Cranfield to become King’s faculty when merger completes

Cranfield University will become a faculty within King’s College London when the two institutions merge next year.

The specialist postgraduate university based near Milton Keynes will formally join forces with King’s on 1 August 2027, the pair have announced after inking the terms of their agreement.

Revealing more details on what the merger will look like in practice, King’s said that Cranfield will become its 10th faculty – handing it the same status as its Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy or its business school.

The original name – Cranfield Institute of Technology – will be restored, and it will continue to focus on technology, engineering, applied research and management.

Cranfield’s second site – on a military base in Shrivenham, Wiltshire – will be retained and continue to house Cranfield Defence and Security, which will become part of the institute and forge closer ties with King’s School of Security Studies.

The Cranfield School of Management will become part of King’s own business school but will retain its name.

King’s is the larger of the two institutions involved, with 40,000 students across five campuses, compared with 5,000 enrolments at Cranfield.

But previous mergers in the sector have seen the universities involved retain more of their original identities within the new entity. When City, University of London merged with medical school St George’s, it became City St George’s, University of London – with the retention of the St George’s name a key factor in negotiations.

The merger of the universities of Kent and Greenwich has seen an overarching new body created, known as the London and South East University Group, which has allowed both universities to keep their original names.

Karen Holford, chief executive and vice-chancellor at Cranfield, said that the 80-year-old university had a “very proud history” and that it was now embarking on a “new chapter…joining our specialisms with King’s world-class education, research and scale”.

“Together, we’ll build a nationally significant asset and a global university that will bring even more positive impacts to people’s lives.”

The universities said that Competition and Markets Authority rules had meant that they were unable the share much information between each other until the agreement was signed and that “more detailed integration planning can now begin”.

“Full integration” will not take place for several years, and current Cranfield students – and those who have an offer to study there before the merger completes – will have the option of graduating with either a King’s or a Cranfield degree.

Once the two entities are fully merged, all students will then graduate with King’s certificates only.

Staff have previously raised fears about potential job losses owing to the coming together, but the universities have stressed that the deal was not motivated by the need to save money.

Shitij Kapur, vice-chancellor at King’s, said that the focus now will shift to working out the detail of the merger and that there is “no intention” to rush this process.

“Our guiding principle will be to take the time it needs to get it right and minimise disruption to the service we provide our students and staff.”

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com