King's is a diverse, tolerant and informal community with students from many different places and socio-economic backgrounds. Whoever you are, one of the pleasures of coming to King's is that you will meet people from backgrounds very different from your own and learn a huge amount from them. Our students study a range of subjects and have different interests, tastes, political views, etc. so there's no need to worry about fitting in.
King's is a dynamic place with lots going on. The formal and subject-specific education students receive through supervisions, lectures, seminars and practicals is enriched by a host of other opportunities to learn. These include discussion on all sorts of topics over lunch or in the bar with College friends, during seminars and social activities, and on student visits to other countries and cultures in the vacations, made possible by King's travel grants. We do our very best to support all our students, from the time they start thinking about an application to King's to the end of their degree course here.
In addition to the College's strong academic and pastoral support, the King's College Student Union (KCSU) has an ethnic minorities representative, who can be a source of useful information once you're here, whether you want a chat or some practical advice. The student cultural and religious societies (e.g. the CU Hindu Society, CU Malaysia Society, CU Islamic Society, CU African-Caribbean Society, CU Jewish Society, CU India Society, CU Sikh Society) are also very welcoming if you want to join with other students for organised social events such as talks, Jumma prayer, kosher meals or Diwali dinners. You can often bring friends along, too, and it can be fun to introduce them to foods or festivals from your own culture.
The King's Campaign - Encouraging the Brightest and the Best
Ahead of the launch of the King's Campaign, our staff and students talk about some of the benefits that the encouragement of applicants from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures can bring to the College community.The King's Campaign is our ambitious plan to raise £100 million in order to improve student access, to enhance our capacity as a provider of world-class research, and to maintain our renowned historic buildings, such as the Chapel.To donate to our Student Access and Support Initiative, please visit:
King's has hosted students from the Target Oxbridge Cambridge Residential in April 2018, April 2019 and April 2022. Target Oxbridge is a free programme that aims to help black African and Caribbean students and students of mixed race with black African and Caribbean heritage increase their chances of getting into the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge (known collectively as Oxbridge).
Each year we also host an Ethnic Minorities Open Day. This is a one-day event open to prospective students aged 16+ from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds. The aim of the event is to give students from Ethnic Minority backgrounds an opportunity to experience life at Cambridge and ask questions about anything from admissions to student life here at King’s.
In the 1980s King's collaborated in the founding of the Insight project (originally called GEEMA), a university-wide scheme to encourage talented students from ethnic minority backgrounds in the UK to make an application to Cambridge University. The Insight project aims to spread the message that you don't have to be from a particular background to study at Cambridge: we admit people based on their academic potential and offer generous financial support, so the opportunities here are open to people from all cultures and backgrounds. The scheme enables a large number of students to visit Cambridge each year and to meet with admissions staff and current students.
Information about applying from an ethnic minority background and specific events is on the Cambridge Admissions website and we encourage prospective students to find out more. The King's Admissions Office is also keen to receive emails and visits from potential students. There are issues, both practical and more general, that some students from ethnic minority backgrounds may be concerned about when thinking about living and studying away from home. Please let us know about any concerns and we will do what we can to help.
