MK-based Cranfield University begins process of merging with Kings College London

Cranfield University has announced plans to merge with Kings College London, with the aim to merge the two universities in time for the 2027/28 academic year.

The university based on the edge of Milton Keynes announced the plans in a joint announcement with the London-based university earlier today (14/05) with intent for the process to be completed by August 2027.

If it goes through, the new institution would have over 47,000 students, making it the UK’s second largest university by student numbers. The university would keep the King’s College London moniker.

In a statement, the two institutions said, “The proposed merger will create a UK university especially equipped for the changing world, with enhanced opportunities and resources for students, a synergy in its disciplinary mix, and a distinctive offer for the UK’s future.”

In a statement, Professor Dame Karen Holford, Chief Executive and Vice-Chancellor at Cranfield University said, “This merger is an exciting proposition for Cranfield, aligning our deep specialisms in engineering, technology, and management within King’s College London. It is an intentional step, which brings Cranfield University’s outstanding applied research, nationally important facilities, sovereign capability, and long-standing industry links to King’s, creating enormous potential and continuing our mission to tackle real-world issues.

“In merging, we build on the strengths of Cranfield and King’s to embed our shared ethos of truly working in the service of society. Together we will create a global university that is not only committed to excellence, but delivers it with purpose, drive, and scale”.

Lord Simon Stevens, Chair of King’s College said, “Bringing Cranfield into King’s College London has the potential to be a genuine ‘win-win’ for both universities, unlocking major new opportunities for our world-leading research, teaching and industry-facing innovation. For the UK, it also creates new opportunities to deepen and extend capabilities so critical to our future, including applied engineering, novel environmental technologies, and national security and resilience.”

The news was also backed by the government, with the government’s science minister Lord Patrick Vallance approving the move.

Lord Vallance said, “The combination of Cranfield and King’s creates an extraordinarily powerful university. It holds huge potential for the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor and for wider UK research capability and training, bringing together two world-class institutions and giving King’s a place at the heart of one of our most important regions for science and technology.

“It will create a driver of innovation and growth, capitalise on the complementary strengths and specialisms of both institutions and increase access, capacity and resilience across teaching and research.”

The statement announcing the merger said that, as a specialist postgraduate university, Cranfield would benefit from the interdisciplinary breadth and scale of King’s and that in turn, King’s as an institution would be strengthened by Cranfield’s expertise in technology, engineering and management, alongside its deep and longstanding partnerships with industry and government.

Founded in 1946 as the College of Aeronautics and granted university status by royal charter in 1969, Cranfield University is a specialist postgraduate university with specialists courses in science, technology, engineering, and management. The university has a campus in Cranfield on the edge of Milton Keynes in a base that includes its own airport, while it also has a secondary campus in Oxfordshire.