New rankings rate Imperial best in Europe for budding Natural Sciences researchers

Research performance in Biology, Chemistry, Maths and Physics tops new table - News

By Danielle Reeves
12 December 2007

A new ranking of excellence has shown that Imperial is one of the top four European universities for postgraduate research programmes in Biology, Chemistry, Maths and Physics.

The ranking identified Imperial among an elite quartet of universities in Europe placed within the 'excellence group' for all four natural science subjects surveyed. Each department was assessed on its research achievements, as an indicator of the quality of postgraduate provision. For Physics Imperial gained a top mark of four gold medals – a feat not achieved by any other university, while in chemistry, maths and biology Imperial received three gold medals and a silver medal per subject in the new rating system.

Professor Sir Peter Knight FRS, Principal of Imperial's Faculty of Natural Sciences said: "I'm delighted that this new ranking reflects the world-class standard of postgraduate programmes in the natural sciences here at the College. Our outstanding academic staff from across all four of these departments provide our postgraduates with research opportunities and courses which are second to none, and in turn our students reap the considerable benefits of working alongside some of the world's leading scientists, who are engaged with research at the forefront of their fields.

"These excellent results are testament to the calibre of Imperial's natural sciences staff, and I'm extremely pleased we're rated as one of the best when it comes to producing the next generation of talented scientists."

The other three institutions in the excellence group for all four subjects are the University of Utrecht, ETH Zurich and the University of Cambridge. The assessment report has been researched and compiled by the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHE) in Germany.

To compile the rankings the CHE assessed approximately 500 chemistry, physics, maths and biology departments from around 250 higher education institutions in 20 European countries. These departments were rated on the basis of four indicators: number of academic publications, citations in relation to the international standard, number of oft-cited authors and number of projects in the EU's Marie Curie research promotion programme.

Gold, silver or bronze medals were then awarded to each academic department to reflect their performance in each of these four areas. Departments which attained at least three silver medals were classed as being in the excellence group, and Imperial was one of just four universities to achieve this in all four academic subjects assessed.

Commenting on Physics' singular success, Professor Donal Bradley FRS, Head of Physics, said: "Being ranked as Europe's top destination for postgraduate research students in Physics is a marvellous accolade for the Department and a testament to the exciting research programme we have built up in recent years."

All postgraduate students at Imperial are automatically members of one of two Graduate Schools, which cover between them the life and physical sciences and medicine. The Graduate Schools won the 2006 Times Higher Award for Outstanding Support for Early Careers Researchers and both provide quality assurance services on all postgraduate courses, and a full programme of transferable skills training designed to complement academic courses and help prepare students for their future careers.

Professor Bernie Morley, Director of the Graduate School of Life Sciences and Medicine welcomed the news, saying that the new accolade reflects the quality experience enjoyed by the College's thriving postgraduate community.

Professor Richard Kitney, Director of Imperial's Graduate School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, added: "The College's two Graduate Schools work hard to ensure that not only are the courses themselves outstanding, but that our postgraduates are supported in the development of a host of transferable skills through courses and other activities. The subjects range from project management and presenting, to writing skills and understanding research ethics, and are designed to benefit them throughout their careers."

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