FROM marking boycotts to protests, London Living Wage victory to Varsity defeat and Rick Trainor to Ed Byrne, 2014 has been an eventful year for King’s.
And with the end of the last term of 2014 in sight and Christmas plans in full swing Roar takes a look back at the year in numbers.
The London Living Wage (LLW) that all King’s and KCLSU employees are now paid after the the College Council and KCLSU Trustee Board agreed to become LLW employers in March and April respectively. The decision came at the end of a long campaign lead by the KCL Living wage campaign, students and unions, which Roar backed in its February edition.
The number of years Rick Trainor had been Principal at King’s College London before stepping down in September to be replaced by poetry-writing neuroscientist Ed Byrne.
The score by which UCL reclaimed the London Varsity over KCL upon its return in March 2014. KCL sports teams will already be looking ahead to try to win back the series for the first time since 2011 when it returns next year with the number of events rising from 7 to 12.
King’s Global ranking in the QS World Ranking of universities. King’s rose three places from 19th in the world in the ranking published in September, and is now the 5th highest ranked UK university. Meanwhile, King’s saw it’s position fall in all three major domestic rankings released in 2014; The Complete University Guide (19th to 28th), The Guardian (32nd to 40th), and The Sunday Times (27th to 29th).
The amount King’s threatened to cut the pay of academics who participated in the UCU organised marking boycott in November by. The marking boycott followed an earlier threat of action in the year but in the only lasted 9 days and no academics pay was cut with the boycott being suspended until January.
The number of Health Schools jobs cut in July despite strikes and protests, a petition receiving over 5,000 signatures and a major report released by S&P in 2013 contradicting the plans.
King’s ranking place out of 123 universities for student satisfaction in the Complete University Guide released in May. After Roar’s report on the student satisfaction crisis King’s would later be ranked 61/123 and 110/123 for student satisfaction by the Guardian and the Sunday Times respectively.
The number of affordable accommodation places lost at King’s after the closure of the North Side of Hampstead residence. The decision sparked anger amongst students leading to a petition with over 900 signatures and left only 554 accommodation places at King’s that cost less than £150.
The number of students and staff who signed a petition started by KCL Fossil Free demanding KCL divest from their fossil fuel investments in October. King’s currently invests more than £8 million in major oil and gas polluting companies, including Shell and BP.
The amount that King’s could have saved this year if it had shut down non-essential equipment every night across all campuses. Not to mention the 432 tonnes in CO2 emissions the university would have saved. The finding was reported amidst the College’s participation in the NUS blackout in November.
The minimum amount Roar revealed in it’s November edition that King’s had invested in Tobacco companies in the last year. Despite pledging not to invest in the tobacco industry as part of it’s ethical investment policy, King’s had been investing in endowment funds which reinvested millions of the college’s money in tobacco shares.
The cost of higher education suggested by thousands of protesters from King’s and other universities at the National Demonstration for Free Education on November 19th. Meanwhile, 2014 also saw King’s appoint the man who brought in the current tuition fees system which King’s students have consistently protested against.
The number of years King’s had waited to beat GKT in the Macadam Cup. King’s won back the trophy in March, beating their rivals 9-6 across all competitions.
The turnout in the 2014 Student Council elections last October. The 2014 KCLSU student officer elections in March also broke the previous years turnout, with over 3,000 students electing a new officer team.
