Abida Mian's Blog
An outlier that's living, learning and being myself…Archive for Education
The Code Book – Simon Singh
Clearing out my desk draw found a book gifted by the author, Simon Singh through work years ago. Very pleasant chap to deal with in a professional capacity. Might go re-read it again.
Imperial College ranked ninth in the world…
As a fellow graduate, I get updated on all the news, and it was nice to read that Imperial is currently ranked as ninth in the world university rankings…
Imperial has been ranked ninth internationally and third in Europe in the Times Higher Education Supplement’s World University Rankings published today. The rankings have employed a different, more rigorous method this year, developed with Thompson Reuters, which uses 13 separate indicators to assess institutions’ teaching, research and knowledge transfer activities. Rector, Sir Keith O’Nions, said:
“I’m delighted to see that the excellence and quality of Imperial’s staff and students have been acknowledged on the world stage again. The THE’s latest methodology emphasises hard measures of quality in teaching and research and the impact of these activities.”
He added: “I hope that our alumni and everyone at Imperial will take pride in the well-deserved recognition of our world-class university as one of the three UK universities in the world top ten.”
The 2010-11 World Rankings place Harvard in top position overall, with Cambridge and Oxford in joint sixth place. Among the aims of the Times Higher Education in developing the new methodology for the rankings was to achieve a more objective way to compile subject tables. Previously the subject tables relied on reputational opinion polling of academics, but in the new versions the same 13 indicators as those applied at institutional level are used. These include citation impact, papers per academic and research staff and undergraduates admitted per academic.
The sub-rankings by subject and category also see Imperial placed highly:
Engineering and technology: 9th (4th in Europe)
Physical sciences: 13th (4th in Europe)
Life sciences: 9th (3rd in Europe)
Clinical, pre-clinical and health: 5th (3rd in Europe)
Teaching: 8th (2nd in Europe)
Research: 6th (1st in Europe)
Innovation: 18th (9th in Europe)
International mix of staff and students: 19th (11th in Europe)
The top ten universities in this year’s rankings are:
1. Harvard University
2. California Institute of Technology
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
4. Stanford University
5. Princeton University
6. University of Cambridge (joint)
6. University of Oxford (joint)
8. University of California, Berkeley
9. Imperial College London
10. Yale University
Imperial’s position in the THE World Rankings follows the publication of rankings earlier this month from THE’s former associate Quacquarelli Symonds, which placed Imperial at seventh in the world and fourth in the UK, and the Sunday Times University Guide 2011 which ranked Imperial third among UK universities.
Science Museum Lates – The Science of Bioterrorism, 27th October
Science Museum Lates
Where: Science Museum, South Kensington | Time: 6:45pm – 10pm | Cost: Free
I really enjoy going to the Science Museum Late events. These are adult only nights (must be 18+), held only on the last Wednesday of every month. Although, I do enjoy going to a nice restaurant or drinking non-alcoholic cocktails at a bar, it can get somewhat tiresome, whilst the different themed nights of the museum engages your brain, and I think it’s always important to keep learning…
It’s not all dull and high-brow, last weeks one was all about the science of STI’s! You can also get your groove on in the silent disco, just grab a headset, choose your tune, and then bop away. You can also get yourself a bite to eat (you’re more than likely to be hungry, especially as most of us will be coming straight from work), or you can also grab yourself an alcoholic drink at one of their bars.
What’s the crowd like? – It’s not all anorak wearing geeks you know 🙂 I was surprised at the number of young people that go (20’s & 30’s). The events are always popular, the queues seem to go on forever.
I really would love a smaller digital camera to take on nights like these rather than lugging my SLR!
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