About Imperial College London

About Imperial College London:

Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom. It was founded by Prince Albert who envisioned an area composed of the Natural History Museum, Science Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, Royal Albert Hall and the Imperial Institute.[7][8] The Imperial Institute was opened by his wife, Queen Victoria, who laid the first stone.[9] The college has expanded its coursework to medicine through mergers with St Mary's Hospital. In 2004, Queen Elizabeth II opened the Imperial College Business School.[9] Imperial became an independent university from the University of London during its one hundred year anniversary.[10]

Imperial is organised into faculties of science, engineering, medicine and business. Its main campus is located in South Kensington, adjacent to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens in central London. The university formed the first academic health science centre in the United Kingdom.[11] Imperial is a member of the Russell Group, G5, Association of Commonwealth Universities, League of European Research Universities, and the "Golden Triangle" of British universities.

Imperial is included among the best universities in the world by numerous university rankings.[12][13][14][15] According to The New York Times, recruiters consider Imperial students among the top ten most recruited students globally, and receive the highest salaries of any UK university.[16][17][18][19] Imperial faculty and alumni include 15 Nobel laureates, 2 Fields Medalists, 70 Fellows of the Royal Society, 82 Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering and 78 Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Imperial's main campus is located in the South Kensington area of central London. It is situated in an area of South Kensington, known as Albertopolis, which has a high concentration of cultural and academic institutions, adjacent to the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Royal College of Music, the Royal College of Art, the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Albert Hall. Nearby public attractions include the Kensington Palace, Hyde Park and the Kensington Gardens, the National Art Library, and the Brompton Oratory. The expansion of the South Kensington campus in the 1950s & 1960s absorbed the site of the former Imperial Institute, designed by Thomas Collcutt, of which only the 287 foot (87 m) high Queen's Tower remains among the more modern buildings.[43][44]

Recent major projects include the Imperial College Business School, the Ethos sports centre, the Southside hall of residence and the Eastside hall of residence. Current major projects include the reconstruction of the south-eastern quadrant of the South Kensington campus.

The Imperial Institute was created in 1887 to celebrate Queen Victoria's Jubilee with the intention of it being a scientific research institution exploring and developing the raw materials of the Empire countries. The building was constructed in South Kensington between 1888 and 1893. Its central tower (the Queen's Tower) survives. There were smaller towers at the east and west end, a library, laboratories, conference rooms and exhibition galleries with gardens at the rear.