Orientation information
Enrolment
Online enrolment information will be emailed to you a few weeks in advance of your arrival to King's College London. Please make sure you read the information very carefully and follow all necessary steps to avoid problems upon arrival.
Don't forget to download the 'Life at King's' App before you arrive too (available in September). Search for 'Life at King's' in the App Store.
Please note that information relating to International Students in the app is aimed at degree-seeking students, not Study Abroad ones. You are welcome to join university or departmental Social events, but informational events are not aimed at you and likely to contain confusing information, so you should only attend those clearly marked as Study Abroad.
Study Abroad Orientation
King’s considers the Orientation programme to be a compulsory part of the Study Abroad programme and we ask that all students attend the events relevant to them. Please ensure you attend the compulsory sessions that apply to you!
For January 2023, Study Abroad Orientation will start 9th January. This is the date from which you are expected to be in London.
For details, please see the below link. Offer holders will have been emailed a version with location details, and booking links to social events.
Other events you might like to attend (not run by us):
organised by KCLSU (lots of other events on their Facebook page too)
Please always quote your King's student number when sending documents
Learning Agreements
Students studying abroad at King's through the Erasmus+ programme will complete a Learning Agreement issued by their home institution. The Learning Agreement acts as a contract between King's, the home institution, and the student, agreeing what will be studied, and for how much credit.
Learning Agreements will be signed by the Global Mobility Office. Please keep in mind the following factors:
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Under Contact and Responsible person, please use Global Mobility Office and under email studyabroad@kcl.ac.uk. We do not have a phone number at present, and this is not required. King's Erasmus code is UK LONDON017.
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Learning Agreements must list all the modules that a student is registered for, according to Student Records, regardless of whether these will be transferred for credit at their home institution.
- Please make sure you mark the modules with correct ECTS (1 King's Credits is 0.5 ECTS, so a 15KC module will be 7.5 ECTS).
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Learning Agreements must not list any modules that a student is not registered for, according to Student Records.
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We therefore cannot sign any Learning Agreements until your full initial module allocation has been confirmed by us.
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If you can complete the Learning Agreement through the OLA (online Learning Agreement), please do so, otherwise, please email it to us at studyabroad@kcl.ac.uk.
Certificates of Arrival
If your home institution has supplied you with a Certificate of Arrival, we will be able to sign this form to confirm that you have arrived at King's once you have arrived in the UK and enrolled in person.
Please note that it isn't possible for us to sign Certificates of Arrival before students have arrived and fully enrolled at King's.
We will only sign Arrival certificates from the first day of orientation onwards, so we cannot sign an earlier date if you chose to arrive earlier.
If you cannot drop in the office to have your form signed in person, please email us your form along with a photo of your King's ID. Forms without King's ID will not be signed.
Certificates of Departure
If your home institution has supplied you with a Certificate of Departure, we will be able to sign this form for you at the end of your studies. Please be aware that we will only be able to confirm your official end date as listed on Student Records only, even if you leave at a later date.
Confirmation of Study Letter
A Confirmation of Study letter confirms your basic personal and course details. It is designed for opening a bank account, obtaining council tax exemption and many other situations where you simply need to prove you’re a student with us once you have arrived in London. You can request a letter online via Student Records, please follow these instructions to obtain it. You cannot obtain it until you are fully enrolled, meaning in the UK.
Other documents
If you have a document that requires signing that is not covered here, please contact the Global Mobility Office via studyabroad@kcl.ac.uk in the first instance.
Visas
If you have any questions about immigration or life in the UK the Student Advice & International Student Support staff are here to assist you.
It is your responsibility to ensure that you are applying for the correct visa as applicable, and must not travel to the UK until any visa has been issued. Travelling without the correct visa may result in your withdrawal from the Study Abroad programme, or removal from the UK in extreme cases.
Please refer to the Immigration and Visa Advice webpage as well as the UK Border Agency websites for more information:
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Visitor Visa for study stays under 6 months (many nationalities not need to apply in advance, but will still be in the UK under the terms of the visitor visa).
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Student Visa for study stays over 6 months (EU residents should read this UK government page regarding the Health Surcharge potential refund, under certain conditions). Students should not attempt to make a Student Visa application until they have been issued with a CAS Number by our Visa Compliance team. You will receive your CAS via the application portal.
All semester-only students will be automatically issued with a Visitor Visa letter even if you do not need to apply in advance for a visa. You can use this letter as proof of why you are travelling to the UK (including for re-entry if you go abroad during your time at King's). Do not apply for a Visitor Visa letter unless specifically instructed by the Gov UK website!
For more information about the Student Visa, take a look at the Student Advice webpages as well as the information on the UKCISA information page. Please view the Student Visa application guides before starting your application.
Semester One and Full Year Students
Students can expect to hear from King's regarding visa instructions by the end of June. Please contact the Study Abroad Admissions team via the messaging facility on the Application Portal with any questions.
Semester Two Students
Students can expect to hear from King's regarding visa instructions by the end of November. Please contact the Study Abroad Admissions team via the messaging facility on the Application Portal with any questions.
Travelling in Europe
For information about visa and immigration requirements for students travelling outside the UK during or after their studies, please visit our student advice webpages.
Transcripts
King's will provide a full Record of Agreed Results (RoAR) following your studies here. This will contain the details of the modules you studied, their King's credit value, and the marks you were awarded.
All modules will be graded, it is not possible to take modules at King's as Fail/Pass or attendance only.
No other document (certificate, diploma,etc) will be provided as the Study Abroad programme is non-award.
From the 2018/19 academic year onwards, all RoARs will be digital and available to students and their home institutions or relevant third-party providers via a safe and secure online portal (you will receive registration details during the semester. Please do not create an account without it, as it would not be linked to King's). Students will be able to use it to share securely they RoAR with any 3rd party of their choice afterwards.Hard copies will not be available.
Please note home institutions are solely responsible for any grade conversion. The King's Generic Marking Criteria is available for reference (or Postgraduate Marking Criteria)
Semester One:
Students studying at King's for the first semester only can expect to have a complete RoAR (Record of Agreed Results) available on the online portal from mid-March onwards. This cannot be issued any earlier, no matter the circumstance, as King’s does not officially issue “provisional” or “unofficial” results and grades are not valid until ratified.
Semester Two and Full Year:
Students studying for the full academic year, or the second semester only, can expect to have a complete RoAR (Record of Agreed Results) available on the online portal from mid-July at the earliest.This cannot be issued any earlier, no matter the circumstance, as King’s does not officially issue “provisional” or “unofficial” results and grades are not valid until ratified.
So Full Year students will not be able to get an intermediate transcript of their semester 1 results, as they are not ratified until late June/early July.
Students in their final year of study should check with their home university for any impact on graduation plans or postgraduate applications.
N.B. Students on the Study Abroad Plus programme who have taken 5AAYLIB4 Liberal Arts can expect to have a complete RoAR (inclusive of a ratified grade for this module) by the end of September.
Assessment
- Students studying at King's for Semester 1 only (September-December) will be set alternative assessment in lieu of in-person exams in January as necessary, however are expected to sit any online exams in January with no alternative deadlines. Essays (who are always submitted online) deadlines are often set for early/mid January. Please note that online exams may be held on London time and may not be moved to suit personal time zones.
- Full Year students must be available in London for any in-person exam in early January (exam period runs at the same time as the orientation for Semester 2 students).
The Exam timetable for Period 1 is normally released mid/end of November.
- Semester 2 and Full Year students will be enrolled until June and must be available in London for the formal examination period in May/June.
The Exams timetable for period 2 is normally released in mid March, so you should not arrange travel or other commitments (including internships) in that period until then.
Assessment marking criteria
Mitigating circumstances
It is a requirement of King's College London that all students take or submit their assessments at times prescribed by King's. However, it is acknowledged that exceptionally, through illness or other unpredictable good cause, a student may be unable to meet these requirements. In such instances academic regulations allow students to submit details of their mitigating circumstances for consideration by Assessment Sub-boards. The boards will use the information submitted to determine whether the mitigating circumstances provided by the student are an acceptable reason for missing an assessment, for example.
If there are mitigating circumstances that may have affected your assessment when studying abroad at King's College London, please refer to the relevant process for you to follow on the Student Service Portal. Evidence is required for all Mitigating Circumstances.
Please note that rescheduling an assessment might mean you have to take it, or the grades may not be ratified, until the next exam period (in May or August) and therefore delay your receiving a full transcript.