Felix Issue 1074, 1997
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Friday 30th May. 1997 issue 1089 f ELIXhttp:/A\'w\v.su.ic.ac.uk/Feli x est. 1949 Student Newspaper of Imperial. College Sir Ronald Oxburgh pits in Something for the himself against the Voice Weekend: Gridlock d, of Reason in a head-to- Absolute Power and a head interview. Follow look at the Gobi gobs- the batde on page six, mackers. IC stalks Oxbridge in Times league ALOK JHA our staff-student ratio was graded, as Last Friday, The Times published its THE TIMES 1997 LEAGUE TABLE last year, at a perfect 100 whereas annual league table for British uni- HOW THE UNIVERSITIES SCORED IC's lowest score, 67. was again that versities and, once again. Imperial for accommodation. This is a signifi- College came in third after the cant improvement on last year's heavyweight Oxbridge contingent. score of 34 but remains among the However, recent improvments at IC lowest for the top 50 universities. have dramatically cut the lead of its Other London colleges fared little nearest rival, Oxford, from over 120 1 Catntondga 100 100 100 87 better in this category, reflecting the 96 86 100 points to less than 80, with the 2 Otkxa 91 deficit of Hall provision and inordi- 100 nate rents facing students in the capi- London School of Economics clos- 4 LSE 92 96 82 tal. ing on the 'top two' even faster. 5 Warns* 85 Hie rankings are compiled on the • York Other major improvements over 7 UCL last year include the 39 point increase basis of a number of key statistics for 72 S3 • S! Andrews in library spending, raising this each University, including library 9 Durham 87 year's total to 83, and bringing it spending, accommodation, research 10 taiwbuBh 79 11 BrMoi more in line with spending at other and teaching. Published results for 79 68 12 L top universities. Encouragingly, each section are ranked and then the 13 NotanofUffl 79 graduate destinations was rated high- highest performer is allocated 100 14 Bm&i Kng'tCdrngt 78 ly at 94 - again one of the highest in points. The remaining Universities 18 16 SrwfMd the table. then receive points based on their 17 Manctwtltr The annual publication of The performance relative to the best. The Times lists again raises questions as eacbing and research grades are cal- to the reliability and credibility of the culated slightly differently; each of rankings, especially given the dra- tee is based on the grades recieved matic changes in higher education by different departments in the asses- prevalent over recent years. The way excercises carried out earlier scores are calculated has, in the past, year, and in these Imperial made ences in awarding policies of differ- colleges in the top twenty were UCL been accused of intrinsically favour- strong showing. ent colleges", according to The and King's with totals of 804 and 740 respectively. ing Oxford and Cambridge, with The teaching points are weighted Times. Individual section scores for some commentators pointing out that ^1 to the research points. This year Imperial scored a total of 854 Imperial varied but most saw an the quality of accomodation offered &o sees the inclusion of upper sec- points out of a possble 1000, narrow- increase over last year. IC's large by a University, and the amount it into the degree classifications ly beating the LSE which scored 849. population of researchers meant that continued on page two ?ade, in order to "iron out differ- The only other University of London Candidates mysteriously appear for third race Mr Dulloo has not yet been officially to a conclusion, the number of candi- JITEN PATEL declared their intent so far include proposed. Speaking to Felix, he dates running could rise further still "o* that the presidential race has Laurie Tweedale, former Operatic declared that "I have a personal list creating a more exciting and compet- °*ed off for the third time it seems Society chair, Al Hussein, who [of proposers] that I am considering". itive race. Other possible candidates we are finally going to have a dropped out of the last round of elec- Mr Dulloo considered his closest include Paul Brown, current IC ^re of candidates, ranging from tions and Despina Crassa, Overseas rival to date as Ms Tweedale saying Radio chair, who has been given |G president Mo Dulloo to Richard Societies Committee chair. that "she would be very competent in leave from his PhD supervisor and is ^ien, a third year geology student, Although not all the candidates the job" and that "it should be an still "seriously considering standing." * five candidates so far putting have yet gathered the required 20 interesting battle." Rumours persist of yet another candi- 9 names forward. seconders they are not expected to With most exams over or coming date appearing from across the Park. °4er candidates that have fall short of the quota, but unusually 2 NEWS FELIX FRIDAY 30TH MAY Bronze for IC IC scoops gold! continued from frontpage dent ratios and graduate destinations OUR OWN STATISTICIAN tions, extra weight has been given spends on its libraries are not factors should make the most significant In a startling revelation this week, the crucial academic value oft which necessarily have any bearing contributions to the total. Indeed, a Felix can reveal the long-awaited staff-to-student ratio. This along il whatsoever on the value of the judicious choice of weightings to the results of its annual survey of univer- Imperial's top teaching assessrnt degrees it awards. different categories can produce a sities, colleges and institutes of high- scores have helped IC leapfrog It could be argued, for example, very different ranking, as the Felix er education. The league table Oxford and Cambridge and take the that science and engineering courses analysis below and right shows. (below), based on careful theft and golden statuette for the top British do not, by their very nature, require These reservations aside, The manipualtion of other people's statis- seat of research and learning, as on the same level of library provision as Times rankings are held in high tics clearly show that Imperial official table shows. humanities courses. In a computing regard by schools and graduate College has come up trumps again. A new category, Graduate department, it might be difficult to recruiters. If Imperial is seen as a The annual back-slapping award Destinations, has been included to distinguish directly between spend- 'poor' third by some, this reflects the fight was closer than usual with the reflect prospects of the countries' top ing on libraries and spending on low public profile of the College top three institutions clustered within students. Favourite destinations this computing facilities as reference rather than any failings in teaching three points of each other. In a depar- year are rumoured to include New sources increasingly move on-line. standards. ture from previous year's calcula- York, Bali and the Costa del Sol. Perhaps a better criterion might be the amount spent on teaching labora- ft Q tories, with libraries counting as 'labs' for students on humanities courses. Also under fire is The Times' prac- *0, tice of weighting scores in different categories up or down in calculating the totals and so in awarding the final Imperial 93 85 79 100 83 72 94 67 253 rankings. It could be argued that cri- Cambridge 100 100 100 87 84 100 82 96 252 teria which have little direct bearing Oxford 91 96 100 86 100 83 98 91 on teaching quality, such as accomo- dation and library spending, should LSE 92 96 86 82 81 78 80 68 be weighted down, while staff-stu- Warwick 94 85 71 69 72 82 81 80 1068 EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES SUMMER VACATION - 1997 CENTRE FOR COMPUTING SERVICES As in previous years, we are planning to employ undergraduates to work in a number of areas during the summer vacation. Further information can be found on URL: PHOTO: ROBIN It's just a perfect day to lie in the sun. BMS site workers enjoy the late http ://www. ic. ac. uk/ccs/admin/personnel/ugs97.htm spring sunshine on the Queen's Lawn. If you are interested in working for us this summer, News in Brief please send a copy of your C V and the name of your personal tutor to Sue Vincent by Friday 6 June. MEDIA MENTIONS NO WELLCOME FOR LAB The controversy surrounding the REPORT Sue Vincent examinations marquee attracted A report backed by all the major nationwide media attention last research funding bodies, calling for Centre for Computing Services week, with stories in The action on the 'chronic' state of many Room, 494, Mechanical Engineering Building Independent and Europe's largest University laboratories, will not be Ext 46929 student newspaper, London Student. endorsed by the Wellcome Trust. ICU President, Eric Allsop, and Wellcome maintains that Uni- (e-mail [email protected]) Publications Board Chairman, Robin versities themselves should cover Riley, were interviewed live on GLR overheads on research funded by the FM. College representatives were Trust. The report will be submitted to invited but did not attend. the Dearing Inquiry on HE. SEE WHAT WE HAVE TO Ofrfn AT THE CCS SHOP All Prices Include V.A.T. All this plus lots more, available from... CCS SHOP Level 4, Mechanical Engineering Building, ext. 46953, [email protected] 9.30am - 5.00pm (Wed 10.00am - 5.00pm) Telecoms Engineers the message is loucLclear Orange has changed the face of the mobile communications industry. Not only have we introduced an entirely new marketing approach, we're setting new standards of quality, innovation and added value in digital telecommunications engineering.