Imperial grows global education opportunities

Imperial is to expand opportunities for international student experiences, as it secures new Turing funding.

The College will use funding from the UK’s new Turing scheme, as well as existing partnerships and Imperial’s own investments, to provide new international study opportunities and launch a STEMB Global Student Opportunities Programme.

The Turing scheme is the government’s replacement for the UK’s former participation in the European Erasmus+ programme. Imperial is using Turing funding to grow and expand some of the College’s existing international study opportunities.

This includes work to: 

• Expand access to and grow UG study abroad programmes and a range of high impact industrial and research placements, including in the United States, Japan, Australia, Singapore, France, Germany, Spain, China, Norway, India, Sweden and Switzerland. 
• Significantly expand Imperial’s flagship International Research Opportunities Programme(IROP) doubling the number of students who can participate in placements in partner labs in countries such as the US, Germany, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland. Existing partners for IROP include MIT in the US and TU Munich in Germany.
• Develop new postgraduate research student Global Fellows Placement scheme that develops high impact placement opportunities across four continents with partners in Rwanda, South Africa, India, France, Japan, US, Germany and Sweden.
• Support students to do medical placements and electives across three continents. The placements will help the next generation of UK health practitioners develop through formative international experiences in different health systems or resource-poor settings.
• Build a new package of enhanced support to enable students from disadvantaged groups to participate across all of the activities.

The Turing Scheme will see more than 40,000 UK students able to study and work abroad from this September. More than 120 universities, as well as over 200 schools and further education colleges across the UK, will be awarded grants from the £110 million Scheme. Canada, Japan and the United States are among around 150 destinations where UK students will be funded to take up work and study placements – alongside a number of European countries.

Imperial is one of the world's most international universities, with 60% of students coming from outside the UK, including 20% from other European countries. Two-thirds of Imperial research includes an international collaborator, encompassing academic peers in more than 130 countries.

Career-defining opportunities

The College is committed to offering its students a world-leading, rigorous, evidence-based and inclusive education. International student mobility is a vital component of this educational provision, offering career-defining opportunities for our student community to study and work overseas.

The STEMB Global Student Opportunities project (Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine and Business) represents an ambitious scale-up and development of institutional mobility options, matching students with a range of high-quality placements and experiences in leading university, industry and health sector partners across the world.

The project aims to expand Imperial’s international reach through student ambassadors while helping students from all backgrounds to develop the crucial skills, networks and learning experiences that improve progression to employment or further study.

“Longstanding connections”

The news comes after Imperial’s President Alice Gast announced a multi-million pound investment in international student scholarships as the College seeks to further diversify its community.

Professor Alice Gast, President of Imperial College London, said: “Imperial strives to create the best possible experience for talented students from all backgrounds, and ensure they have opportunities to expand their horizons. The Turing Scheme allows us to take a significant further step in this mission through a new package of enhanced support to enable more students, regardless of their background, to participate in international experiences with more partners.

“We look forward to using this financial support, along with other investments, to offer placements with longstanding European partners, established under the Erasmus programme, and with other partners around the world."

The activities of the STEMB Global Student Opportunities project are designed to support the entire student community, covering undergraduate, postgraduate taught and postgraduate research groups. Students will develop enhanced skills, experiences, networks and degree attainment that will improve their career prospects and social mobility.

Activities are subject to COVID-19 related restrictions.