Imperial College London Profile
History
•Imperial College London was established in 1907.
•In 2007 the College celebrated its 100th year of academic excellence and became independent from the University of London.
•Breakthroughs associated with the College include the discovery of penicillin, the development of holography and the foundations of fiber optics.
•Today Imperial research foci include interdisciplinary collaborations to tackle climate change, improve global health, develop sustainable sources of energy and address security challenges.
Notable alumni
•Cecil Balmond– award winning architect, including CCTV in Beijing.
•Emma Townshend– writer/journalist.
•Simon Dennis– Olympic gold medallist.
•Louis Attrill– Olympic gold medallist.
•Keith Duckworth– the designer of Cosworth DFV engine.
Location and transport
•The eight campuses of the University are in and around London. The primary campus is in South Kensington, in the heart of London.
•South Kensington is an area long established as a cultural centre for the sciences, arts, and music. Imperial's neighbors include Royal Albert Hall, the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
•There are excellent transport links with underground, buses and Paddington and Victoria mainline train stations close.
Student mix
•In the years 2010–11 there were around 14,500 undergraduate and postgraduate students of which nearly 36% were women.
•29 per cent of students are from outside European Union.
•Students come from more than 125 countries.
Teaching standards
•Recognized worldwide as a centre of excellence for teaching.
•Departments assessed by the external agencies for teaching have scored in between 21 to 24 points out of 24.
Research standards
•Consistently recognized as among the top UK university institutions for research quality.
•In the year 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, 72.9 per cent of Imperial's research activity was judged as world-leading or internationally excellent, highest percentage of any UK university.
Academic strengths
•Among the top tier of engineering, scientific, and medical research and teaching institutions in world.
•Pays regard to the practical application of science, engineering and medicine in commerce, industry, and healthcare.
•Fosters interdisciplinary working internally and collaborates widely externally.
Student facilities, including library and computing
•The Central Library at South Kensington campus has a large proportion of taught course materials and provides extensive study space.
•Provides 24-hour access during summer examination period.
•Over 3,000 PCs are available for the student use in the libraries and departmental areas.
Sport
•Sport Imperial's facilities provide free gym and swimming to all the students, both at the state of the art Ethos Sports Centre in the South Kensington, and at facilities across College's other campuses.
•Other facilities include: boathouse at the Putney and sports grounds at Harlington and Teddington (rugby, lacrosse, football, cricket, tennis and netball).