News Release

King's College London launches £2 million global scholarship program for law students

80 scholarships available for the best and brightest students from around the world

Grant and Award Announcement

King's College London

The Dickson Poon School of Law

image: This shows the Dickson Poon School of Law, Somerset House East Wing, King's College London. view more 

Credit: King's College London

King's College London – one of the top 30 universities in the world – has announced the biggest ever scholarship programme for its School of Law, with 80 scholarships available for the best and brightest students from around the world. The scholarship programme is the biggest for a law faculty in Europe and has been made possible after a record £20 million gift by Mr Dickson Poon CBE, a Hong Kong-based British philanthropist.

The scale of the scholarships reflects Mr Dickson Poon and the Law School's shared desire to enable the brightest and best law students to obtain a world-class education free of financial concern. An unprecedented 80 scholarships worth over £2m are being offered globally in this first full year of The Dickson Poon Scholarship Programme. Uniquely, the scholarships focus on students who demonstrate not only academic excellence, but equally as important, outstanding leadership potential and life ambition – as part of King's commitment to train graduates who will be equipped with the skills needed to work in a competitive global environment.

Up to 75 may be awarded to the best undergraduates enrolling in 2013 in Law and up to five scholarships for Law PhD students enrolling in the same year. Up to 10 undergraduate scholarships will be reserved for students taking the innovative Politics, Philosophy and Law Programme, of which Mr Dickson Poon is the patron.

Law at King's has enjoyed a tradition of excellence for over 175 years and is recognised globally as one of the UK's premier law schools*. The Dickson Poon School of Law ranks 4th amongst UK law schools and 18th worldwide in the newly published 2012 QS World University Rankings by Subject.

Located in central London at the heart of the British legal and political world and surrounded by major global law firms, the School offers students unrivalled opportunities to establish links with peers in the legal community and a wider professional network. There are also strong collaborative links with several other outstanding law schools worldwide – in Europe, the USA, Asia and Australia – providing a wealth of opportunities that include exchanges and joint programmes for both academics and students.

£20 million donation for School of Law

The Dickson Poon Scholarships represent a significant milestone for the Law School. Mr Dickson Poon's £20m donation is part of a £40m transformation project for the School, with the aim of furthering its reputation as one of the top law schools in the world and setting new standards in legal education and research. The School is now housed in the newly refurbished Somerset House East Wing, an iconic building in central London which was formally opened by Her Majesty the Queen in February 2012.

Of the up to 75 undergraduate scholarships, 25 are worth full UK/EU fees for all years of study, while the remaining 50 are worth £18,000 over three years. The five Law PhD scholarships are for £90,000 each over three years – understood to be the largest amount awarded to individual legal research students.

Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman, Vice-Principal of King's College London, said: 'The Dickson Poon Scholarship Programme is the best and largest of its kind for Law in the UK and aims to attract the brightest and most talented legal scholars and students to The Dickson Poon School of Law. It marks an exciting milestone both in the 180 year history of King's College London and following the very generous gift from Mr Dickson Poon.'

Mr Dickson Poon commented: 'My donation and the establishment of these scholarships is part of the ambition I share with the distinguished Law School at King's College London, to set new standards in legal education and research.

'The scholarships will help to enable exemplary students with academic agility and unlimited ambition to develop into future global leaders in all areas of law, business, education and civil society.'

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CONTACT

Katherine Barnes
International PR Manager
King's College London
Tel: +44 207 848 3076
Email: Katherine.barnes@kcl.ac.uk

NOTES TO EDITORS

Image caption: The Dickson Poon School of Law in Somerset House East Wing, King's College London.

Further images and interviews available on request

About The Dickson Poon Scholarships

  • Of the 75 undergraduate scholarships offered – 15 are reserved for residents of the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong
  • Up to 10 of the full fee undergraduate scholarships will be reserved for students taking the innovative Politics, Philosophy and Law Programme, of which Mr Dickson Poon is the patron
  • A further 10 full fee undergraduate scholarships will be reserved for the LLB programme
  • In honour of the 35th anniversary of the dual degree English Law & French Law programme, up to 5 scholarships (equivalent to full fees for UK/EU students) will be reserved for this programme in 2013/14
  • The full home/EU fees can be set against the overseas fees paid by international students but does not cover the full overseas fees charged to international students
  • The £18,000 undergraduate scholarships, of which up to 50 may be awarded, are open to all undergraduate law programmes

*Guardian University Guide 2013: Law

*The 2008 UK Research Assessment Exercise international recognition ranking

QS World University Rankings for Law 2012: http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2012/subject-rankings/social-science/law

About King's College London

King's College London is one of the top 30 universities in the world (2012/13 QS international world rankings), and was The Sunday Times 'University of the Year 2010/11', and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King's has more than 24,000 students (of whom more than 10,000 are graduate students) from nearly 140 countries, and more than 6,100 employees.

King's has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise for British universities, 23 departments were ranked in the top quartile of British universities; over half of our academic staff work in departments that are in the top 10 per cent in the UK in their field and can thus be classed as world leading. King's has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, the sciences (including a wide range of health areas such as psychiatry, medicine, nursing and dentistry) and social sciences including international affairs. It has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA and research that led to the development of radio, television, mobile phones and radar.


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