Regularly in the top three in The Times League Table, London’s specialist college of science, engineering and medicine is also in the top six in the world rankings published by The Times Higher Education and QS.

Over 6,000 academic staff include Nobel prizewinners, 66 Fellows of the Royal Society and 74 Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Imperial’s submission for the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise contained a higher proportion of world-leading or internationally excellent work (73 per cent) than any other university’s.

Pure maths, civil engineering and history of science produced the best results.

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"Not for slouches"

Imperial is not recommended for academic slouches, but tough entrance requirements ensure that they are a rare breed in any case. The projected dropout rate of less than 3 per cent is among the lowest in the country. Such is the level of competition that applications were dropping, but there had been a modest increase when the official deadline passed for courses beginning in 2009. There are about 14,000 applications for 2,400 places and, even in subjects that struggle for candidates elsewhere, entrants average better than an A and two Bs at A level. The average points score on the Ucas tariff of entrants in 2008 was 355. Nearly 40 per cent of the undergraduates are from independent schools – one of the highest proportions at any university and considerably more than the national average for Imperial’s courses.

Development

Engineering degrees last four years and lead to an MEng. The college has been expanding its range of European exchanges, with a variety of prestigious technological institutions available for courses such as the MSc in physics.

Medicine has been the main area of development: mergers with the St Mary’s, Charing Cross and Westminster, and Royal Postgraduate teaching hospitals producing one of the biggest faculties of medicine in the UK. In 2007, Imperial formed the UK’s first Academic Health Science Centre in partnership with Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in order to translate research advances into patient care. The partnership was named as one of the UK’s five Academic Health Science Centres in 2009, denoting international excellence in biomedical research, education and patient care.

Imperial celebrated its centenary in 2007 and has left the University of London to trade on its global reputation. It has been redeveloping and expanding facilities on its main campus, in the heart of South Kensington’s museum district, most recently with the construction of a new sports centre and halls of residence complex. The growing business school is Imperial’s main concession to the academic world beyond science, technology and medicine.

Hands-on research

The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme provides opportunities for “hands-on” experience of the research activities of college staff and postgraduates. A voluntary scheme open to all undergraduates, it is especially popular in the summer vacation, when students can be paid bursaries and international undergraduates can participate without needing a work permit. There is also a vacation placement scheme during the summer for undergraduates to acquire work experience.

Specialisms

Imperial’s specialisms have the effect of making it one of the most male-dominated university institutions in Britain, although the number of female students doubled during the 1990s and now stands at more than a third. The imbalance shows in a social scene which many students find limited, despite the largest selection of clubs and societies in the country. Outdoor sports facilities are remote, but Wednesday afternoons are left free to encourage students to make the effort to exercise.

Student satisfaction levels have been above the national average and good for London, where many universities have struggled in the National Student Survey. Biological subjects, computer science and chemical, process and energy engineering produced the best results in the survey published in 2008.

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