The Imperial Experience

Imperial’s academic strategy incorporates a holistic approach to the student experience, with the aim of enabling students to thrive in and beyond their studies as members of the broad and diverse Imperial community. Focussing outside the classroom, the Imperial Experience project joins up the current provision across teams and spanning the full student lifecycle from pre-application to post-graduation.

Led by Vice-Provost (Education and Student Experience) Peter Haynes, the project seeks to:

1. Draw together all those activities that make up the student experience;
2. Identify and pursue opportunities to deliver and enhance the student experience in alignment with Imperial’s strategic aims, building links across complementary activities; and
3. Develop a framework for quantifying and tracking the student experience, evaluating the impact of initiatives and delivering valuable insights to those who support students and those who manage services. 

Our Approach

This project will define, communicate and enhance the student experience beyond education, across teams and, while acknowledging longer-term strategic aspirations, focuses on the next five years.

To develop the project proposal, seven sub-groups were created to identify key focus areas and activities. They gathered input from over 160 practitioners and students, covering various aspects of the student experience. The sub-groups are listed below:

• Transition from school to Higher Education (HE)
• Parity of experience between home and international students
• Parity of experience between widening participation (WP) and non-widening participation (non-WP) students
• Postgraduate student experience
• Alumni experience
• Parity of experience across campuses
• Extra-curricular activities 

Get in touch if you are interested in being involved in the project or have ideas which have not yet been captured.