South Kensington Campus
London SW7 2AZ

Tel 020 7594 8014

admissions@imperial.ac.uk

www.imperial.ac.uk

Sunday Times ranking 4 (4)

Teaching excellence 81.8%

Student satisfaction 72.5%

Head teacher ranking 3 (4)

Peer ranking 3 (7)

Research quality 83.4%

A/AS-level points 470

A-levels for entry 86.6%

Unemployment 5.3%

Firsts and 2:1s 76.3%

Student/staff ratio 9.9:1

Dropout rate 4% (4%)

World ranking 9

Undergraduates 8,093 (0)

Postgraduates 3,430 (1,141)

Teaching staff 1,194

Applications/places 14,398/2,269; 6.3:1 (+1.4%)

Clearing entry 4.4%

Bursaries 35%: £105-£4,000

Scholarships None

EU/overseas 10.3%/29.8%

Mature 3.6%

State school 61%

Lowest social classes 17%

Low-participation areas 7%

Live in 25% (89%) £54-£156

Newly divorced from the University of London, Imperial College is now a university in its own right. It celebrates its centenary this year, and from next summer graduates will leave with an Imperial College London degree. The university has never finished anywhere but in our top four. It is the leading specialist institution for the study of science and engineering and it recruits heavily from across the world, notably in southeast Asia, off the back of its outstanding reputation. Foreign students make up almost half the college population.

Alongside science and engineering, Imperial also has one of Britain’s largest medical schools; its students undertaking their clinical practice in (among several others) Hammersmith hospital and St Mary’s hospital in the capital. These three organisations are proposing to create an Academic Health Science Centre – the first in the UK – from the autumn.

The 100 or so degrees all fall into science, engineering or medicine, but that is not to say students’ artistic sides are ignored. Humanities courses, from which course credits can be earned, are offered and from 2008 both biology and chemistry will be offered as joint degrees alongside French, German or Spanish for science.

Imperial graduates are in demand and only former LSE students earn more than the £26,860 average starting salary commanded by last year’s finalists at Imperial. No university earns more from British industry than Imperial for collaborative research work, with total research income hitting £205m last year. The college won the inaugural “best supporter of British industry” award from this newspaper earlier this year.

Generous bursaries benefit more than one-third of the students, with a maximum of £4,000 given to those on full state grants who achieve at least AAA at A-level and who made Imperial their firm choice through Ucas ahead of results being known.

The South Kensington location of the main campus, a stone’s throw from Hyde Park and the Albert Hall, is arguably the best of any London-based university or college. Students also get the use of the best indoor student sports centre in the capital, Ethos, situated on the South Ken campus. This includes a 75-station gym, 25m pool, sauna, steam room, five-court sports hall, climbing wall and a cafe.

Open days Contact the college.

Student view Stephen Brown, students’ union president:

USP Our academic reputation.

Worst feature People live in halls in South Kensington in their first year and discover what they can afford in their second and third years.

Location Hyde Park and the Natural History Museum on your doorstep.

Social scene We tend to socialise all across London.

Rated excellent (13) Business and management; chemical engineering; chemistry; computer science; electrical and electronic engineering; general engineering; geology; materials technology; mechanical aeronautical and manufacturing engineering; maths, statistics and operational research; molecular biosciences; organismal biosciences; physics and astronomy.

Degrees of student satisfaction 72.5%

Electronic and Electric Engineering 79.5; Computer Science 78.9; Physical Science 76.1; Mathematical Sciences 74.9; Civil, Chemical and other Engineering 74.8; Biology and related Sciences 73.3; Technology 72.1; Mechanically-based Engineering 69.9; Medicine and Dentistry 66.3

Times recommends

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