Imperial College London

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Imperial College London
Motto: Scientia imperii decus et tutamen
Knowledge is the adornment and protection of the Empire
Established: 8 July 1907[1]
Type: Public
Endowment: £57.6 million (2006/07) [2]
Rector: Sir Richard Sykes
Visitor: The Lord President of the Council ex officio
Staff: approx. 8,000 (2006/7)
Students: 13,410[3]
Undergraduates: 8,350[3]
Postgraduates: 5,060[3]
Location: London, UK
Campus: Urban
Colours:
                                           
Affiliations: Russell Group
Association of MBAs
IDEA League
Association of Commonwealth Universities
'Golden Triangle'
G5
Oak Ridge Associated Universities
Website: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/

Imperial College London (officially The Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine as given in its Royal Charter[1]) is a British university in London which was placed 5th overall in the world in the 2007 THES - QS World University Rankings of universities world-wide.[4].

It is one of only three universities to have reached second place in any of the major British newspaper league rankings when Imperial College beat Oxford University in The Times 1999 and 2000 tables to finish second. (see 'Academic Reputation'). Teaching and research focus on science, engineering, and medicine, although more recently faculties in these areas have been complemented by the Tanaka Business School and a humanities department.

Imperial's main campus is located in South Kensington in central London, on the boundary between the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the City of Westminster, with its front entrance on Exhibition Road. Formerly a constituent college of the University of London, Imperial became independent of the university on 8 July 2007, the 100th anniversary of its founding.[5]

Contents

[edit] History

Royal School of Mines entrance.
Royal School of Mines entrance.

Imperial College was founded in 1907, with the merger of the City and Guilds College, the Royal School of Mines and the Royal College of Science (all of which had been founded between 1845 and 1878) with these entities continuing to exist as "constituent colleges". The College was granted a Royal Charter by Edward VII in July 1907 and was integrated into the University of London.

In later years, St Mary's Hospital Medical school (1988), the National Heart and Lung institute (1995), and the Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School (1997) merged into the Imperial College School of Medicine, the fourth constituent college. The size of the Medical School was increased in 1997 with the merger with the Royal Postgraduate Medical School and the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and again in 2000 with a merger with the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology.

Also in 2000, Imperial merged with Wye College, the University of London's agricultural college in Wye, Kent. It has been claimed that the merger might have been motivated by Imperial's interest in acquiring land owned by Wye College, rather than for academic reasons; Wye College accepted the merger because it was in financial difficulties. In December 2005, the college announced a science park programme at the Wye campus;[6] however, this was abandoned in September 2006 following local environmental complaints that this program would have a negative impact on the surrounding countryside. Wye College will now be run by the University of Kent from September 2007 in association with Imperial College London and Wye College, graduates will receive a degree from the University of Kent and an Imperial Associateship of Wye College.[7]

In 2002, the constituent colleges were abolished in favour of a new faculty structure. A merger with University College London was proposed in October that year, but was called off a month later after protests from staff over fear of redundancies[1].

In 2003, the College was granted degree-awarding powers in its own right by the Privy Council. Exercising this power would be incompatible with remaining in the federal University of London, and on 9 December 2005 Imperial announced that it was beginning negotiations to withdraw from the University.[8] The college became independent in July 2007[9] and the first students to register for an Imperial College degree will be postgraduates beginning their course in October 2007, with the first undergraduates enrolling for an Imperial degree in October 2008. The first group of students to be awarded the Imperial College degree by default will commence their studies in 2008, but all non-final current students were offered the option of choosing to be awarded a London degree or an Imperial degree.

Imperial College is a member of the Russell Group of Universities, AMBA, and the IDEA League. It is also considered a member of the "Golden Triangle". The College's official title is Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, which it used in public relations up to 2002.

[edit] Campus

The Queen's Tower.
The Queen's Tower.

Imperial College's activity is centred on its South Kensington campus, situated in an area with a high concentration of cultural and academic institutions known as the Albertopolis; the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Royal College of Music, the Royal College of Art and the Royal Albert Hall are all nearby. Imperial College has two other major campuses – at Silwood Park (near Ascot in Berkshire) and at Wye (near Ashford in Kent). It also has medical campuses associated with various hospitals in Greater London, including St. Mary's Hospital, Charing Cross Hospital, Northwick Park & St. Mark's Hospital and Hammersmith Hospital. The expansion of the South Kensington campus in the 1960s absorbed the site of the former Imperial Institute, designed by Thomas Colcutt, of which only the 287-foot (85-metre) high Queen's Tower remains among the more modern buildings.

Extensive renovation continues throughout the College estate. Recent major projects include the Tanaka Business School, the Ethos sports centre, and Southside hall of residence. Current major projects include the new Eastside hall of residence, refurbishment of the Central Library, and reconstruction of the south-eastern quadrant of the campus.

[edit] Admissions

Imperial College London is one of the most selective universities in the world.[10] From 1999 to 2006 (dates of all the online available records), the overall acceptance rate of Imperial College programs has been consistently below 20%,[11] and in 2006, the acceptance rate of the college for undergraduates was 17.5%.[12] The acceptance rate for postgraduate courses was 18.87%. To apply to an Imperial undergraduate course, as with all other universities in the United Kingdom, one must apply through the UCAS system.

[edit] Academic structure

Royal School of Mines entrance and the Goldsmiths' wing, Prince Consort Road, London.
Royal School of Mines entrance and the Goldsmiths' wing, Prince Consort Road, London.

Imperial offers both undergraduate and postgraduate education, with its research and teaching organised into three faculties, each headed by a principal: engineering, medicine and natural sciences. In addition to the three faculties, a business school exists as well as a humanities department. However, the humanities department's main purpose is to provide elective subjects and language courses outside the field of science for students in the other faculties and departments. Students are encouraged to take these classes either for credit or in their own time. Courses exist in a wide range of topics including philosophy; ethics in science and technology; history; modern literature and drama; art in the twentieth century; film studies. Language courses are available in French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, Arabic, Dutch, Mandarin Chinese and Urdu. The humanities department also runs a full-time course in scientific translation.

For the 2005-06 academic year, Imperial College had a total full-time student body of more than 11,000. This comprised roughly 8,000 undergraduate students and 3,400 postgraduates. In addition there were over 900 part-time students, all postgraduates. 27% of students come from outside the European Union.[13]

Imperial's male:female ratio for undergraduate students is uneven at approximately 65:35 overall and 4:1 in some engineering courses.

A full list of undergraduate courses offered can be found here.[14] Information on postgraduate courses offered can be found here.[15]

[edit] Research

Imperial's research income is among the largest in the UK – £204.8 million for 2005/06.[16] This includes Research Council grants, grants from charities and a larger sum from industry than any other British university. It also received the highest amount of total research income out of all the UK universities in 2003, at £153 million.

In the December 2001 Research Assessment Exercise, 75 per cent of staff achieved a 5* rating, the highest proportion in any UK university. The College was second in the country with an overall score of 6.68 out of 7.

Imperial College has a dedicated technology transfer company known as Imperial Innovations. Imperial actively encourages its staff to commercialise its research and as a result has given rise to a proportionally large number of spin-out companies based on academic research.

[edit] Academic reputation

Recent tables show that - despite being science-based - it is maintaining this position, whilst topping most of the engineering and medicine tables. Imperial remains the only university other than Oxford and Cambridge, to have held one of the top two positions in a major British university league table, coming second to Cambridge in The Times 1999 and 2000 tables, pushing Oxford to third place.

UK
2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999
Times Good University Guide 3rd[17] 3rd[18] 3rd 3rd[19] 3rd 3rd 3rd[20] 3rd 2nd [21] 2nd [22]
Guardian University Guide 3rd[23] 3rd 5th[24] 3rd[25] 3rd
Sunday Times University Guide 4th[26] 4th 4th[27] 3rd[27] 3rd[28]
Daily Telegraph 3rd[29] n/a n/a n/a 3rd
Times Higher Educational Supplement (THES) 3rd 3rd 3rd[30] 3rd [31] n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
World
2007 2006 2005
THES - QS World University Rankings 5th[4] 9th[4][32] 13th[33]
Academic Ranking of World Universities 23rd[34] 23rd[35] 23rd[36]

The Department of Computing (DoC) was rated best in the UK, surpassing University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory for the first time in 2007, for Computer Science and IT in the Guardian University Guide (since 1 May 2007 it is assessed by the Guide under the 'Engineering: electronic and electrical' subject category due it being part of the Faculty of Engineering).[37]. THES placed the Computing department 4th in world rankings for Computer Science. In 2004, 2006 and 2007 student(s) from the DoC were awarded the SET Student of the Year award.[38][39]

The Financial Times placed Imperial College's Business School within the top 10 in Europe.[40]

According to the ARWU rankings, Imperial College is ranked 25th in the world for medicine; only three UK medical schools rank higher (Oxford 13th, Cambridge 15th and UCL 17th).[41] Imperial is ranked 27th in the world for Engineering and IT.[42] It is also ranked 27th in the world for the natural sciences.[43]

In addition, Newsweek's TOP 100 Universities ranking [44], which takes into account both ARWU and Times criteria into consideration, put Imperial as 17-th in the world.

Academic and research staff number around 3,000. Of these, 53 are Fellows of the Royal Society, 57 are Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering and one Fields Medallist. Distinguished past members of the College include 15 Nobel Laureates and one Fields Medallist.

Teams from Imperial College won University Challenge in both 1996 and 2001.

[edit] Accommodation

Tanaka Business School entrance
Tanaka Business School entrance

Imperial College owns and manages over thirty halls of residence in Central London, Ealing, Ascot and Wye. Additionally, students are eligible for places in eight University of London Intercollegiate Halls situated in Central London. Over three thousand rooms are available, guaranteeing first year undergraduates a place in College residences.

The majority of halls offer self-catered single or twin accommodation with some rooms having en suite facilities. Study bedrooms are provided with basic furniture and with access to shared kitchens and bathrooms.

Most students in college or university accommodation are first-year undergraduates. The majority of older students and postgraduates find accommodation in the private sector, help for which is provided by the College private housing office.

[edit] Imperial College Union

Main article: Imperial College Union

The students' union is run by five full-time sabbatical officers elected from the student body for a tenure of one year, as well as many permanent members of staff. The Union is given a large subvention by the College, much of which is spent maintaining clubs and societies.

The Imperial College School of Medicine Students' Union, which was formed from the merger of St Mary's Hospital (London) Medical School and Charing Cross & Westminster Medical School, looks after the social, academic and welfare needs of the 2000 medical students within the faculty.

[edit] Clubs & Societies at Imperial

Imperial College Union has around 300 clubs and societies,[45] the largest number of any students' union in the United Kingdom.

[edit] Student Media

[edit] Imperial College Radio

Imperial College Radio (or ICRadio) was founded in November 1975 with the intention of broadcasting to the student halls of residence from a studio under Southside, actually commencing broadcasts in late 1976. It now broadcasts from the West Basement of Beit Quad over the internet www.icradio.com[46] and, since 2004, on 1134AM in Wye. The radio station has a library of over 51,000 tracks, which are searchable on their website.

In 2006 IC Radio received two nominations in the Student Radio Awards: Best Entertainment Show for Liquid Lunch[47] and Best Male Presenter for Martin Archer.[48]

Popular shows on IC Radio in recent years (2006/2007) include: Rocktopia, School Daze' (pop), 'Instru(Mental)' (dance), 'VPT'[49] (Entertainment/Shambles), 'Moon Unit'[50] and 'The Cornerstone'[51] (both of which play rock and alternative) and 'Album - A Discourse in Musical History'[52] (devoted to seminal albums).

[edit] stoic TV

stoic tv (Student Television of Imperial College) is Imperial College Union's TV station, founded in the early 1970s. In 2006 it was named Best Broadcaster at NaSTA and also won awards for Best On-Screen Male and Best On-Screen Female. It now broadcasts from studios in the specially built media centre in the Student Union to the Junior Common Room and occasionally DaVinci's Bar. Programmes are also available to watch on their website.[53]

There is also a non-student Imperial College organisation called Media Services, whose main activity is producing videos of College events.

[edit] Felix

Published weekly, Felix is the free student newspaper of Imperial College London. It aims to be independent of both the College itself and also the Student Union. The editor is elected annually from the student body; the editorship is a full-time, sabbatical position. There is also a non-student Imperial College newspaper called Reporter, and London Student distributes on campus.

In 2006, Felix won the Guardian Student Media Awards for Student newspaper of the year and Student journalist of the year.

[edit] Live!

Live![54] is an online student news source and forum run by the City and Guilds College Union. Live! also enables readers to view published articles from Livic, the monthly newspaper of CivSoc, the student society in the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Live! was named the best student website in the 2007 Guardian Student Media Awards.

[edit] Public transport

To the South Kensington Campus

By Train

The nearest London Underground stations to the main campus are South Kensington and Gloucester Road which are both on the Circle, District and Piccadilly lines.

By Bus

Buses numbers 9, 10 and 52 alighting at Royal Albert Hall
Bus number 360 alighting at Prince Consort Rd
Buses numbers 14, 49, 70, 74, 345, 414, 430 and C1 alighting at South Kensington

[edit] Student and Staff Alumni

Main article: List of Imperial College London people

Imperial alumni include physicist Abdus Salam, biologist T. H. Huxley and pharmacologist Alexander Fleming, alongside Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, author H. G. Wells and Queen guitarist Brian May.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/pls/portallive/docs/1/21735699.DOC
  2. ^ [http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/pls/portallive/docs/1/31139696.PDF?page=22 Imperial College Annual Report 2006/07, p.22
  3. ^ a b c Table 0a - All students by institution, mode of study, level of study, gender and domicile 2006/07 (Microsoft Excel spreadsheet). Higher Education Statistics Agency. Retrieved on 2008-04-10.
  4. ^ a b c THES - QS World University Rankings 2007. QS TopMBA. Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
  5. ^ University of London: Imperial College Leaves University of London
  6. ^ Imperial College London - New GBP1 billion world-class scientific research centre and facilities planned for Kent
  7. ^ Wye college - Locations - University of Kent
  8. ^ Imperial College London - Imperial College London to begin negotiations to withdraw from the University of London
  9. ^ University of London: Updated position statement re: Imperial College London
  10. ^ USAToday Compiled Acceptance Rates
  11. ^ http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/planning/statistics/collegestatistics
  12. ^ http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/portal/pls/portallive/docs/1/7280074.PDF
  13. ^ http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/portal/pls/portallive/docs/1/7280074.PDF
  14. ^ http://www.imperial.ac.uk/p1892.htm
  15. ^ http://www.ic.ac.uk/p2183.htm
  16. ^ http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/portal/pls/portallive/docs/1/7319726.PDF
  17. ^ The Times Good University Guide 2008. The Times. Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
  18. ^ The Times Good University Guide 2007 - Top Universities 2007 League Table. The Times. Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
  19. ^ The Times Top Universities. The Times. Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
  20. ^ The Times Good University Guide 2002 - The Times 2002 Good University Guide Overall Rankings. The Times. Retrieved on 2007-12-05.
  21. ^ The Times Top Universities. The Times. Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
  22. ^ Thes Times 1999 League Table. The Times. Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
  23. ^ University ranking by institution. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2007-10-29.
  24. ^ University ranking by institution. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2007-10-29.
  25. ^ University ranking by institution. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2007-10-29.
  26. ^ The Sunday Times Good University Guide League Tables. The Sunday Times. Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
  27. ^ a b The Sunday Times University League Table. The Sunday Times. Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
  28. ^ The Sunday Times University League Table. The Sunday Times. Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
  29. ^ University league table. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved on 2007-10-29.
  30. ^ THE WORLD’S TOP 200 UNIVERSITIES. THES. Retrieved on 2007-10-29.
  31. ^ THE WORLD’S TOP 200 UNIVERSITIES. THES. Retrieved on 2007-10-29.
  32. ^ Oxbridge closes gap on Harvard in world university rankings. The Guardian. Guardian Media Group (2007-10-05). Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
  33. ^ THES - QS World University Rankings 2005. THES. Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
  34. ^ Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University 2007
  35. ^ Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University 2006
  36. ^ Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University 2005
  37. ^ Guardian Unlimited: Education
  38. ^ Computing - Imperial College London
  39. ^ Computing - Imperial College London
  40. ^ FT.com / Business Education / European Business school rankings
  41. ^ ARWU Top 100 world universities in Clinical Medicine and Pharmacy, 2007, <http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/ARWU-FIELD2007/MED.htm>. Retrieved on 2007-10-12 
  42. ^ ARWU Top 100 world universities in Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences, 2007, <http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/ARWU-FIELD2007/ENG.htm>. Retrieved on 2007-10-12 
  43. ^ ARWU Top 100 world universities in Natural Sciences and Mathematics, 2007, <http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/ARWU-FIELD2007/SCI.htm>. Retrieved on 2007-10-12 
  44. ^ Newsweek Ranking of World's TOP 100 Universities
  45. ^ Imperial College Union
  46. ^ Imperial College Radio, London, UK
  47. ^ Liquid Lunch, IC Radio - Student Radio that Flows
  48. ^ Martin Archer: Presenter, Voiceover, DJ
  49. ^ VPT, IC Radio - Professionally Unprofessional
  50. ^ Imperial College Radio, London, UK
  51. ^ Imperial College Radio, London, UK
  52. ^ Imperial College Radio, London, UK
  53. ^ [http://www.stoictv.com/ stoic tv
  54. ^ Live! - The award-winning student news website of Imperial College

[edit] Bibliography

Coordinates: 51.498308° N 0.176882° W

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