Imperial College London (officially Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a British university in London. Imperial's teaching and
research have traditionally focused on science, engineering
and medicine, although more recently its faculties in these areas have been complemented by the
Tanaka Business School and a humanities
department. In the latest THES - QS World University Rankings of
universities world-wide, Imperial was placed 9th overall in the world.[4] It was also ranked fourth in the world for engineering and technology and for biomedicine by the
THES in 2006.[citation needed]
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]
History
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 and students of both colleges.
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.
Campus
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.
Currently there are extensive renovations being performed on many College buildings, particularly in time for the centenary
celebrations in 2007. A £27m financial contribution to the college from alumnus Gary A.
Tanaka in 2000 allowed the construction of a new building for the management school (now renamed the Tanaka Business School). The business school building provides the college with an official and
imposing "Main Entrance" and was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004
.
In late 2005 the Southside hall of residence on Prince's Gardens was demolished to make way for a new, more modern, building
which will be more in keeping with the surrounding buildings. This is part of an ongoing redevelopment of Prince's Gardens which
will see other halls of residence on the square replaced and the gardens redeveloped.
In January 2006 the College's new sports centre, called Ethos, was opened for use by students and staff. The state-of-the-art
centre was built at a cost of £17.5m and is currently free for all students to use the gym and pool facilities. A number of IC
Union clubs contributed financially to ensure its success: as much as 60% of some club's budgets was given over to build
Ethos.
The College Library has locations across all campuses and gives students and staff access to a vast amount of information much
of which is supplied through a large number of electronic resources, including databases and e-books. The Central Library, on the
South Kensington Campus, has recently embarked on phase one of a major refurbishment project to upgrade the quality of the study
environment and create spaces fit for 21st century library use.
Medical School & North West Thames Foundation School
The 3 main London teaching hospitals associated with the medical school are:
Also attached to the faculty are six more district general hospitals:
Admissions
Imperial College London is one of the most selective universities in the United Kingdom and around the world.[citation needed] From 1999 to 2006 (dates of all the
online available records), the overall acceptance rate of Imperial College programs has been consistently below 20%.[10] In 2006, the acceptance rate of the college for undergraduates
was 17.5 per cent.[11] The acceptance rate for postgraduate
courses was 18.87 per cent. To apply to Imperial, like all other UK universities, one must apply through the UCAS system.
Academic structure
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.[12]
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.[13] Information on postgraduate courses offered can be found here.[14]
Research
Coat of arms of Imperial College London (now only used for official ceremonial
purposes).
Imperial's research income is among the largest in the UK – £204.8 million for 2005/06.[15] 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.
Academic reputation
Imperial has been ranked 9th in the world by the THES - QS World
University Rankings league tables,[1] and is consistently ranked in the top 3 within the UK.[16] Recent tables show that - despite being science-based - it is maintaining this position, whilst
topping most of the engineering and medicine tables. The Sunday
Times and The Guardian both placed Imperial 3rd in the UK in 2005.
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 2000's Sunday Times table, pushing Oxford to third place for the first (and only) time.
The Financial Times placed Imperial College's Business School within the top 10
in Europe.[17] The Department of Computing (DoC) was
rated Number 1 for Computer Science and IT in the Guardian University Guide until the new listings were posted on
1 May 2007 - when the department did not rank.[18] In both 2004 and 2006 two students from the DoC were awarded the SET
Student of the Year award.[19]
According to ARWU, Imperial is ranked 23rd in the world
overall and 3rd in Europe.[20] For Medicine Imperial
College is ranked 25th in the world, only three UK medical schools rank higher (Oxford 13th, Cambridge 15th and UCL
17th).[21] Imperial is ranked 27th in the world for
Engineering and IT.[22] It is also ranked 27th in the
world for the natural sciences.[23]
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 14 Nobel Laureates and one Fields Medallist.
Teams from Imperial College won University Challenge in both 1996 and 2001.
Accommodation
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.
A full list of halls of residence for Imperial students can be found here.[24]
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.
Clubs & Societies at Imperial
Imperial College Union has around 300 clubs and societies,[25] the largest number of any students' union in the United Kingdom.
Student Media
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[26] 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[27] and Best Male
Presenter for Martin Archer.[28]
Popular shows on IC Radio in recent years (2006/2007) include: Rocktopia, School Daze'
(pop), 'Instru(Mental)' (dance), 'VPT'[29] (Entertainment/Shambles), 'Moon Unit'[30] and 'The Cornerstone'[31] (both of which play rock and alternative) and 'Album - A Discourse in Musical History'[32] (devoted to seminal albums).
stoic TV
stoic tv (Student Television of Imperial College) is Imperial College Union's TV station. In
2006 it was named Best Broadcaster at NaSTA and also won awards for Best
On-Screen Male and Best On-Screen Female . It 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.[33]
There is also a non-student Imperial College organisation called Media Services, whose main activity is producing videos of
College events.
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.
Live!
Live![34] is an online student news source and forum
run by the City and Guilds College Union.
Public transport
To the South Kensington Campus
By Train
The nearest London Underground stations to the main campus are South Kensington and Gloucester
Road.
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 and C1 alighting at South
Kensington
Student and Staff Alumni
-
Imperial alumni include physicist Abdus Salam, biologist T. H.
Huxley and pharmacologist Alexander
Fleming, alongside Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, author H. G. Wells,
Queen guitarist Brian
May and Elizabeth Hurley's new husband Arun
Nayar.
External links
References
- ^ http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/secretariat/governance/charterandstatutes/charter
- ^ http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/portal/pls/portallive/docs/1/3983905.PDF
- ^ a b c Table 0a - All
students by institution, mode of study, level of study, gender and domicile 2005/06. Higher Education Statistics Agency online statistics. Retrieved on 2007-03-31.
- ^ http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/worldwide/story/0,,1888151,00.html
- ^ http://www.london.ac.uk/653.html
- ^ http://www.imperial.ac.uk/P7130.htm
- ^ http://www.kent.ac.uk/studying/where/wye/
- ^ http://www.imperial.ac.uk/P7134.htm
- ^ http://www.london.ac.uk/495.html
- ^ http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/planning/statistics/collegestatistics
- ^ http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/portal/pls/portallive/docs/1/7280074.PDF
- ^ http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/portal/pls/portallive/docs/1/7280074.PDF
- ^ http://www.imperial.ac.uk/p1892.htm
- ^ http://www.ic.ac.uk/p2183.htm
- ^ http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/portal/pls/portallive/docs/1/7319726.PDF
- ^ http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/worldwide/story/0,,1888151,00.html
- ^ http://rankings.ft.com/rankings/ebs
- ^ Guardian Unlimited: Education
- ^ http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/about/news/set1.htm
- ^
Academic
Ranking of World Universities, 2007, <http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2007/ARWU2007_Top100.htm>. Retrieved on 2007-10-12
- ^
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
- ^
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
- ^
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
- ^ http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/portal/page?_pageid=84,326016&_dad=portallive&_schema=PORTALLIVE
- ^ http://www.union.ic.ac.uk/money/FinanceFiles/list.shtml
- ^ http://www.icradio.com/
- ^ http://www.icradio.com/shows/liquidlunch
- ^ http://www.martinarcher.co.uk/
- ^ http://www.icradio.com/shows/vpt
- ^ http://www.icradio.com/show.php?id=409
- ^ http://www.icradio.com/show.php?id=454
- ^ http://www.icradio.com/show.php?id=460
- ^ http://www.stoictv.com/
- ^ http://live.cgcu.net/
Bibliography
Coordinates:
51.498308° N 0.176882°
W
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