On Tue, 10 Oct 2006, Tim Roll-Pickering wrote:

Mizter T wrote:

Incidentally are there any student
unions in London unaffiliated to the NUS?

Yes - Imperial has a long history of being out (they were a founder
member in 1922, left in 1923 and only came back for brief periods in
the 1930s and 1970s - the last was when their President was Trevor
Philips). Currently with the college pulling out of the University of
London, some in the SU are looking towards NUS affiliation as a
replacement for the loss of ULU.

I didn't know about either Imperial's non-affiliation to the NUS, nor
it's imminent departure from the UoL. That seems like a big step, but
of course I know nothing of the background - apart from quickly reading
just now that it has gained degree awarding powers.

It's long and complicated but basically the current Imperial Rector has long
had a vision of Imperial as an independent entity, preferably charging huge
tuition fees, and being the London equivalent of MIT.

Hmm. Let's see:

Not a proper university ... check
Largely overshadowed by the older real university is the same town ... check
Famously full of nerds ... check



I have to say, the whole University of London business is rather silly.
What on earth is the point of it? It does make sense for the institutions
which are less than full universities (SOAS, LSE, LSHTM, IC, etc) to club
together so that they have a semblance of a multi-faculty organisation,
and in particular to look after the smaller ones, but there's no reason
for UCL, King's, Queen Mary and the like to be roped in.

Of these at least two currently have ULU, three have CHESS

What's CHESS?

tom

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