A best-of-both-worlds suburban riverside location within 30 minutes’ commute to central London is one of the attractions of Kingston University, as is its new education model. Now in its second year, the Future Skills programme embeds training to boost employability within every undergraduate programme to prepare its graduates to stand out in an increasingly AI-influenced careers landscape. It gives students skills employers value, such as problem solving, adaptability and digital competency.

What is Kingston University’s reputation? 

A university since 1992, its roots are traced to Kingston Technical Institute, which opened in 1899 and offered courses ranging from dressmaking and clay modelling to electric wiring, nursing and chemistry.

Kingston’s creative courses are among its most successful, achieving some of the university’s best results in the Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021) and contributing to a 20-place rise in our research quality index, where Kingston ranks 71st. 

It also performed well in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF 2023), winning triple gold (up from bronze) ratings, overall and for both underpinning factors of student experience and student outcomes. Assessors praised “a supportive learning environment where students have access to a wide and readily available range of outstanding quality and tailored academic support”. The Future Skills framework was credited as successfully contributing to “clear articulation of the range of educational gains students are intended to achieve, and why these are highly relevant to them and their future ambitions”.

Kingston students are among the upper half nationally (61st) for the rates of satisfaction with teaching quality. In our analysis of the results of the latest National Student Survey, Kingston does a little better still for students’ evaluation of their broad experience (55th).

What degree courses have been discontinued and what new courses are available?

Marketing; criminal justice; psychology and counselling; and electronic products engineering are among eight new courses in 2024. Another six launch in 2025, including interaction design; and historic building conservation. 

The portfolio of degree apprenticeships is expanding to include electro-mechanical engineering; retail leadership; and product design and development engineering.

What are Kingston University’s entry requirements — and my chances of getting in?

Offers range from 96 to 120 Ucas tariff points to 128 to 144, with requirements tailored to individual students and their circumstances. Last year more than 5,600 new undergraduates were accepted on to courses — the highest number of admissions in nine years; almost a third of those were through clearing.

What are the graduate prospects?

Future Skills is one of a range of career-boosting initiatives at Kingston. The university is 114 (down from 95= last year), based on the proportion of graduates in highly skilled work or further study after 15 months.

Kingston’s Elevate accelerator programme for UK-based black students partners with organisations that demonstrate a commitment to diversity and inclusion. Recent partner companies include Coca-Cola, Tesco, GSK and Teach First

What is Kingston University’s campus like?

Students are based at four campuses in southwest London: Penrhyn Road and Knights Park near the town centre; Kingston Hill a couple of miles away; and purpose-built Roehampton Vale, a short bus ride away. The university has been investing in facilities, notably the £50 million TownHouse at Penrhyn Road, which won the 2021 Royal Institute of British Architects (Riba) Stirling prize has fast become a focal point offering an auditorium and informal learning spaces as well as a studio theatre, dance studios and a library.

The main building at Penrhyn Road is next in line for a transformation, with a planned refurbishment of 4,000 sq m to include a bigger students’ union, a kitchen for commuter students’ use and dedicated teaching space for the new future skills modules. An outdoor regeneration is part of the plan. Facilities are due to become ready before the mid-2025 completion of the whole project.

The Kingston School of Art is based at the Knights Park campus, where the Mill Street Building has been transformed by a £29 million project, adding 9,000 sq m of creative teaching, workshop and studio space. At Roehampton Vale, Kingston’s suite of aerospace degrees benefit from the university’s own Learjet and flight simulator.

The Town House building’s special collections house Iris Murdoch and Stephen Sondheim archives.

Everything you need to know about Kingston University’s student life and wellbeing support

Looking after student welfare, a weekly online social group aims to help tackle feelings of isolation. Students can also access appointments with the disability and mental health service along with daily drop-ins remotely and in person — as with the counselling team.

Tolworth Court outdoor sports facilities are three miles from the main campus and provide access to 12 football pitches, two rugby pitches, three cricket squares in summer, three tennis courts, and floodlit training areas, among other facilities. The gym on the Penrhyn Road site offers student rates and Kingston Hill has a tennis court, an outdoor fitness trail and more. 

The Stanley Picker Gallery at Kingston School of Art’s Knights Park campus works with artists, designers and students to display a broad programme of exhibitions and events. The Visconti Studio is the university’s standout music facility, featuring a 300 sq m octagonal live room stocked with instruments and rare recording equipment. 

What do the students say?

“Kingston is a community that celebrates diversity, fosters innovation and empowers its students to make a difference. You’re challenged to think critically, explore boldly and push the boundaries of your potential. The riverside location and excellent transport links to central London add to Kingston’s appeal.”  
Abdullah Khan, Kingston students’ union vice-president and education officer, and an international business management student

What about student accommodation at Kingston University?

First-year full time students get priority for places but there is no accommodation guarantee. Just under 2,300 spaces in halls are available; more than half of them are new bedrooms across the university’s Chancellors, Walkden and Seething Wells accommodations. The university’s halls at Seething Wells and Kingston Hill have undergone a £55 million refurbishment.

How diverse and inclusive is Kingston University?

The student population is one of the ten most ethnically diverse (65.1 per cent) and more than half of its recruits are the first in their family to go to university (51.4 per cent, 36th). An inclusive curriculum framework has been designed to make all students feel that they belong.

Everything you need to know about scholarships and bursaries at Kingston University

Support includes the £2,000 Kingston Bursary, awarded to 500 entrants from low-income households in their first year. For students who have left care or who are estranged from their families, bursaries of £1,500 per year of study are awarded. Kingston extends a bursary of £500 to £1,000 per year to young adult carers.