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The King’s International Foundation Programme is a specialist, one-year foundation course that helps ambitious international students find the right pathway and combination of modules to progress to undergraduate study at King’s College London or another UK university.

These full-time foundation courses have been designed by King’s Foundations to develop your essential knowledge in a chosen subject area, introduce you to the UK higher education system and improve your academic English so that you are fully prepared for your degree.

You’ll join a supportive environment that’s dedicated to helping you transition from high school to university study. You’ll receive around 15 hours of contact time a week, spread across lectures, small-group seminars and tutorials of, on average, 16 students.

Two study options

The King’s International Foundation Programme is for students with an IELTS score of 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each skill, or an equivalent English language qualification.

If you have an an IELTS score (or equivalent) of 5.5 with a minimum of 5.0 in each skill, you can apply for the Extended King’s International Foundation Programme. This option offers an additional five weeks of online intensive academic English preparation before you join the rest of the King’s International Foundation Programme cohort on campus in September.

Four King's International Foundation Programme pathways

There are four different pathways to choose from, each carefully designed to lead you towards undergraduate study in specific areas: - Health, Life & Biosciences - STEM & Natural Sciences - Politics, Culture & Social Sciences - Business & Economics When you decide on your pathway, you’ll get to tailor your syllabus further by choosing optional modules. There are 17 different combinations of optional modules across the whole King's International Foundation Programme, but only some will lead to your desired degree, so you need to pick these carefully.

Read more about our four pathways

The King's International Foundation Programme structure explained

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Every student will take four modules over the two semesters of their King's International Foundation Programme. This includes a core English module and a compulsory society module. Depending on the pathway you choose, you’ll pick one or two optional modules to further focus your foundation studies in the academic subject areas of the degrees you are most interested in studying. The core English modules are:

English for Scientific Academic PurposesEnglish for Academic Purposes

Compulsory Society modules

During your King's International Foundation Programme, you will study a module that explores the impact of your chosen field on society and introduces you to key debates and perspectives from within the field. The Society modules are:

Business & SocietyCulture & SocietyScience & Society
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How to apply to the King's International Foundation

Man applying

You'll apply directly for the International Foundation Programme. First, you need to select the pathway and module combination that will allow you to progress to your chosen degree. You'll then need to set up an account with King's Apply portal and build your application. We strongly advise that you choose only one pathway that you would like to apply to. However, you can apply for more than one pathway in the same year if you would like to — but please note that you'll need to pay the application fee for each pathway.

How to apply

Browse the four King's International Foundation Programme pathways

More from the King's International Foundation Programme