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

Over 6,000 academic staff include Nobel prize-winners, 66 Fellows of the Royal Society and 71 Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Three quarters of the academics entered in the latest Research Assessment Exercise were in departments considered internationally outstanding – the highest proportion in any university – and almost all were in one of the top two categories.

Teaching scores were up to the same high standard, with electrical and electronic engineering and materials science achieving maximum points.

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Physics, mathematics and medicine also did well. Imperial is not recommended for academic slouches, but tough entrance requirements ensure that they are a rare breed in any case.

Access

The projected dropout rate of 4 per cent is among the lowest in the country. Such is the level of competition that applications had been dropping, although there was a modest increase when the official deadline passed for courses beginning in 2007. Even though many of the subjects struggle for candidates elsewhere, entrants average better than an A and two Bs at A level. 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.

Subjects

Engineering degrees last four years and lead to an MEng. Almost all branches of engineering achieved the coveted 5* rating for research. 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 was the main area of development in the 1990s: mergers with the St Mary’s, Charing Cross and Westminster, and Royal Post-graduate teaching hospitals producing one of the biggest faculties of medicine in the UK.

Development

Top ratings for research in clinical medicine are a source of pride. Further mergers in 2000 brought in the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology and Wye College, in Ashford, Kent, which has become a research centre and its courses transferred to the University of Kent. In 2007, Imperial formed the UK’s first Academic Health Science Centre through the merger of St Mary’s and Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trusts and their integration with the college. 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 Tanaka Business School, rated excellent for teaching, is Imperial’s main concession to the academic world beyond science, technology and medicine. The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme provides opportunities for “hands-on” experience of the research activities of college staff and postgraduates.

Student scene

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. Imperial’s specialisms have the effect of making it the most male-dominated university institution 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.

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