Kalamazoo College

Kalamazoo College, also known as K College or simply K, is a private liberal arts college in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Founded in 1833, the college is among the 100 oldest in the country. Today, it produces more Peace Corps volunteers per capita than any other U.S. academic institution. From 1997 to 2006 it ranked 21st among all baccalaureate institutions in the percentage of graduates who went on to earn doctorates. The school was founded by American Baptist ministers, but today maintains no religious affiliation.

Kalamazoo College is a member of the Great Lakes Colleges Association. It is listed in Loren Pope's Colleges That Change Lives. In 2012, Forbes rated it 65th of America's Best Colleges, the highest ranked in Michigan as a private college.

History

Kalamazoo College was founded in 1833 by a group of Baptist ministers as the Michigan and Huron Institute. Its charter was granted on April 22, 1833, the first school chartered by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan. Instruction at the Institute began in fall 1836. In 1837, the name of the fledgling college was changed to the "Kalamazoo Literary Institute" and school officials made their first attempt to secure recognition as a college from the state of Michigan. In 1838, however, the University of Michigan opened the Kalamazoo Branch of the University of Michigan, providing a local competitor to the Literary Institute. In 1840, the two schools merged, and from 1840 to 1850 the College operated as the Kalamazoo Branch of the University of Michigan. In 1850, the Kalamazoo Literary Institute name was restored and in 1855 the school finally received an educational charter from the State of Michigan, establishing explicit recognition of the school as a college. After receiving its educational charter, the school changed its name to Kalamazoo College.

K College

K College was a college of Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE) with facilities across Kent, formed in April 2010, by the merger of South Kent College with West Kent College.

In the academic year beginning 2009, it had 25,290 students between its 6 campuses, at Jemmett Road and Henwood in Ashford, Dover, Folkestone, Tonbridge and Royal Tunbridge Wells.

The Interim Principal was Phil Frier and the Patron was Lord Mayhew of Twysden.

Due to the large amount of debt sustained by K College, it was split into two units from 1 August 2014:

Most staff at the Folkestone & Dover campuses were transferred under TUPE to East Kent College.

Staff based at Ashford, Tonbridge & Tunbridge Wells remained with K College and were based at either West Kent College or Ashford College from 1 August.

In July 2014 prior to Hadlow College managing Ashford, Tonbridge & Tunbridge Wells campuses K College announced that there would be up to 127 redundancies of those not TUPEd to East Kent College.