King’s College London and Cranfield University have announced plans to merge by August 2027.
The two universities have signed an agreement that they have hailed as the "first step" towards creating an "extraordinarily powerful" and "global" institution.
The London and Bedford universities aim to become a unified entity in the next 14 months.
Cranfield, a postgraduate public research university specialising in science, engineering, design, technology and management, will integrate into King’s College London.
Leaders from both institutions said the move would create a "global university" and "bring some of the best of [the] UK to compete with the best in the world".
Professor Shitij Kapur, vice chancellor and president of KCL, said: “The merger would bring new educational possibilities for students, new discoveries from academics and a clear focus on working in partnership with industry and government to support national resilience.
“This is a deliberate step to bring some of the best of [the] UK to compete with the best in the world.”
Professor Dame Karen Holford, chief executive and vice chancellor at Cranfield, said: “It is an intentional step, which brings Cranfield University’s outstanding applied research, nationally important facilities, sovereign capability, and long-standing industry links to King’s, creating enormous potential and continuing our mission to tackle real-world issues.
“Together we will create a global university that is not only committed to excellence, but delivers it with purpose, drive and scale.”
It follows the formal approval for the universities of Greenwich and Kent to merge into the UK’s first “super-university” in August this year.
Science minister Lord Patrick Vallance said: “The combination of Cranfield and King’s creates an extraordinarily powerful university.
“It holds huge potential for the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor and for wider UK research capability and training, bringing together two world-class institutions and giving King’s a place at the heart of one of our most important regions for science and technology.”
King’s College London is one of England’s oldest universities and was established by royal charter in 1829.
It grew through a series of mergers in the late 20th century, including with Queen Elizabeth College and Chelsea College of Science and Technology (in 1985), the Institute of Psychiatry (in 1997), the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals and the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery (in 1998).
It is now the sixth-largest university in the UK in terms of enrolment.
Cranfield was founded as the College of Aeronautics in 1946. It was incorporated by royal charter and became a university in 1969.
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