The next lot: an internship at Imperial

Students and alumni have been outraged to discover the auctioning of a place at Imperial College for a one-week summer internship at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering that appeared on the morning of Wednesday 14 May. This placement had been made available to students of Westminster School, a fee paying school that charges upwards of £7000 per term for tuition, who could bid for the the opportunity using the school's online auctioning service. The auction was pulled during the evening of the same day.

The internship was organised privately by the Department, and had not been authorized or associated with Imperial College as a whole. Felix contacted Imperial College London for a statement. A College spokeswoman said: "Work experience placements at Imperial are considered locally within the College’s departments. A member of staff had agreed with Westminster School to host two work experience placements for A Level students at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, each lasting a week. One placement was to be auctioned, with the proceeds to go towards supporting Westminster School’s bursary programme and capital building projects. The other place was to be reserved for a pupil from one of Westminster’s state school partners."

The fundraising auction, which includes other items, is raising money for use of "expanding Bursary Programme as well as cover the expense of the new facilities [that the school has recently built]". Other internships on offer include a week long placement at Barbara Weiss Architects and Crossbridge Capital, an investment fund, however internships are not the only type of lot up for purchase.

There was no indication that bidding on the items is only available to members of Westminster School, and their families, however criticism has been levied at the College for opening its doors to people based on their ability to pay. The Imperial College Widening Participation statement itself states "The College aims to identify and attract students of the highest academic ability and potential, and would not want financial considerations to deter suitable applicants."

Felix spoke to Paul Beaumont, Union President, who informed the paper that "[he has] emailed the College Secretary and Comms team this morning to inform them of it." He continued, "I pointed out to the comms team the coverage this already has in national papers (Westminster specifically, not Imperial) and asked if they can do something to stop Imperial's association with it. I personally think that this goes completely against the idea that students (on an internship or otherwise!) get in on their academic merit, not how much they can afford to pay."

Following the removal of the lot, Imperial College published a statement noting "On reflection the Institute of Biomedical Engineering has requested that the auction place be withdrawn and is considering the best and fairest approach to hosting work experience placements in the future."

The Union have also released a statement saying: “The Sabbatical team asks the College to still provide and advertise the opportunity to any school pupil, with an attachedbursary from the department sufficient so that any pupil can access the opportunity regardless of their means.

Further to this, a paper will be brought to Imperial College Union Council on 30 May discussing how these opportunities are sourced and advertised to A-level pupils and whatconstitutes work experience and an internship for A-level pupils. This will hopefully mandate the sabbaticals to further investigate this issue ensuring that such a situation where opportunities are provided to students from only an educationally advantaged background never happens again."

It has also emerged that Westminster School was contactedby the Bar Standards Board over the auction of a one to two week mini-pupillage with a criminal defence barrister in London. The auction site says that the winner will be able to gain an insight into the world of a criminal defence barrister. A Bar Standards Board spokesperson said: “As regulators, fairness and advancing equality of opportunity at the Bar is at the heart of what we do and our director is in touch with the head of Westminster School.”