International Students
Studying at King's
In the Department of English at King's we pride ourselves on a long tradition of welcoming international students into the department, both for undergraduate and graduate degrees, as well as students who come here for one or two semesters via the Study Abroad system.
Studying English at King’s means studying literature and culture in a vibrant urban context. We like to think of our location on the Strand in central London as the best possible place to study English literary cultures. Half a mile to our west, you run into Buckingham Palace; half a mile to our east stands St Paul’s Cathedral. We are within a few minutes walk of Shakespeare’s Globe, of Dickens’s and Virginia Woolf’s neighbourhoods and the streets they frequented. The great London theatres old and new are on our doorstep, and several of the finest galleries in the world (the National Gallery and Tate Modern, to name only two) are equally near. Simply put, there is nowhere better to immerse yourself in the rich cultural history of London than King’s. We expect our students to be naturally curious and to make the most of studying in the heart of this world city.
Junior Year Abroad and Penn Students
The English Department welcomes a large number of Junior Year Abroad students from North America and other regions each year. We have a varied and wide-ranging curriculum in literary studies, with expertise from the Anglo-Saxon and medieval periods through to literatures of the present day. We are a lively, energetic department and appreciate the contribution that our international students bring to the classroom. We hope to attract a diverse range of JYA students, many of whom in recent years have come to us from institutions as varied as Boston College, Bryn Mawr, Columbia, Duke, Georgetown, Middlebury, University of Michigan, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, University of Paris IV (Sorbonne), Vassar, and Washington and Lee. We have a longstanding programme with the University of Pennsylvania, and are pleased to have the Penn students among us each year.
If you come for one semester only and take all your courses in the English Department, you will usually take four modules, accruing four credits for each module. You will normally be required to write one or two essays for each module. If you come for the full academic year and take all your courses in the English Department, you will usually take eight modules, accruing four credits for each module. You will have to fulfill the same module assessment requirements as the BA English undergraduate students, which consists of a variety of assessment methods, including commentaries, essays, projects and written examinations.
European Community Students
We welcome students from the EC who wish to study in the department for one or two semesters. You should have completed at least two years of your degree in English (or a combined degree with English) before you commence your studies at King’s. During your stay here you will study second and final year modules, subject to availability. You may take up to a maximum of eight modules for credit and will be required to formally register those units with the College. You may also have the opportunity to audit modules, which normally means that you will attend the lectures, but not submit any written coursework.