Imperial College Union is the
students' union
A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, ...
of
Imperial College London
Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...
. It is host to many and varied societies, and has student bars situated around
Albertopolis
Albertopolis is the nickname given to the area centred on Exhibition Road in London, named after Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria. It contains many educational and cultural sites. It is in South Kensington, split between the Royal Bor ...
. The Union is based in the north wing of the
Beit Quadrangle on
Prince Consort Road
Prince Consort Road is a street in London, United Kingdom. It is named after Prince Albert, consort to Queen Victoria. It is located between Queen's Gate to the west and Exhibition Road to the east, running parallel to Kensington Gore.
Several ...
. Based on the latest reports from the Charity Commission, the Union as a registered charity (Charity no. 1151241) had an income of £5.55m and an expenditure of £8.49m; leaving Imperial College Union with a negative deficit of £3m as of 2022.
History
![Union Building, Beit Quadrangle from Kensington Gore](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Union_Building%2C_Beit_Quadrangle_from_Kensington_Gore.jpg)
The establishment of a students' union was recognised with the construction of the north building of Beit Quad in 1910-11 designed by
Sir Aston Webb
Sir Aston Webb (22 May 1849 – 21 August 1930) was a British architect who designed the principal facade of Buckingham Palace and the main building of the Victoria and Albert Museum, among other major works around England, many of them in par ...
. The original idea for the building came from
Sir Arthur Acland, a member of the governing body, who saw the need for a place for students to congregate and develop a collegiate social life.
Timeline
* 1907 Formation of Imperial College of Science and Technology incorporating the
Royal School of Mines
The Royal School of Mines comprises the departments of Earth Science and Engineering, and Materials at Imperial College London. The Centre for Advanced Structural Ceramics and parts of the London Centre for Nanotechnology and Department of Bioe ...
, the
Royal College of Science
The Royal College of Science was a higher education institution located in South Kensington; it was a constituent college of Imperial College London from 1907 until it was wholly absorbed by Imperial in 2002. Still to this day, graduates from th ...
and
City and Guilds College
The Faculty of Engineering is the engineering school of Imperial College London, and one of the three main faculties the college. It was formed in 2001 from the former City and Guilds College and the Royal School of Mines—two of the three ori ...
* 1910 Imperial College Union formed by approval of the College's Governing Body
* 1911 The Union building in South Kensington is constructed
* 1922 Founder member of NUS (leaves for the first time in 1923)
* 1949
Felix (newspaper)
''Felix'' is the student newspaper of Imperial College London. The newspaper is published weekly during term time with approximately 30 issues per year, and is distributed around the various Imperial College campuses.
The ''Felix'' motto, "Keep ...
is founded
* 1969 First directly elected sabbatical President
* 1984 The Union starts catering operation
* 1985 The Union Starts running own bars
* 1987 First professional welfare advisor at the Union
* 1988 Imperial College School of Medicine is established at St. Mary’s
* 1996 Union Council is made the supreme governing body
* 1997 Union stops running bookshop on campus.
* 1997 First medical student to be elected President (Andy Heeps)
* 1998 First Deputy President (Education & Welfare) Sabbatical
* 1998 Imperial College School of Medicine merges with Charing Cross and Royal Postgraduate Medical schools
* 2000 Merger with
Wye College
bio sciences -> social sciences -> business school
Pictures of OLT, Old Hall,Cloister, Parlour
-->
The College of St Gregory and St Martin at Wye, commonly known as Wye College, was an education and research institution in the village of Wye ...
and Kennedy Institute
* 2001 Sir Richard Sykes appointed Rector of Imperial College
* 2003 College adopts Faculty structure in place of constituent Colleges.
* 2004 College rebrands as "Imperial College, London"
* 2005 Union Building Redevelopment - Project starts
* 2005 First Deputy President(Graduate Students) at the Union.
* 2006 Union Building Redevelopment - Construction work starts
* 2007 Imperial College Centenary
* 2007 The Union rejoins the NUS (again)
* 2007 Imperial College leaves the University of London
* 2008 The Union leaves the NUS
* 2009 First Deputy President (Education) and Deputy President (Welfare)
Relationship with the NUS
Imperial College Union is most noted for the history of its relationship with the
National Union of Students (NUS). Despite being involved in the founding of the NUS in 1922, Imperial College Union withdrew its membership of the NUS a year later. Since then, Imperial College Union spent long periods outside the NUS, interspersed with brief periods of membership. A referendum for NUS affiliation held in 2002 was overwhelmingly rejected by members of the Imperial College Union with 72% in favour of remaining out of the NUS.
In November 2006, after 30 years of not being part of the NUS, a petition proposed a debate to affiliate with NUS at
Freshers' Fair
Student orientation or new student orientation (often encapsulated into an orientation week, o-week, frosh week, welcome week or freshers' week) is a period before the start of an academic year at a university or tertiary institutions. A variety ...
2006 collected 617 valid signatures, from just above the 5% minimum of Imperial College Union members necessary to call a referendum. A referendum was held between 14 and 16 November 2006, which resulted in NUS affiliation with 53.26% for to 46.74% against and a turn-out of over 30%.
[
After the failure of governance reform measures supported by Imperial College Union at the NUS conference in 2008, the union council voted in favour of holding a referendum on disaffiliation from the NUS. The resulting referendum showed that the Members of Imperial College Union decided that their Union should no longer affiliate to the National Union of Students.
]
Organisation
The Union is influenced by a variety of democratically elected representatives who sit on Union committees, control Union resources and represent the views of students to the College and external bodies. The Union is led by officers who act as representatives to the 14,900 Union members. The most senior officers are the five officer trustees who work full-time for the Union on a variety of areas ranging from commercial services to campaigns and representation. These officers are supported by 35 full-time and up to 250 part-time staff, and the 2,600 elected officers of the Union's 320+ clubs and societies.
In 2013, the Union successfully registered as a charity.
Constituent Union Structure
There are five constituent
Constituent or constituency may refer to:
Politics
* An individual voter within an electoral district, state, community, or organization
* Advocacy group or constituency
* Constituent assembly
* Constituencies of Namibia
Other meanings
* Const ...
unions which run as constituent parts of the Union. These are largely historical in origin and retain many traditions, such as their names when most of the actual faculties now have different names. Some represent the students in their respective faculties: the City and Guilds College Union
The City and Guilds College Union represents students who are undertaking courses from the departments of Aeronautical, Chemical, Civil, Design, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering, together with Bioengineering and Computing at the college. Ot ...
(for engineers), the Royal College of Science Union
The Royal College of Science Union (RCSU) is a student union and science outreach organisation at Imperial College London which represents over 3,000 students in the university's Faculty of Natural Sciences. It manages the student societies for t ...
(for scientists) and the Imperial College School of Medicine Students' Union
Imperial College School of Medicine Students' Union (ICSMSU) is the students' union of the Imperial College School of Medicine. It is charged with representing and advocating for the educational, pastoral, social and extracurricular needs of al ...
(for medical students). They are all run by part-time officers elected from the student body, with the exception of the Medical Union President, who is an elected full-time sabbatical officer with a one-year tenure.
In 2002 the Royal School of Mines Union was absorbed into the City and Guilds College Union
The City and Guilds College Union represents students who are undertaking courses from the departments of Aeronautical, Chemical, Civil, Design, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering, together with Bioengineering and Computing at the college. Ot ...
and became a clubs & societies committee. However, in 2012 after running autonomously from City and Guilds Union for many years, The Royal School of Mines regained its constituent union status, solely looking after the social aspects of its students.
In the same governance review of 2012, Silwood Park Students' Union and the Graduate Students' Association (representing all postgraduate students) also became a constituent union. The Silwood Park Union operates largely independently from the overall Union but has no part or full-time sabbatical leadership. Following a postgraduate engagement review in 2022, the Graduate Students' Association was dissolved by Union Council.
Clubs, volunteering projects and societies
Imperial College Union has a large number of student-led clubs, volunteering projects and societies (known as CSPs), with over 400 in total. Funding for CSPs at Imperial College Union is significant, taking up a sizeable portion of the Union's annual subvention provided by Imperial College London
Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...
, though many clubs supplement this with sponsorship from outside of the Union.
CSPs at Imperial College Union are administered by th
Clubs, Societies' and Project Board
who deal with the majority of procedural issues and who are responsible for representing the clubs within their care to Imperial College Union. Clubs are then grouped and fall under smaller organisational boards (e.g. the Athletics Clubs Committee handles the sports clubs).
Examples of notable student groups are Project Nepal which sends Imperial College students to work on educational development in rural Nepal and the El Salvador Project, a construction based project in Central America. Other societies include sports-related societies, such as Imperial College Boat Club
Imperial College Boat Club is the rowing club for Imperial College and has its boat house on the River Thames on the Putney embankment, London, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1919. The alumni also run a boat club which is known as the Queen' ...
and Imperial College Gliding Club
Imperial College Gliding Club is the oldest, and one of the largest, university gliding clubs in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1930, the club was the second club to become affiliated to the British Gliding Association, and has for most of its ...
; music societies such a
Imperial College A Capella
social societies such as the Imperial College Debating Society. Each department also has its own departmental society. Imperial College also owns a mountain hut in Snowdonia, Wales, which it lets clubs use free of charge.
Imperial College Union also has three motor clubs which each represent three of the Constituent Unions: Royal School of Mines
The Royal School of Mines comprises the departments of Earth Science and Engineering, and Materials at Imperial College London. The Centre for Advanced Structural Ceramics and parts of the London Centre for Nanotechnology and Department of Bioe ...
, Royal College of Science
The Royal College of Science was a higher education institution located in South Kensington; it was a constituent college of Imperial College London from 1907 until it was wholly absorbed by Imperial in 2002. Still to this day, graduates from th ...
and City and Guilds College Union
The City and Guilds College Union represents students who are undertaking courses from the departments of Aeronautical, Chemical, Civil, Design, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering, together with Bioengineering and Computing at the college. Ot ...
. These are th
RCS Motor Club
th
RSM Motor Club
an
Team Bo
and each look after the motorised mascot for each Constituent Union. The RCS Motor Club looks after Jezebel Dennis I which is a 1916 Dennis N-Type Fire Engine, the RSM Motor Club looks after Clementine Morris II which is a 1926 Morris T-Type one-tonne truck and Team Bo' looks after Boanerges II and Derrick I which are a 1902 James and Browne Veteran Car and a 1926 Ner-a-car motorcycle respectively. Almost no other University in the UK has societies as unique as this which makes Imperial College Union rather unique.
Minibus Fleet
Currently, the Union owns a fleet of 7 Peugeot Boxer
Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis.
The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...
and 2 Ford Transit
The Ford Transit is a family of light commercial vehicles manufactured by the Ford Motor Company since 1965, primarily as a cargo van, but also available in other configurations including a large passenger van (marketed as the Ford Tourneo in ...
minibuses as well as a Volkswagen Amarok
The Volkswagen Amarok is a pickup truck produced by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles since 2010. It is a body-on-frame truck with double-wishbone suspension at the front and leaf springs at the rear. The Amarok range consists of single cab and d ...
pick-up truck all of which are available for clubs to hire. Both the transits have roof racks and one of them is converted to a 9 seater minibus to accommodate trips to continental Europe while the Amarok has a tow bar for CSPs that require one.
Formerly, the Union used to own a fleet of 15 Ford Transit
The Ford Transit is a family of light commercial vehicles manufactured by the Ford Motor Company since 1965, primarily as a cargo van, but also available in other configurations including a large passenger van (marketed as the Ford Tourneo in ...
minibuses and sometimes the odd Land Rover
Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rovers ...
. Minibus hire prices can be found on Imperial College Union's website.
Controversies
The subject of minibuses has often been a big source of controversy for Imperial College Union over the years. For example, in Felix Issue 0985 from January 1994 it was noted that a minibus was involved in a hit-and-run incident over the previous xmas break. This same minibus was also involved in an accident over the summer holiday of 1993 and it was since found abandoned and burned out although it wasn't entirely certain if the number plates had been swapped and used on a different vehicle. It later transpired in Felix Issue 0987 that the ownership of the vehicle had reverted back to the insurers and the remains were sold on to a salvage merchant. According to Kent CID, it was later revealed that the minibus remains were sold to a buyer who gave false details. Subsequent owners of the minibus failed to register the vehicle properly and so the authorities could only trace the vehicle back to the Union.
In February 2008, a minibus being hired by the IC Canoe Club was rear-ended by a mercedes-benz car. This resulted in extensive damage to the minibus and a passenger in the mercedes-benz was taken to hospital. The minibus had to be off-roaded and the fleet was depleted in numbers as a result.
A decision was taken by the Union sometime between 2010 and 2014 to transition from a fleet Ford Transits over to a fleet of Peugeot Boxers starting in 2014 and was more than halfway through by the end of 2019. It was also believed that little consultation took place when this happened because the feedback from students was rather negative. This was because the Peugeot's were considered less reliable and less practical for the Union's many recreational societies. Due to much pressure from students, many of the Ford Transits were kept but the Peugeot transistion still kept on rolling on. During the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020, the Union lost its section 19 permit during the various lockdowns that took place and the minibuses were left to rot and decay. By the time the section 19 permit was restored, many of the minibuses had to be sold for scrap - largely the few remaining Ford Transits in the fleet.
In late 2022, it turned out that 4 of the Union's Peugeot Boxer minibuses had outstanding and unresolved safety recalls since late 2019. The source of the recall was the brake pipes in all Peugeot Boxers manufactured between 2016 and 2019 potentially not meeting or conforming to safety requirements and questions were being asked about whether the Union had competent enough permanent staff members in the Student Activities Team to look after such a fleet. Given that this made up just under half of the remaining minibuses in the fleet, many CSP bookings were severely disrupted. The future of the minibus fleet currently remains uncertain as a proposal is due to be put to the Board of Trustees about what happens with the fleet moving forwards. One option being considered is the phasing out of the service entirely and consulting CSPs individually to see what they need on an individual basis.
Facilities
Bars
The main Union bars are located on the north side of the Beit Quadrangle. There are three:
*FiveSixEight is a bar serving food, with large screens often showing sports events or popular music channels.
*The Union Bar is a small wood-panelled bar, and has existed in its current form since 1956. The bar used to have a large selection of real ale
Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for beer that is "brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous car ...
and claims to boast the largest collection of pewter tankards
A tankard is a form of drinkware consisting of a large, roughly cylindrical, drinking cup with a single handle. Tankards are usually made of silver or pewter, but can be made of other materials, for example wood, ceramic, or leather. A tankard ...
in Europe, with many dating back to the early 20th century. Each tankard represents an officer of one of the clubs and only the current or former club officers are allowed to use their club's tankards.
*Metric is a nightclub which opened in November 2010. During term time, Metric often plays host to DJs or to live bands performing to the backdrop of an electronic lighting wall. During the summer Metric hosts some of the Proms Extra events (part of The Proms
The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...
).
FiveSightEight and The Union Bar were both Cask Marque
Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for beer that is "brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous car ...
Accredited in 2017 however an inspection sometime in 2019 resulted in the accredition being revoked as the standard was deemed as "no better than that of a Wetherspoons". At some point the Union regained its Cask Marque
Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for beer that is "brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous car ...
Accredition however as of September 2022 it has since expired yet again.
The Union also runs the Reynolds Bar situated in Charing Cross Hospital
Charing Cross Hospital is an acute general teaching hospital located in Hammersmith, London, United Kingdom. The present hospital was opened in 1973, although it was originally established in 1818, approximately five miles east, in central Lond ...
, largely frequented by the students of Imperial College School of Medicine
Imperial College School of Medicine (ICSM) is the undergraduate medical school of Imperial College London in England, and one of the United Hospitals. It is part of the college's Faculty of Medicine and was formed by the merger of several hist ...
. The bar was originally run by CXWSU for the Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School however it has since been centralised under the same Union management team as the rest of the venues.
The Silwood Park
Silwood Park is the rural campus of Imperial College London, England. It is situated near the village of Sunninghill, near Ascot in Berkshire. Since 1986, there have been major developments on the site with four new college buildings. Adjacent ...
campus bar is operated by an external company, although students have pushed for a Union-run bar in recent years. The bar boasts Guinness
Guinness () is an Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in ove ...
and Stella Artois
Stella Artois ( ) is a pilsner beer, first brewed in 1926 by Brouwerij Artois in Leuven, Belgium. In its original form, the beer is 5.2 per cent ABV, the country's standard for pilsners. The beer is also sold in other countries like the UK, Ire ...
Cidre on tap and also has a small selection of bottled ales and ciders. Three flavors of crisps
A potato chip (North American English; often just chip) or crisp (British and Irish English) is a thin slice of potato that has been either deep fried, baked, or air fried until crunchy. They are commonly served as a snack, side dish, or app ...
are available to feed hungry patrons. The bar television almost exclusively shows ''The Big Bang Theory
''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom served as executive producers on the series, along with Steven Molaro, all of whom also served as head writers. It premiered on CBS ...
'', and there is a small stereo in the main room which students can hook up to their own musical collections if desired.
Controversies
The Bars have not been without their fair share of controversies. In November 2019, the FiveSixEight kitchen was closed for two weeks due to serious health and safety concerns. These concerns stemmed from an overloading of the circuit board which powered various kitchen appliances and that Bar Staff were continuously resetting the circuit breakers as they kept on tripping. In a concurrent but slightly unrelated electrical fault, a member of staff got an electric shock in the kitchens behind the Union Dining Hall at roughly the same time. This resulted in questions being asked about the general health and safety of the Union's itself. The Union's kitchen received a food standards rating of 2/5 following an inspection in August of that year by a local council Environmental Health Officer (EHO). The officer found mice in the bar and cockroaches in the kitchen which managed to get in via cracks around the edges in the buildings as a result of age. The kitchen didn't actually reopen until January 2020.
A group of 22 staff members were fired after making it onto the roof of the Beit building via a route which was deemed precarious following a leaving drinks event for one of the ex-staff members who had just left on the 7th of November 2021. The roof was accessible via a window which had a broken restrictor - neglected by College estates for years - and thus it could be fully opened with a person able to fit through. This whole ordeal only came about to the Union's full attention as a result of a complaint submitted due to racist and sexist comments on a whatsapp group chat used by bar staff members to discuss work related topics. The consequences of the sackings resulted in 22 people (some of whom were duty bar managers) being fired, the staff members in question having their Union membership being stripped for a few months and the catering venues suddenly finding themselves with a serious staff shortage with H-Bar closing at very short notice due to a lack of duty manager being free.[https://f001.backblazeb2.com/file/felixonlinearchive/issues/pdfs/felix_1787.pdf]
Theatre
Imperial College Union has a theatre located in the Union Concert Hall (UCH) which is found on the second floor of the Main Union Building, Beit Quad. The majority of performances are put on by the student societies of Imperial College, ranging from serious drama through to Gilbert & Sullivan Marathons. The space is shared with the Imperial College Dramatic Society and Imperial Cinema and other student societies as a multipurpose space. The theatre has a fly tower with a selection of lighting and fly bars, the venue has lectriflex, DMX and sound & comms multicore installed throughout.
In the Summer of 2014 the Union Concert Hall underwent an extensive redevelopment after a grant was awarded to do so. In early 2015, the Dramatic Society installed a considerable amount of brand new cabling which will make the venue even more useful to anyone who wishes to use it.
Cinema
Imperial College Union has a student run Cinema located in the Union Concert Hall, in Beit Hall
Beit Hall, forming part of Beit Quadrangle, is a hall of residence and one of Imperial College London's oldest and most historic buildings. Beit Hall is named after Alfred Beit and is located on Prince Consort Road, next to the Royal Alber ...
. The Cinema is considered a club under the Arts & Entertainments Board, however provides a service to members and non-members.
The cinema is a professionally equipped cinema with a 33 ft screen, Dolby Digital surround sound system, Kinoton (35mm) and Barco (Digital) projectors and seats up to 200. Pre-show advertisements are provided by Pearl & Dean
Pearl & Dean is a British cinema advertising company, founded in 1953.
Pearl & Dean is now owned by Willowbrook Investments Ltd, and controls advertising at many UK cinema sites including multiplex operators Empire, Showcase and AMC; the company ...
.
Redevelopment of the Union Building
As of August 2006, £2.2 million had been raised out of the total £6 million required for the redevelopment of the Union wing of Beit Hall
Beit Hall, forming part of Beit Quadrangle, is a hall of residence and one of Imperial College London's oldest and most historic buildings. Beit Hall is named after Alfred Beit and is located on Prince Consort Road, next to the Royal Alber ...
. All three phases of the building project were completed by 2011, including the full bar and nightclub refurbishment and the moving of the Union Gym to level 3 of the building. A large part of this refurbishment was funded by the Union's minibus service when it was run by competent staff who actually knew what they were doing. In stark contrast to the £100,000 loss from 2017 to 2022, they were able to generate a £30,000+ per year surplus from 2005 to 2010.
Former ICU Presidents and Sabbatical Officers
Notable former sabbaticals include:
* Piers Corbyn
Piers Richard Corbyn (born 10 March 1947) is an English weather forecaster, businessman, anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist.
Born in Wiltshire, Corbyn was raised in Shropshire where he attended Adams' Grammar School. He was awarded a first ...
, President 1969-70.
* Trevor Phillips
Sir Mark Trevor Phillips (born 31 December 1953) is a British writer, broadcaster and former politician who served as Chair of the London Assembly from 2000 to 2001 and from 2002 to 2003. He presented '' Trevor Phillips on Sunday'', a Sunday ...
, President 1975-77.
* Christopher Fox, Baron Fox
Christopher Francis Fox (Chris Fox) (born 27 September 1957) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was made life peer as Baron Fox, of Leominster in the County of Herefordshire, on 11 September 2014.
He graduated with a BSc in chemistr ...
, President 1980.
* Pallab Ghosh
Pallab Kumar Ghosh (born 1962) is a science correspondent for BBC News.
Early life
Born in India, he came to the United Kingdom in 1963, attended the Hemel Hempstead School, and studied physics at Imperial College, London between 1980 and 1983 w ...
, Felix Editor 1983-84.
References
External links
Imperial College Union Website
{{Authority control
Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
Students' unions in London
Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...