Looking to the future
The London and South East University Group
Looking to the future
Building the future together
On 7 September 2026, the University of Kent began a new chapter in its history with the launch of the LASE University Group, a pioneering collaboration between the Universities of Kent and Greenwich. The new group builds on more than 20 years of collaboration. Since 2004, the universities have shared the Medway campus and worked together on innovative partnerships including the joint Medway School of Pharmacy.
LASE marks the United Kingdom’s first ‘super-university’, which has brought together more than 50,000 students and 7,000 staff. LASE, now England’s third-largest university group, brings together four campuses across London and Kent: Canterbury, Greenwich, Avery Hill and Medway. Whilst working together as a single group, the Universities of Greenwich and Kent have retained their distinct identities, courses and local presence. Students also continue to apply to, study at and graduate from their chosen university.
With their strengths combined, Kent and Greenwich aim to provide a strong financial foundation to weather current and future economic challenges, widen access to higher education, address skills gaps and inequalities, and increase research capacity. Shared priority areas include food security and sustainability, health and wellbeing and the creative industries. Together, their collective strength enables them to tackle real-world issues with greater impact locally, nationally and globally.
Sixty years after the University of Kent was founded with ambitions to widen access and serve its region, a new chapter begins. Through LASE, Kent and Greenwich are combining their strengths and expertise to expand opportunities for students and address the needs of communities and partners.
On 4 February 2026, the University of Greenwich and the University of Kent sign agreements legally committing the two institutions to their merger and the creation of a new ‘super-university’.
Meet our LASE partner: a brief history of the University of Greenwich
The University of Greenwich traces its roots to 1890, when Woolwich Polytechnic was founded as the United Kingdom’s second polytechnic. Established by Frank Didden, and shaped by the influence and support of Victorian educational reformer Quintin Hogg, it aimed to make technical, social and religious education accessible to the local community. It opened to students in October 1891 in Woolwich, in buildings on William Street (now Calderwood Street), with the institution subseguently expanding across the surrounding streets, including Thomas Street.
The institution developed rapidly. It began degree-level work in 1907 and in 1935 pioneered sandwich courses, an academic degree which combined academic study with workplace experience. Its emphasis on practical, career-focused education has remained an important part of its identity.
In 1970, Woolwich Polytechnic became Thames Polytechnic, one of the new polytechnics established during the expansion of higher education. Over the following decades, it incorporated several other institutions, including Dartford College (1976), Avery Hill College (1985) and Garnett College (1987). Some science courses from Goldsmiths College and the City of London Polytechnic were incorporated in 1988.
In 1992, Thames Polytechnic was awarded university status and became the University of Greenwich. In 1999, it established its Greenwich Campus at the Old Royal Naval College, with the Department of Mathematical Sciences moving there that year. This marked a new chapter in the University’s history, bringing its academic life into one of London’s most historic settings. Today, the University’s three campuses - Greenwich, Avery Hill and Medway - continue a tradition of accessible, career-focused higher education that began more than 135 years ago.
