Imperial in 2022–23: Education and the Student Experience
At Imperial we are committed to offering all of our students a world-leading, inclusive education experience embedded in a vibrant research environment.
The free flow of ideas and some of the UK’s best-resourced entrepreneurship facilities give a distinctive edge to our research-intensive education – ranked among the best in the world. In the Guardian’s University Guide 2023, Imperial was named as University of the Year – with commendations for strong performance with graduate career prospects and having the highest levels of student satisfaction for teaching in England.
In 2022–23, we have continued our world-leading education offer across all our campuses, using the latest innovations in teaching and world-class facilities.
2022–23 in focus
Maths School opened for applications
Applications for Imperial College London Mathematics School opened in 2022 ahead of the first cohort’s entry in September 2023.
The School focuses on attracting applications from groups that are under-represented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) careers and will open in collaboration with Woodhouse College and the Department for Education.
All students will study A Level Maths and Further Maths, as well as at least one other subject. The school will provide a unique learning environment with mentoring by some of the world’s leading mathematicians and other academics, as well as current Imperial students.
Virtual reality training
Researchers from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering, in collaboration with the Digital Media Lab and Interdisciplinary EdTech Lab, are leading a cross-university project to build a software platform for Virtual Reality for Student Education (ViRSE).
The project will simplify the production and use of educational virtual reality simulations. With the help of the Digital Media Lab, Imperial has also become the first medical school in the UK to use virtual reality (VR) to train doctors. The VR headsets are helping students experience emergency situations such as cardiac arrest or an asthma attack. The VR experience has been designed to allow trainee medics to have near-real-world experiences before entering the workplace.
Digital innovation
An innovative mathematical solutions software is being trialled across Imperial. Researchers from the Department of Mechanical Engineering have helped to develop the platform, which is called ‘Lambda Feedback’.
The tool provides instant automated personalised feedback on student’s mathematical problem solutions – the current alphaversion uses deterministic algorithms, with the inclusion of generative AI capability planned.
Across Imperial, our departments with computing expertise are working together to create an online platform to make it easier for staff and students from any department to build new digital applications that integrate with other Imperial systems, and to deploy them on reliable infrastructure, quickly and easily.
Our Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Universal Data Platform team and the Learning Analytics (LA) Steering Group have also been working across faculties to develop technical and Intellectual Property infrastructure as well as a governance framework to underpin the widespread deployment of LA at Imperial.
Ambitions for education
Since the launch of our Learning and Teaching Strategy, in 2017, Imperial’s educational environment and teaching have been developing towards a modern, innovative, evidencebased approach.
In summer 2022, we carried out a consultation exercise to inform our renewed ambitions for education and the student experience and identify what activities would allow us to meet these ambitions. As a result of this consultation, we are now prioritising three themes and two enablers, which include developing lifelong learning opportunities for our students, and addressing staff and student load through the review of the assessment and feedback approaches used in our educational programmes.