Export Strength Imperial College has won the Queen's Award for Export Acheivement 1990 . The award recognises the increase of income by £4.5 million derived from foreign research contracts and overseas student fees during 1987/89.
The college's official figures show that the numbers of overseas students rose by 21% to 1229 (about 20% of total student numbers) and fee income rose to a total of £7 million. Revenue from research contracts rose
by 141 % to £4.8 million over the period. The college is making headway in the U S A and Japan for such contracts, and research groups in the college are continuing studies into healthcare and ecological issues for third world countries.
Vote for IC Imperial College Union will be putting forward candidates for the local government elections on May 3rd. The candidates standing will be Dr John Finley and Dr Chris Owen for the Knightsbridge ward of Westminster City Council, and Ken and Paula Young for the Courtfield ward of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Dr Finley, Warden of Beit Hall and a tutor in the Aeronautics department, said that he was not standing on dogmatic views.' I think I can listen and be human', he said. He added that he thought the college needed a voice in the local council, but though there were potential problems in being a local councillor as well as his two other posts there would probably be no clash of interests. This is because most of the council meetings were at about 6.00pm and, he said, 'being a warden is not very time consuming .... one just has to be available'. Dr Finley said he had been at the college for 23 years. Neil McCluskey, President of IC Union, was asked by Felix to comment on the candidature. He said 'read the article' and yawned. In the article he says that if all the students at IC vote for 'the IC party' the candidates will have a very good chance of winning. He says that at the moment the college has 'virtually no say in its own planning' and has to seek permission from the local council which 'has been refused time and time again'.
Creative cookery The IC Union Snack bar has lost £12,647 since August. This compares with the deficit of £1,114 for the previous year. U n i o n Deputy President, Dave Williams, said that this was due to the 'downturn in turnover' of the outlet, but he added that there was no plan to close the facility, at least for the next few months. He explained that he thought the Snack Bar had attained the 'right formula'. It no longer sells tasteless food and now
persues a 'dynamic' approach he said. M r Williams added that the union intends to advertise the facility to attract new customers. Dave Peacock, Union Manager, said that there was 'no chance' of the Snack bar being closed, and again blamed the deficit on a low turnover. I C U President, Neil McCluskey told Felix that the idea was 'a load of bollocks as far as I'm concerned.'
M r Williams claimed that there was no official projection for the deficit of the Snack Bar at the end of this year. The Union has put £30,000 into the Snack Bar over the last three to four years to keep it afloat. M r Williams said the Snack Bar would never be able to repay this and added that the debt would be written off sometime this year.