History of Imperial College London

Read the sixth of our excerpts from Dr Hannah Gay's new book - the first major history of Imperial College London.

Dr Hannah Gay's book The History of Imperial College London 1907-2007: Higher Education and Research in Science, Technology and Medicine is the first major history of the College to be published, telling the story of a new type of institution.

Each month for the remainder of 2007, we will whet your appetite by publishing excerpts from Dr Gay's book.

Alumni can purchase copies of the book online from Imperial College Press books, where if you enter discount code P478 when ordering, you will receive a 20 per cent discount on the book price. You can also purchase copies of the book from the Union Shop on the Sherfield Walkway, South Kensington Campus.

Excerpt six, November 2007
1988-2007
Imperial College School of Medicine

In 1986 the Dean of St Mary's, Peter Richards, approached Sir Eric Ash and asked whether he would be interested in a medical school. Ash replied, 'Yes, I think that would be rather a good idea.'

Ash, believing the twenty-first century belonged to medical science, saw that it would be wise for Imperial to reposition itself. A medical school would provide a good platform for new kinds of increasingly important research. It was also a good way to bring in more women students, something Ash very much wanted. At the time, Imperial College has about 2,000 members of staff and St Mary's had about 250. St Mary's feared being swamped and losing its identity. But people at the medical school recognised that their financial situation gave them little hope of surviving, let alone retaining their independence...

...In 1992 a further report, the Tomlinson Report, recommended the establishment of postgraduate medical education within multi-faculty institutions that had graduate schools covering a wide range of scientific and technological disciplines. One year later Imperial had a new Rector whose principal task was to negotiate further medical mergers and create an enlarged medical school, with Tomlinson's report in mind. Lord Oxburgh began thinking about how to proceed even before taking office. One merger being considered was with the Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School (CXWMS)...Oxburgh invited discussion also with three postgraduate medical schools all of which were in good financial and academic shape: The National Heart and Lung Institute, The Institute of Cancer Research, and The Royal Postgraduate Medical School (RPMS).

Oxburgh wanted more than simply a merger. He wanted Imperial to bring something new to medical education at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level...But before any of this could come about Oxburgh had to spend much time talking to the leaders of the various institutions, explaining how the new system would work. He also had to calm the fears of people at St Mary's and the fears of some at Imperial. Many at Imperial were unhappy that the St Mary's merger had pulled the College down in the ranking tables after the 1992 RAE, and feared things would only become worse were there to be a merger with CXWMS. But Oxburgh wisely took a longer-term view, believing that with some resignations and retirements, and with new appointments, something positive would emerge.

Oxburgh wanted to bring all pre-clinical teaching to South Kensington, another major bone of contention. Perhaps the key to the merger was the promise of a new state-of-the-art building for non-clinical teaching, and for medical biomedical and biological research. The promise of better facilities for all the players helped persuade them to come on side.

After much effort by many people, the Imperial College Bill was placed before Parliament and approved in January 1997. The new Imperial College School of Medicine was comprised of nine divisions over four sites. It held 49 per cent of the College staff, 24 per cent of the student body, 48 per cent of the total income , and 51 per cent of research income. The new building was designed by Norman Foster and Partners and cost £65m. The building, named for one of St Mary's most famous medical researchers, Sir Alexander Fleming, was opened by the Queen on 21 October 1998. She also presented the College with its new charter. Three generations of the Fleming family were present at the opening ceremony. Richard Dickens conducted the College Brass Ensemble in the first performance of 'Imperial Fanfare'.

By 2001 the RAE results were greatly improved and the medical school was beginning to be recognised as a major success.

Much of the credit for this must go to Lord Oxburgh. Sir Eric Ash had the vision to recognise that a medical school would be a great asset in the twenty-first century and took the first steps at a time when many of his contemporaries at Imperial were hostile to the idea. But the merger with St Mary's was far less comlex than what followed. For a short period, St Mary's continued to function much as before but the new medical school required that all participating medical institutions merge their identities with Imperial and become working units of the College.

This was a great deal to ask of people proud of their associations with the individual medical schools, each with their separate historical traditions. Further, many people had to face up to negative assessments of their research standards and were resentful. Others who did not carry out research, notably some of the pre-clinical/clinical teachers, many with considerable skills and achievements, complained of coming under mindless attack. There was some justification to their complaints. That Oxburgh was able to come to largely amicable settlements with so many different interest groups, that he persuaded the government to provide generously for the mergers, and for a new building, speaks to his administrative and diplomatic abilities. There seems little doubt that the move into medicine was timely and will serve the College well in the years to come.

Text taken from chapter 15.
Chapter 15 - The Expanding College, 1985-2001...Part One: Goverance and the Medical School Mergers

Reproduced with the kind permission of the author, Dr Hannah Gay

Copyright © 2007 by Imperial College Press