College Governance and Finance
How King's College is organised and run
On this page
How we're governed
The College is governed by a series of rules, the Statutes and Ordinances, with decision-making handled by the College Council and Governing Body, supported by consultative bodies such as College Committees and working groups.
The formal constitution of King’s is set out in its Statutes and supplemented by lesser rules of procedure known as Ordinances. The Statutes define the College as ‘a place of education, religion, learning, and research’.
The Statutes are binding, legal rules, descended from those which King Henry VI laid down when he founded the College in 1441. They can be changed only with the permission of the King; they have the force of an Act of Parliament.
Governing Body
The Governing Body is the sovereign decision-making body in the College and is made up of around 150 Fellows and four representatives elected annually from among the undergraduate and graduate students. The Governing Body meets twice each term.
College Council
The day-to-day running of the College is handled by the College Council, which meets fortnightly on Tuesday afternoons during Full Term, and oversees all educational and financial matters. Council is chaired by the Provost and made up of ten Fellows and two students, with College Officers (the Vice-Provost, Senior Tutor, First Bursar and Domus Bursar) also in attendance, as well as representatives from the two student unions.
College Officers and their roles
- The Provost is responsible for the governance of the College and chairs major committees.
- The Vice-Provost assumes responsibility for the College in the Provost’s absence, and is elected from among the Fellows for a period of five years. They oversee the Fellowship and ceremonial events in the life of the College.
- The Senior Tutor has overall responsibility for the educational life of the College.
- The First Bursar is responsible for the College’s finance, budgets and administration.
- The Domus Bursar is responsible for the College’s buildings and grounds, IT, and the management of domestic and visitor services.
- The Dean of Chapel is responsible for the life of the College Chapel.
- The Director of Development is responsible for fundraising for the College.
- The Director of Music is responsible for the King's College Choir.
- The Research Director oversees the strategic direction of research in the College.
College Officers gallery
Minutes of the College Council
Minutes of the Governing Body
College Accounts
The documents listed are the public reports of the College Accounts between 2020 and 2024. The accounts provide details of the financial workings of the College. The accounts do not include details of the accounts of any College student societies.
New sets of accounts are published online annually once they have been approved by the College.