In this section

Delivering value through the student experience

This is shown in our National Student Survey (NSS) results, which showed particularly strong results for ‘Learning Opportunities’ with a positivity measure of 85.7% (2024: 83.2%). We also scored highly for ‘Learning Resources’ with 90.6% (2024: 89.1%) and ‘Teaching on my course’ with 88.9% (2024: 87.5%). We know there is more work to do on assessment and feedback (NSS 2025 score: 69.9%; 2024: 67.3%), as we noted in the plans for our Learning and Teaching Strategy.

We are also delivering value to our students by ensuring they have the best possible start to their future careers. We are ranked first for graduate career prospects in The Guardian’s University Guide 2025 and we are top for Graduate Employment in The Times/The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025.

Digital campus

Imperial’s Digital Plan 2024–28 outlines our journey to enable a digital campus. These plans include introducing simpler mobile experiences for students and the wider community.

Throughout the year, these plans have been tested in a beta version of the My Imperial Campus app. The app is a product of collaboration between the Dreamteam, a student-led professional design consultancy, and Imperial’s Digital Campus squad in ICT. It focuses on what students need to improve their university experience on and off campus – from campus maps and class check-in to personalised Imperial events.

Student digital journey

Imperial's IT estate and support coverage provided is vast and varied. The digital student lifecycle portfolio is designed to enhance the Imperial experience by supporting students through their entire journey with us.

In autumn 2024, we restructured our portfolio to better align with our strategic goals and enhance our governance. The portfolio will focus on:

enhancing the student journey creating a seamless, engaging digital experience that supports students from their first interaction to graduation and beyond, ensuring timely and meaningful engagement with them at key stages
reinforcing foundations and simplifying administrative processes for staff streamlining the administrative experience by stabilising underlying technology and processes, improving efficiency, simplifying the way we meet regulatory and compliance requirements, and enabling staff to deliver exceptional support and services
equipping staff with the right tools providing staff with cutting-edge digital tools and reliable data access, empowering them to excel in their roles and improve the overall student experience
empowering informed decision-making building a unified data ecosystem that supports informed decisions and drives continuous improvement, and whilst ensuring data integrity and security
supporting growth and innovation developing scalable and adaptable solutions that support the university’s growth and create greater stability for future technological advancement

Working with students

Every term at Imperial, the Students’ Union (Imperial College Union) and the university identify and deliver improvements to the student experience.

In 2024–25, a new group study space opened in the Abdus Salam Library. To address student feedback around study spaces in South Kensington, the area features more than 100 study spaces, including multi-seating pods, standing desks and moveable furniture. This was the first of several upgrades to study spaces this academic year.

We had an input on what should or should not be taught in the new curriculum, which was an extra layer to this experience - a layer that I really enjoyed being part of. It really felt as though my opinion was highly valued. StudentShapers participant

StudentShapers is Imperial’s flagship initiative for fostering staff-student partnered projects, across all departments and services. It provides funding for student engagement on approved projects, which aim to enhance the educational provision of Imperial, whether at departmental or cross-university level.

These are some of the projects that were supported by StudentShapers in 2024–25:

EDI and the Race Equality Charter (REC) Action Plan

As part of the work by the REC Action Plan, the Early Career Researchers Institute partnered with six students to redevelop an event for minority ethnic undergraduate students interested in studying for a postgraduate degree. The aim was to address low turnout, despite initial high interest. The project team organised focus groups, a desk-based review of other UK institutions’ provision, and managed surveys.

Chaplaincy Gardening Project

The RE:GEN project (created by the Imperial College Union) secured funding from the President's
Community Fund to develop the Chaplaincy Garden. StudentShapers supported five students on this project; the intention being to foster wellbeing spaces, support workshops and provide gardening opportunities for the wider student community. This project has received widespread positive engagement from clubs and staff, as well as further funding.

Co-creating a definition of ‘Educational Gain’ for Imperial

This research project gathers the views of a wide range of Imperial students on their thoughts and opinions around the idea of ‘Education Gain’ in an Imperial-specific context. Four students were recruited for this project, and had direct input into the design of research tools and data gathering, as well as being instrumental in the analysis of data and the drawing up of recommendations. This project is ongoing and will complete in December 2025.

The Imperial Experience

Another strand of Class of 2030, the Imperial Experience is a project to enhance the student experience beyond the classroom, from preapplication to post-graduation. Over the next five years, the project will focus on key areas such as student transitions, campus experience, and the experiences of international, postgraduate and widening participation students.

Our Imperial Experience staff survey, launched in November 2024, helped to provide a baseline on how well staff at

Silver EcoCampus award: Awarded in 2025 for the phased implementation of an Environmental Management System.

Imperial know about the wide range of student resources and opportunities such as mental health and disability advice services. This data is being used to understand how to better support our staff in helping our students to thrive in and outside of the classroom.

Enhancing our physical environment for students

The South Kensington Redevelopment programme is modernising and transforming key campus spaces to support excellence in education, research and enterprise.

In April 2025, work began on redeveloping the Great Hall to modernise the space while preserving its central role in Imperial life.

Across our campuses, we're investing in world-class spaces which support innovation, collaboration and sustainability and enable our community to reach new heights. Jane Hay Deputy Chief Property Officer (Operations)

When not in use for large events, the Great Hall will be reconfigurable into three lecture theatres with the option to reconfigure the space into one large teaching area. This flexibility will support growing teaching needs while maintaining the Great Hall’s capacity for large events. The repurposing of this space focuses on sustainability by reducing the need for Imperial to build, and operate, new spaces.

Additional planned improvements in the Great Hall include enabling accessibility and optimising the acoustics.

The long-term ambition of the redevelopment programme is to create world-class physical environments that support: discovery; learning and innovation; collaboration and community; and a sustainable, net zero future. As part of the programme, construction works are underway across the Sherfield Building, which was the central administration hub at our South Kensington Campus. Work on the first phase is now complete, delivering three new lecture theatres, a new student space and improved areas for student support services.