Information for student exchange partner universities

Imperial College offers teaching based on degree programmes.

Degree programmes are comprised of "modules". The modules are listed by year of study in the syllabus/curriculum. "Modules" are sometimes referred to as "courses" or "units".

A prospective exchange student must submit a proposal for a study plan within their formal on-line study application.

The study plan must list all the modules (including any projects) which the student has been advised by their home university to request, plus any "independent" (i.e. non-curriculum) project work.

A study plan, as proposed by a prospective exchange student should normally be for a full academic year (unless the student exchange agreement explicity states otherwise, or the student's home university has obtained the approval of the host academic department).

Imperial College DOES NOT normally allow study plans which require contributions of formal teaching from more than one academic department and/or from both the undergraduate syllabus/curriculum (BEng/MEng/BSc/MSci) and postgraduate syllabus/curriculum (MSc/MRes) unless the student exchange agreement explicity states otherwise or it is agreed to by the admitting academic department.

Most masters level students nominated to study at Imperial College as an exchange student will undertake a study plan based on attendance as an undergraduate student (from the undergraduate syllabus/curriculum : Year 4 of the MEng/MSci) 

Ordinarily, the admitting academic department will expect to view a proposed study plan (from the student, within their formal on-line study application) which is based on modules ordinarily available to students of the admitting department (and ordinarily "undergraduate", unless the student exchange agreement is explicity "postgraduate").

By "ordinarily available" this normally includes limited access to undergraduate modules taught by our Business School and undergraduate modules taught by the Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication.

For Erasmus exchange students the "study plan" will be in the form of the standard "learning agreement for studies"

Extended guidance is provided to prospective undergraduate and postgraduate Visiting Student applicants.

Imperial College does not currently publish a single module catalogue (curriculum).

A module catalogue (undergraduate curriculum/syllabus) which will refer to the ECTS applicable and other relevant information required by a prospective exchange student can be obtained from the exchange programme co-ordinator for the department to which a prospective exchange student is seeking admission.

See the subsequent item on this page for a list of exchange programme co-ordinators.

However, here is a list of additional undergraduate curriculum contacts, in addition to the relevant exchange co-ordinator (see next item) for the departments concerned. You might wish to copy your email to them also:

Faculty of Engineering

• Department of Aeronautics Undergraduate Office
• Department of Bioengineering Student Office
• Department of Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Office
• Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Students Office
• Department of Computing Teaching Manager
• Department of Earth Science and Engineering Undergraduate Office: ese-ug-education@imperial.ac.uk
• Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Teaching Office
• Department of Materials Student Office
• Department of Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Office

Faculty of Natural Sciences

• Department of Chemistry Undergraduate Teaching Office.
  
• Department of Life Sciences Education Office
• Department of Mathematics: v.nicol@imperial.ac.uk
• Department of Physics Undergraduate Office. Further information for incoming exchange students to the Dept of Physics.

Imperial College School of Business

• Imperial College Business School

Further contacts

If you do not receive a response from the exchange co-ordinator within 7 days (i.e. please be patient) you should contact exchangestudents@imperial.ac.uk who will be happy to chase on your behalf.

Extended guidance for prospective Visiting Student applicants.

An exchange student is expected to be in full-time attendance at Imperial College (i.e. pursuing their study plan on a full-time basis).

The normal expectation is that an exchange student admitted to Imperial College will undertake a full student workload (60 ECTS for a full academic year or pro-rata for shorter periods).

ECTS credit will only be allocated by Imperial College for a successfully completed "element" of an exchange student’s study plan (learning agreement) where that "element" forms part of the College's curriculum (i.e. a "module"; "course", "unit"). By "successful", this means achieving a mark of 40% or above. However, see the next item on the Grading Scheme as there are excpetions, especially at postgraduate level.

However, partner universities should note that in the case of project work any academic work which is undertaken by the student is only formally assessed by Imperial College if the "project" forms a module/course of the relevant curricula. Otherwise, the exchange student’s home university is responsible for allocating ECTS credit for a non-curriculum (independent) "project", and normally for assessing/examining it too. In such circumstances the supervisor at Imperial College may be willing to contribute to some extent to this assessment/examining process led by the home university, but they should be advised beforehand and their agreement obtained.

When a study plan (learning agreement) requires an exchange student to undertake formal assessments it is by one or more of the following methods: examination, coursework (which would include projects), practical.

Imperial College’s honours classification of its undergraduate degrees is according to the following range of marks:

• First class Honours 70 - 100
• Second class Honours (upper division) 60 - 69.9
• Second class Honours (lower division) 50 - 59.9
• Third class Honours 40 – 49.9

The "pass" mark is 40*. A mark below 40 is a "fail".

* some level 7 courses in some departments have a pass mark of 50%. An exchange student should check with the host dept's exchange co-ordinator to ensure they know what the pass mark is for a particuar course (a student can also consult the dept's student handbook).

ECTS is only awarded for a pass.

Further guidance can be obtained from the exchange programme co-ordinator for the department to which a prospective exchange student is admitted. See subsequent item for list of exchange programme co-ordinators.

Academic recognition

It is the responsibility of a student's home university to consider whether a study period (plan) at Imperial can be recognised as part of their home degree programme.

Credit transfer

An exchange student’s home university is responsible for transferring any academic credit from Imperial College which might result from a study plan (learning agreement).

The exchange programme co-ordinator for the host academic department can be contacted if assistance is required in interpretating marks/grades.

Should a student fail an examination they should discuss it with their Department’s Exchange Co-ordinator and with their home institution. Imperial College does not guarantee to allow re-sits for visiting students. A fee might apply

Transcript production

The assessment period is normally concluded with the relevant Examiner’s meeting (and these normally take place in early July for undergraduate level study and in September for postgraduate level study). This is the timescale regardless of when during the academic year an exam/assessment is undertaken.

For students who undertake formal assessments (examinations, coursework, practical) an official transcript will be issued approximately no later than 8 weeks after the assessment period has formally concluded.

An exchange student will be able to access (download) a transcript on their personal My Imperial account, and they will be able to send an on-line viewable version to their home university.

Therefore, an undergraduate exchange student will normally be able to send a transcript to their home university between mid-July and the end of August but the exact time will depend on when Imperial College's [Academic] Registry processes their results of assessments/exams.

Imperial College no longer provides hard copies of transcripts for Visiting Students.

Since some of our partner universities will only accept our transcript if it is sent direct to them (i.e. not via the student) ALL partner universities will be sent a PDF version by 31 August.

If a partner university has queries on transcript production and dissemination they can contact Mr Adrian Hawksworth.

For Erasmus students: the transcript will supercede any information which the College may or may not include in the "after" section of the learning agreement. Therefore, the "after" section of the learning agreement should not be completed by Imperial College until after the transcript has been produced by Imperial College.

See subsequent "Item" (below) for list of exchange programme co-ordinators.

 Guidance and further information for prospective exchange applicants, including the link to our on-line study application website can be found at:

• How to apply as an undergraduate exchange student
• How to apply as a postgraduate exchange student

Please note that master level students would ordinarily apply as an undergraduate to Imperial College London. Please consult individual student exchange arrangements.

Institutional contacts

The Student Exchange Co-ordinator is Adrian Hawksworth, Assistant Registrar (Placements). Adrian also remains the Erasmus+ Key Action 1 Co-ordinator for any residual administration given the UK has ceased to be involved in Erasmus as a programme country. The College will continue to host exchange students via the Erasmus scheme where the necessary agreements are in place.

• Incoming students: Exchange student nominations can be sent to Adrian, or to the relevant departmental exchange programme co-ordinator
• Outgoing students: Nominations of outgoing students will normally be sent to the partner university by the relevant departmental exchange programme co-ordinator. The exceptions are MIT (sent by the International Relations Office); University of California (sent by Adrian Hawksworth on behalf of the Faculty of Engineering Education Manager); National University of Singapore (sent by Adrian Hawksworth).
• Bi-lateral exchange agreements: Adrian is responsible for all curriculum-based student exchange agreements.

Information points for students

• For incoming undergraduate students
• For incoming postgraduate exchange students

Other information points

• Immigration (Visas)
• Housing
• For insurance queries (mobile students) contact Adrian Hawksworth in the first instance: a.hawksworth@imperial.ac.uk