King's College, Cambridge Model Publication Scheme
Freedom of Information Act (2000)
The seven classes of information listed below form the model publication scheme (MPS) devised by the Information Commissioner’s Office for use from 1 January 2009. This webpage comprises the King’s College, Cambridge publication scheme according to this model. Numbers in the MPS refer to the relevant sections in the Guide to Information (GTI), where further information might be available.
For schemes pertaining to the College’s subsidiary companies, or for general information about the publication schemes for the College and its subsidiary companies (such as how to get copies of the information listed below, how our fees are charged, and complaints procedures) go to the webpage about our Publication Schemes.
If the information you seek is not listed in the publication scheme, you should still ask about it. See section 5 of the webpage about our Publication Schemes.
Contact information
For enquiries about this publication scheme contact:
King's College
Main categories
The main classes of information in the MPS are:
- Who we are and what we do
- What we spend and how we spend it
- What our priorities are and how we are doing
- How we make decisions
- Our policies and procedures
- Lists and registers
- The services we offer
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Who we are and what we do
Who we are
King’s College, formally ‘The Provost and Scholars of the King’s College of Our Lady and St Nicholas in Cambridge’, is one of the Colleges of Cambridge University. We are a charitable corporate body established in 1441 by Royal Charter, and governed by statutes and ordinances. The statutes stipulate that we exist as a place of education, religion, learning and research. See the GTI §1.1 for publications about the legal status of the College.
How we are organised
We have approximately 120 Fellows, 600 students, and 300 staff. All the Fellows, with the Provost (Head of House) as Chairman, make up the Governing Body which is the sovereign decision-making body in the College and meets several times per year.
The day-to-day running of the College is handled by the College Council, which meets fortnightly during Full Term. The minutes of the Council and Governing Body are published on the minutes web page three months after they have been approved. Various other committees meet as needed and advise the Council, and their annual reports are usually minuted as papers. See the GTI §1.2 for published information about the Council and Governing Body (including a list of committees), and the GTI §1.3 for more information about the organization of the College.
The Council appoints educational and administrative Officers. The College Officers are listed below:
- The Provost, Head of House for the College
- The Vice-Provost
- The First Bursar
- The Second Bursar
- The Senior Tutor
- The Dean
- The Librarian
Contact details for these Officers, and for other Educational and Administrative posts in the College, are available on Departmental contacts page.
What we do
Education and student welfare
The University
Cambridge University delivers lectures, administers examinations, and grants degrees. Information about the University’s educational remit is available from their website. The academic newsletter of the University is the Cambridge University Reporter.
Detailed information about how the College fits into the University is available as a PDF file entitled ‘Educational provision by Colleges’ which can be downloaded from http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/committee/seniortutors/guidance/. The University Council has some jurisdiction in College academic affairs.
Undergraduates
Although the University sets exams and grants degrees, each College is responsible for admission of its undergraduates. Information of interest to prospective King’s students can be found in Study at King's and the King's College Student Union (KCSU) publishes an unofficial prospectus for undergraduates (for a copy please email info@kcsu.org.uk).
The University education of each King’s College undergraduate student is supplemented by supervisions overseen by the Director of Studies for that student’s particular degree. Supervisions are normally given by Fellows of King’s College and sometimes by Fellows of other Colleges, who normally hold University teaching and/or research posts in addition to their College Fellowships.
The College’s educational work is managed through the Tutorial Office by the Senior Tutor. It is described in How you are taught and in the undergraduate student handbook.
Graduates
Graduate students are admitted to the University through their Departments/Faculties and the University’s Board of Graduate Studies, in conjunction with the Graduate Tutors in the Colleges. Graduate students of the University are given a College affiliation, sometimes live in College accommodation and can make use of many College facilities, but they do not receive supervisions in College. The welfare of graduate students is managed through the Tutorial Office by the Graduate Tutor.
The KCGS website contains information of interest to graduate students.
Student accommodation
Most students live in College accommodation during their years at King’s. General information about student accommodation can be found in the undergraduate student handbook and on the undergraduate accommodation and graduate accommodation pages. College members can get specific information on-line on the room ballots page. Non-College members can get this information on paper by writing to foi@kings.cam.ac.uk.
Financial support
The College occasionally provides financial support and scholarships to students. Information is on-line for Undergraduate funding and graduate funding, whereas undergraduate funding is briefly discussed in the student handbook (see above). Funds awarded in the past are reported on the minutes webpage.
King’s College School
One of our statutory responsibilities is to educate 16 choristers, and for this purpose the College operates King’s College School. There are currently around 340 pupils in the School. The Dean of King’s is the Chairman of the School Governors, who are appointed by the College Council. See the KCS website for further information about the School.
The Chapel
The religious life of the College is focussed mainly on the Chapel. Statutes require daily services be held during Term. They are held in accordance with the rites of the Church of England. The Dean is responsible to the Governing Body for the provision of Chapel services and the Chaplain provides for the pastoral care and spiritual welfare of all students irrespective of denomination or faith community. Information about the Chapel including history, access and opening hours, and times of scheduled services and concerts held within it is available in the chapel webpages in Visit King's and in Events.
The Library
The College Library facilitates learning by providing study space and books for students. Hundreds of new books are bought each year on the advice of the Directors of Studies. The online catalogue lists 92,000 books, and annual loans total about 22,000. We have particularly strong resources for the study of music and the study of global warming. There is on-line information about the global warming collection.
Through its archival collections the Library provides a resource used by about 200 scholars a year from the College and University, as well as the rest of the world. We have particularly strong resources for the study of early 20th century economics, literature and fine arts, and for local and family history of the properties endowed to the College when it was founded. See the Archive Centre webpages for information about the Archives including access.
The PKP summer school
Since 2006 we have operated a summer school, the Pembroke/King’s Programme, in conjunction with Pembroke College, Cambridge. Approximately 200 students from American universities are in residence in the two Colleges for 8 weeks to attend courses accredited by their own Universities. See the summer school webpages for further details.
Research
Many of the College’s Fellows conduct research within their University Departments. The College supports research through stipendiary and non-stipendiary Fellowships, and by making small grants available to Fellows to support research activities.
The College also runs international conferences, workshops and seminars organized by the Research Centre or by individual Fellows, and collaborates with Harvard University through the Centre for History and Economics to facilitate research and conferences in those areas.
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What we spend and how we spend it
Where our money comes from
The College funds its activities from academic fees, student ‘room and board’ charges, the income from its conferences and catering business, its invested endowments, and from donations and legacies. Information about how the Development Office raises money is available in the annual accounts.
How we spend it
Once the annual accounts have been audited, the College publishes them on the accounts page. See the GTI §2 for more published financial information including pension plans, budget and audit information.
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What our priorities are and how we are doing
The priorities of education, religion, learning, and research are considered of equal importance to the College. The College’s Annual Report (see section G below) and Annual Accounts (see section B above) include statistics about student enrolment, student performance in comparison with other Cambridge Colleges, usage of the Library and Archives. In addition, relevant statistics are included in the Research Committee’s annual report to the Governing Body and the Senior Tutor’s annual report to the Governing Body, published on the minutes website. The number of King’s College School members who passed entrance examinations to the senior school of their choice is published in the annual accounts (see section B above). The Archive Centre’s annual report, including statistics, is published through links from the Archives Centre's homepage. Careers information on Cambridge University graduates is published by the University, at http://www.careers.cam.ac.uk.
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How we make decisions
All the Fellows, with the Provost as Chairman, make up the Governing Body which is the sovereign decision-making body in the College and meets several times per year. The day-to-day running of the College is handled by the College Council, which meets fortnightly during Full Term. Various other committees meet as needed and advise the Council. See the GTI §1.2 for a list of published information about College committees.
See section A for the minutes and papers of open business of the Council and Governing Body.
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Our policies and procedures
Employees
Employment policies are given in the staff handbook which is available in hardcopy only. See the GTI §3.1.1 for a statement of the College’s equal rights policy, included in the handbook.
Students
Policies relating to students are given in the student handbook (see section A above). For information about disciplinary proceedings see the GTI § 5.6.
Accommodation
Policies and procedures about accommodation, are published on-line for College members on the accommodation pages and links thereon. If you are not a member of College please request the information (free of charge) in hardcopy through foi@kings.cam.ac.uk. The Bedders Charter is available (free of charge) in hardcopy only.
Facilities and access
Access and use policies for the Library and Archives are given on the Library webpages and links thereon. For other College facilities such as computing services (GTI §6.1.3) see the general facilities webpage and links thereon. Information about the staff facilities webpage is available online for College members. If you are not a member of College please request the information (free of charge) in hardcopy through foi@kings.cam.ac.uk. Information about access to the College is online.
Data management
Our Data Protection policy is available on-line. The College has a Retention Schedule to determine how long it keeps its records and what happens to them afterwards; it is available in hardcopy only. For policies and procedures relating to the Freedom of Information Act see the page About our publication schemes. The porters conduct the CCTV monitoring of College property according to a written policy available in hardcopy only.
Health and safety
A No Smoking policy was approved by Council as a paper which can be downloaded from the Council and Governing Body minutes website under the meeting of 2007-11-05. The Health, Safety and Compliance statement of policy as originally approved can be downloaded from the Council and Governing Body minutes website under the meeting of 2007-07-10. These policies are amended from time to time through Council and amendments should be searched for on the Council/Governing Body minutes website to obtain the current version.
Other policies
The Archives Centre has a written accessions policy, available (free of charge) in hardcopy only.
The College adheres to the University guidelines on intellectual property rights and good research practices, as described on the University's research webpage.
The Catering Department has an environmental mission statement.
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Lists and registers
Contact information is on-line for most staff and Fellows, see above for a list of College Officers. Advice for contacting students is given on contacts page. Officers and members of student groups can be found on their websites (see section G).
There are on-line catalogues for the Library, (including some special collections such as the global warming collection) and archival collections. There are paper catalogues, which must be consulted in person, for rare books and manuscripts – non-Kingsmen should write library.mail@kings.cam.ac.uk to arrange access.
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The services we offer
Members
Advice and guidance
For published advice and guidance for students see the student handbook (see section A above). For published advice and guidance for employees see the staff handbook (see section E below). Information about the support network for students is available from the student support webpage.
Clubs and societies
Information about the King’s College Graduate Society, Boat Club, Music Society, and Choir Association can be found on the relevant websites.
External relations
News
The College website includes an announcements page with links to the calendar of events. Press releases, some originating from the College, are published by the University on their press releases webpage.
Annual Report
Since 1887 the Annual Report of Council has been published at the end of the calendar year. It is available in hardcopy only. Current issues typically include announcements about Fellows, statistics about undergraduate and graduate student admissions and performance, academic news, news about the Chapel, Choir, buildings, gardens and staff, obituaries of members, and reports from the Development Office, Tutorial Office and Library.
Vacancies
Job vacancies are published on the College's vacancies page.
Library and archives
The Archives Centre publishes information leaflets about its collections and its conservation programme which include information not on the website and are available free of charge, and the Library publishes a users guide available online, and in hardcopy free of charge.
Development office
The Development Office publishes leaflets about its fundraising programmes as well as alumni newsletters. See the GTI §9.4.1 for a list of these.
Amicabilis Concordia
King’s has formal ties with Eton College, Winchester College, and New College Oxford dating back to 1444, a four-way relationship known as the Amicabilis Concordia. A transcription of the Latin document is available, in hardcopy only.
