Imperial outside the M25

Following last week’s Felix story about Silwood Park, I felt it was important to write about what it’s actually like here at Silwood, which, uniquely for a London based university, is outside of London. Having been a student here and South Kensington I have found that they are very different.

With 160 students, 60 academic staff, and over 100 hectares of parkland, there’s lots more space than at a London campus. I am writing this outside in the sun, surrounded by flowering rhododendrons, and in the distance there is a lab group having their meeting by our lily pond, it is really beautiful. In 2009, Campus Dean Mick Crawley said to Reporter that it is “such a luxury to be able to do my fieldwork within a few yards of the laboratory”. We also have a small friendly community, where you can actually get to know almost everyone’s name, both staff and student.

There are, however, some downsides to being here; sadly I don’t believe that the campus’s uniqueness makes up for the lack of investment in our social and recreational facilities. We do have a shiny new teaching building, but our halls are only just adequate. We have a dingy squash court, weedy tennis court, and a tiny gym, which to be honest feels like you are exercising in a nuclear bunker. The refectory, bar and social room buildings were built for temporary use about 60 years ago; they’ve done well to still be standing but frequently leak and are freezing in winter. Added to that, they are not big enough to hold all of our students at once.

Why don’t we come up to the Union and go to GSA events at South Kensington? It can be a four hour round trip by train, and the last one leaving Waterloo is fairly early compared with when an average night out finishes; as we all know, train and tube fares are not cheap. We do have our Union minibus at Silwood, but we give priority to supermarket trips (the nearest is a 30 minute walk away), and activities, which inevitably clash with events. Recently we’ve borrowed a second minibus, which has been great, but we’re not sure if we’ll still have it next year.

Another issue here is welfare. In a small community people form close bonds and it can be very supportive. On the other hand it can be fairly gossipy, news gets around between staff and students, so if you want some time out it’s not easy. I’ve had quite a few people asking me this year whom they can talk to about issues affecting their work and mental health. In most cases I’ve directed them to someone who can help, but the fact that they ask, shows me that the relevant services just don’t seem available.

It’s just College doesn’t seem to have any strategy regarding planning and investing in future Silwood staff and students

Things have not been helped by the resignation of several staff members and hearing that more are considering their positions. Regarding the Applied Ecology courses discontinuing due to staff leaving, as I said I am sad that these courses are going, though it is encouraging that they will continue at another institution. They have been at Silwood Park in some form for over 50 years, whilst the remaining ones started within the last eight: we are passing a milestone here in Silwood history.

Overall, I feel there has been a bit of a negative atmosphere across campus. Don’t get me wrong, we do have some fun here, from our annual music festival Silfest to our comedy ‘homage’ to the staff at the Silwood Revue, we can be imaginative in entertaining ourselves over the year. It’s just College doesn’t seem to have any strategy regarding planning and investing in future Silwood staff and students. Why hasn’t this been complained about more? I think because staff are often reluctant to stick their necks out, as, understandably, they think that their jobs may be in jeopardy if they do. Students, on Biology related courses, are used to working and living in the field and making do with basic facilities.

Part of me wonders, probably naively, why should we have to be lobbying for things to improve? Shouldn’t College already be ensuring that we have the best possible experience? Either way, it seems College is finally realising that things need to be improved, perhaps aware that fees here are increasing by 78% and students will expect more bang for their buck. This week I attended the first meeting of the Silwood Action Group, a College Working Party looking into the student experience at Silwood. This didn’t really focus on the longterm picture for Silwood, as I was anticipating, but I’m hopeful that this discussion is the start of a transition, or more appropriately, an ‘evolution’ of Silwood Park. There’s a new MRes course starting here in October, lecturer positions replacing the leaving staff are being advertised soon, the Reactor Centre is beginning a decommissioning phase and there are exciting proposals for research to return to the Manor House, which has been empty for the last three years.

I originally started at Imperial back in 2003, in that time South Kensington has improved so much, particularly in facilities and support. I am really hoping that this can happen at Silwood and I look forward to the campus in years to come.