Kingston University London (informally Kingston or KUL) is a public research university located within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, in South West London, United Kingdom. The university specialises in the arts, design, fashion, science, engineering, and business. It received university status in 1992, before which the institution was known as Kingston Polytechnic. Its roots, however, go back to the Kingston Technical Institute, founded in 1899.
Kingston was founded as Kingston Technical Institute in 1899. In 1930 the Kingston School of Art separated, later to become Kingston College of Art. Kingston was recognised as a Regional College of Technology by the Ministry of Education in 1957. In 1970, it merged with the College of Art to become Kingston Polytechnic, offering 34 major courses, of which 17 were at degree level.[6] In 1975, Kingston merged with the Gipsy Hill College of Education, itself founded in 1917, incorporating the College's faculty into Kingston's Division of Educational Studies
If you're looking for the bustle of city life without the hustle, beautiful Kingston upon Thames is the place for you. On the doorstep of the capital, Kingston is one of London's safest boroughs and offers all the highlights of city living in a leafy, riverside location. The University's four campuses can be found in and around the town centre, with a free intersite bus connecting them. It's a lively, student-friendly location on the Thames, neighbouring historic Hampton Court Palace and two royal parks. Better still, the heart of the capital is just 30 minutes away by train.
As well as being a fantastic place to make your home, Kingston's excellent transport links make commuting simple from further afield too. With two mainline train stations, a network of bus routes, and major motorways close by, there are so many ways to reach Kingston from London and the rest of the country. And if you're travelling by air, both Gatwick and Heathrow international airports are easily accessible from Kingston by both road and public transport.
With more than 17,000 students and five campuses, we offer an extensive range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses to equip our students with the skills and knowledge they will need in tomorrow's world of work. We are proud to have been awarded the 2017 Guardian University Award for Teaching Excellence and to have been named University of the Year for Widening Access for the second year running (NEON Awards 2017). We are a growing force in research and a pioneer in entrepreneurship. The latest Higher Education Business and Community Interaction Survey 2015/16 reported that, for the eighth year running, we were one of the top two universities in the country for the number of graduates starting up their own companies. Last year, we helped 289 entrepreneurial graduates get their companies off the ground.