from Eton College. However, the king's plans for King's College were disrupted by the Wars of the Roses and the resultant scarcity of funds, and then his eventual deposition. Little progress was made on the project until 1508, when King Henry VII began to take an interest in the college, probably as a political move to legitimise his new position. The building of the college's chapel began in 1446, and was finished in 1544 during the reign of Henry VIII.
King's College Chapel is regarded as one of the finest examples of late English Gothic architecture. It has the world's largest fan vault, while its stained-glass windows and wooden chancel screen are considered some of the finest from their era. The building is seen as emblematic of Cambridge.[5] It houses the Choir of King's College, Cambridge. Every year on Christmas Eve, the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols (a service originally devised for Truro Cathedral by Edward White Benson in 1880, adapted by the college dean Eric Milner-White in 1918) is broadcast from the chapel to millions of listeners worldwide.[6][7]
Academic profile[edit]
The unofficial Tompkins Table comparing academic performance ranked King's 12th out of a total of 29 rated colleges at the University of Cambridge in 2019. In terms of first-class degrees, King's ranked 9th in the university with 31.3% of final year students achieving a first.
King's offers all undergraduate courses available at the university, except for education, land economy and veterinary medicine, although Directors of Studies for Anglo-Saxon Norse & Celtic and Management Studies visit from other colleges. With more than 100 fellows and some 420 undergraduate students, King's has one of the highest ratios of fellows to students of all the Cambridge colleges.
Since its foundation, the college has housed a library, providing books for all students, covering all the subjects offered by King's. Around 130,000 books are held: some available for teaching and for reference, others being rare books and manuscripts. The library operates a user-oriented purchasing policy: students and Directors of Studies recommend new purchases in their subject.[37] There is both Wi-Fi and Ethernet internet access throughout the library as well as a library computer room.[38] Special collections include a separate Music Library, the Keynes Library, a Global Warming collection, and an Audio Visual Library.[39]
Intake and access profile[edit]
The college has gradually broadened its intake to include many students from state schools, often having the highest proportion of maintained school acceptances of the undergraduate colleges. This has led to accusations of reactionary bias against public school pupils and of affirmative action (positive discrimination), although the relatively high proportion of state-school students reflects the far greater number of applications from pupils at maintained schools in comparison to other Cambridge colleges.[40]
King's has established a Schools Liaison Officer post in order to provide support to students, whatever their background, and schools and colleges of any type to find out more about the University of Cambridge and the college.[41] King's is the link Cambridge college for schools in North East England through Cambridge University Area Links Scheme.[42]
Generally, the atmosphere at King's is considered to be easier than that of other colleges to integrate into for students from a working-class or minority background. However, a survey conducted by Varsity Newspaper in January 2009 revealed that the average parental income of students who participated in the survey at King's was higher than the university average.[43]
In June 2018, Dr. Priyamvada Gopal alleged racial profiling by college porters at the gate of King's College, Cambridge. Gopal said that she was subjected to racial profiling and aggression by the porters and gatekeepers of King's and said porters frequently hassled non-white staff and students at the gates. While several students and staff corroborated her accusations, a King's College spokeswoman denied wrongdoing by staff.[44][45] As a result of the attention the issue received, Cambridge University students came forward describing similar experiences. Gopal said that she received hate mail following her announcement. Gopal announced that she would no longer supervise students at King's until there was a resolution to the long-standing problem.[46] Many students from Asian heritages have corrobated racial profiling by porters, who often mistake Asian students to be tourists.
Music[edit]
King's College is home to the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, which was founded in the 15th century and is now one of today's most well-renowned representatives of the English choral tradition. In 2013, the choir launched its own label, King's College Recordings, allowing it to gain more artistic freedom over its releases. Its releases and worldwide fame have led to global tours and performances.[50] The Choir of King's College sings evensong and Eucharist services on all days of the week apart from Mondays, with two services on a Sunday. It is currently led by the incumbent Director of Music, Daniel Hyde.
The other resident choir of the college is the mixed-voice choir King's Voices, founded in October 1997 under Dr John Butt, with the intention of giving women in King's the opportunity to sing in the chapel and be eligible for choral awards within the college. Currently, the choir sings evensong every Monday in university term, as well as performing at King's College Music Society (KCMS) and college events throughout the year.[51] King's Voices has also appeared on albums alongside the Choir of King's College, most recently in the Te Deum and Magnificat of the Collegium Regale service by Herbert Howells on a double album of music by Howells.[52] Sopranos in King's Voices also featured in a live recording of Benjamin Britten's Saint Nicolas alongside the BBC Singers and Britten Sinfonia as part of Sir Stephen Cleobury's Farewell Concert, broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in 2019.[53] The choir's current director is Ben Parry, who is assistant director of Music at King's.
Entrepreneurship and business at King's[edit]
In 2014, King's College established an Entrepreneurship Prize opened to King's College students[54] with alumni as judges, including Hermann Hauser, and Stuart Lyons, the former chairman of Beales.[55] In 2021, it launched the King's Entrepreneurship Lab to "support students with a future interest in innovation, entrepreneurship, and business"[56] co-directed by King's fellows Kamiar Mohaddes and Thomas Roulet, who are faculty at the Cambridge Judge Business School. In 2022, it received an additional donation from the Gatsby Foundation to enlarge its scope.
The college has had a number of notable alumni in business, including Alfred Allen Booth, Phil Vincent, Nancy Zhang and famous innovators such as Charles Townshend.
