Imperial Renews Times Partnership

Imperial has renewed a partnership with The Times that gives both students and staff a free 12-month digital subscription, tied to their college accounts. The College originally started the partnership last year, but it was unknown whether it would continue.

The offering has been expanded this year, with the subscription including the Times Literary Supplement as well. College members will also have access to discounts and deals, as well as event access run by the Times Plus scheme.

Included in the deal is also an opportunity for students to enter a competition in order to write for The Times. Last year, Felix’s then Deputy Editor and one of the student ambassadors for the first year of the scheme, Joanna Wormald, won a similar contest, granting her four articles across three months in the well-known Red Box column – a daily political briefing.

“It’s a great opportunity for the budding journalists amongst our students to prove their writing skills on a national newspaper,” said Luke Blair, the Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs.

One aspect that is not returning in full is the Times-sponsored events from last year. Though some were well-attended, others fell short of the desired goal because of scheduling – with the final event taking place in the middle of the exam period. The organisation of the events was chaotic, with student ambassadors reporting feeling confused and uncertain on what they were meant to do to support. However, there will instead be an event and speakers in conjunction with the Great Exhibition Road Festival in 2020 – a yearly festival that Imperial organises alongside the plethora of South Kensington galleries and museums.

The partnership has been praised as being high-impact for students, for whom access to quality journalism is often locked behind paywalls that student budgets cannot always afford. Luke continued: ““Continuing our partnership with the Times will help the Imperial community to decipher and debate issues of the day through access to well informed journalism.”