Category: Students

Postgraduate Graduation Ceremonies on Wednesday 1 May

Over 2,500 graduands and their guests are expected at the 2013 Postgraduate Graduation Ceremonies, which will take place in the Royal Albert Hall on Wednesday 1 May.

  • The morning ceremony commences at 11:00 for graduands from the Imperial College Business School and the former Department of Humanities.
  • The afternoon ceremony commences at 14:15 for graduands of the Faculty of Engineering.
  • The evening ceremony commences at 17:30 for graduands of the Faculties of Medicine and Natural Sciences.

Receptions will be held at venues across the South Kensington Campus following the ceremonies.

Academic staff are asked to register to attend by 15 April by completing the form available at the Graduation website.

Education and Student Strategy Consultation: Open Meetings

Professor Debra Humphris, Pro Rector (Education), invites staff and students to attend one of two open meetings to contribute ideas towards the development of the College’s Education and Student Strategy. Professor Humphris will provide more information on the strategy development process and attendees will be encouraged to ask questions and provide their ideas and opinions.

No registration is required, and the meetings will take place in the Pippard Lecture Theatre, Level 5, Sherfield Building, South Kensington Campus on:

  • Wednesday 6 February from 13:00 – 14:00
  • Thursday 14 February from 17:00 – 18:00

Further information on the development of the Education and Student Strategy, and an opportunity to contribute online, can be found on the Strategy website.

Questions should be directed to Jenny Cooke.

Call for Welcome Week volunteers

A message from the Director of Commercial  Services

A-level results are behind us, September has arrived and our plans for Start of Session are kicking up a notch!  For the past few years, we have had Welcome volunteers strategically positioned around the College to provide new students with directions, information and most of all a friendly face. This has proved to be a great success in helping new students settle in so we plan to repeat it again this year.

Each year we rely on a significant volunteer effort to ensure that start of session is a happy experience for everyone – we need staff to support students and their families, answer their questions, and usher students in and out of the Welcome talks and activities.

This is a tremendously important (and fun!) series of days for Imperial.  A briefing session will be held on Friday 28 September, from 11:00-12:00, to provide volunteers with all the information they need. If you or any of your team can help out at any point on the 29, 30 September or 1 October (for a minimum of 4 hours) please email Ellie Fielding  before Wednesday 19 September.

 

Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur Visa

The Management Board approved a pilot scheme for selecting students to receive College endorsement of their applications for a new post-study work visa, The Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur visa.

This new visa follows the withdrawal of the Post Study Work visa, which many of Imperial’s international students have applied for in the past.  There will be 1,000 Graduate Entrepreneur visas granted each year, and Imperial is one of 89 institutions able to endorse applications. The College has been granted an allocation of up to 10 endorsements, to be used by 5 April 2013.

In order to select students for visa endorsement, the College will incorporate existing formal forms of academic assessment into the process, for example performance in Entrepreneurship modules that feature in some Business School courses, and the results of business-focused challenges organised by other departments. A College panel, including academic staff with expertise in innovation, will review applications and make the final selection. The scheme, which will be managed by the International Office, will be piloted over 2012-13.

Applications will open to students this Friday 29 June, and more information can be found on the International Office’s website.

Survey on green activities for final year project

An Imperial student is investigating the steps that staff and students are taking to reduce the impact of their activities on the environment for her final year project for her BSc in Ecology & Environmental Biology. Staff and students are invited to complete a survey, the results of which will be reviewed by the team in the Facilities and Property Management Division responsible for the College’s sustainability activities, and will influence future efforts to reduce the College’s carbon footprint.

Respond to the suvey here

Postgraduate Graduation Ceremonies – Wednesday 9 May

Over 2,500 graduands and their 5,300 guests are expected at the 2012 Postgraduate Graduation Ceremonies, which will take place in the Royal Albert Hall on Wednesday 9 May.

In the morning ceremony, commencing at 11.15, graduands from the Faculties of Natural Sciences and Medicine and the Department of Humanities will be presented. Dr Martin Knight will receive a Fellowship of Imperial College in recognition of the outstanding contribution he made to the life and work of the College during his long association with Imperial, firstly as a member of the Council and subsequently as Chief Operating Officer.

In the afternoon ceremony, commencing at 15.30, graduands of the Faculty of Engineering and the Imperial College Business School will be presented. Professor David Lloyd Smith will receive a Fellowship of Imperial College in recognition of the outstanding contribution he has made to developing the student experience at Imperial. Ray O’Rourke will be awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Science (Engineering) DSc (Eng) in recognition of his outstanding contribution to engineering and to the UK construction industry.

Academic staff are asked to register to attend by 23 April, completing the form at: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/graduation/staff/robing.

Receptions will be held at venues across the South Kensington Campus following the ceremonies.

Student business cards

The Management Board approved a proposal that departments may provide Imperial College London business cards to students.

Students who have asked for business cards say that they would like to give them out when networking with prospective employers or staff and students from other institutions, and would gladly pay for them. Departments may wish to provide all students with business cards or only do so on request, and can decide whether to cover the cost or seek reimbursement from students.

Student business cards must follow a standard format and be produced using the College’s bespoke stationery purchase system, Office Depot’s Printegrity. Departments will receive further guidance in the near future.

Review of professional development provision for postgraduate students and early career researchers

The Management Board agreed to implement the recommendations resulting from the Strategic Education Committee’s Review of Professional Development for Postgraduate Students and Early Career Researchers.

These recommendations include a renewed focus for transferable skills programmes – they should help students to gain skills that they may not practice as part of the core academic programme, which equip them as leaders and innovators. Examples include teamwork and leadership skills and business awareness.

Among the other proposals agreed were that the Graduate Schools would support MSc coordinators in their efforts to embed transferable skills training in Master’s programmes; that the role of Mentor should be developed for research students to include responsibility for overseeing an individual student’s professional development; that an online tool should be introduced to enable students, with their mentor, to manage a personal development plan by setting targets and tracking progress; and that there should be more effective mechanisms of career advice for both postgraduate students and early career researchers.

A proposal to develop a professional development programme for undergraduate students will be presented at the next Management Board.

Rector’s Away Day outcomes

The Management Board reviewed the outcomes of the Away Day, held on 21 October 2011, which focused on the Student Experience and covered many of its aspects: undergraduate and postgraduate, academic and pastoral etc.  While a number of action points emerged from the Away Day, the two most significant and pressing related to the undergraduate experience and in particular: the quality and timeliness of assessment and feedback; and the quality, price and distance from College of student accommodation.

It was agreed that:

  • Faculty Principals should require their Heads of Department to provide action plans outlining measures already in place and measures that they would be introducing during the current academic year to improve the undergraduate student experience.  These plans would be collated by the Faculties and presented at the Management Board’s December meeting.
  • The Chief Financial Officer and Director of Commercial Services should together produce a plan for the refurbishment (where appropriate and necessary) of existing accommodation and the development of new accommodation – with recommendations for suitable social amenities at or close to this accommodation, as well as suitable catering facilities at the South Kensington Campus.
  • Faculties and Departments should also provide action plans for improving both the undergraduate and postgraduate student experience, including identifying any necessary investment, as part of the Planning Round in Spring 2012.  This would enable the Management Board to form a strategic view of requirements, whether capital (perhaps for accommodation) or otherwise (perhaps for assessment and feedback), for improving the student experience at the College.