Below is the full text of my letter to Felix, published 5 June 2009. (I would link to it but I think it was only published in their print edition.)
Dear Editor,
I was saddened to read in the Times Higher Education Supplement that Imperial is massively cutting back its provision of languages and humanities tuition.
The opportunity to broaden study options was one of the reasons I, and I’m sure many other IC students and alumni, chose to go to Imperial. Engineers and scientists at other universities tend to just get a handful of frankly boring management courses. As a practising engineer I can confirm that the wide opportunity to study languages and humanities produces more rounded graduates better equipped to fulfill the leadership roles required in today’s multi-disciplinary and multi-functional workplaces. It’s something I’ve always considered just as important as the wide range of student clubs, societies and sports.
Language tuition is also essential to widen students’ opportunities for a year abroad or overseas internship. Many of my friends at IC were able to pursue these. In every case it contributed much to their personal development. Most had not studied the language before university and would therefore have been excluded under the new plans.
Imperial’s provision is, I believe, unique for science students in the UK; but not amongst the Ivy League institutions that we now know the Rector is so keen to emulate. It’s perhaps worth noting that the condemned Roman History module was introduced at IC in 2005, in response to MIT announcing that it was their most popular option amongst their engineering students.
Perusing Felix online I was surprised to see a comment that languages are seen as a soft option. That might be true of a small number of students who cover up their existing language proficiency but it’s an extraordinary generalisation to make. I’m sure most students whose natural talent is in numerate, scientific disciplines find both language and essay-type subjects difficult and hard work. Certainly I found my French, Italian and political philosophy courses much harder than any engineering module. I know it’s been a couple of years since I graduated but we always used to consider the management courses as the noddy ones: does anone seriously think “accounting” is even in the same league as “fluid dynamics”?
I know protests have been planned. I hope IC students are able to reverse these plans and the College is able to find a way to keep humanities and languages alive.
Mustafa Arif
DoC / EEE 1999-2003
IC Union President 2003-2005
It’s long been the case that the greatest barrier to the advancement of a UK involvement in manned space exploration programme has been the vested interests of the scientific establishment. Distinguished academic prima donnas have a tendency to allocate research funds to their own pet projects (or to at least vote down expensive projects that may compete for funds with their own). Now we learn that the disgraceful decision to close the Jodrell Bank observatory was made by other scientists protecting their vested interests [The Times].
This state of affairs in unacceptable. Left to their own devices it’s only natural for scientists to allocate funds to projects closer to their own interests. Yet even on a broader perspective it should not be for the scientific community to decide who taxpayer funded research grants should be allocated. Science has benefits far beyond the sake of science itself. There are not just the tangible benefits such as improvement to health and quality of life. There are also intangible benefits such as inspiring future generations. Scientists alone are not best placed to weigh up all these pros and cons.
Of course it’s right that scientists should be involved in the decision-making process – any funding body needs to include expert members. But the funding council boards should not consist of expert members exclusively. As with other public bodies there should be a diversity of skills, knowledge and experience, with a lay majority, so that future decisions can be made to reflect the overall interests and priorities of society, not the scientific establishment.
In See Those Fingers? Do the Math [ScienceNOW], Constance Holden describes the latest study in brain and finger development by Mark Brosnan and collleagues at the University of Bath.
Boys with the longest ring fingers relative to their index fingers tend to excel in math, according to a new study. In girls, shorter ring fingers predict better verbal skills. The link, according to the researchers, is that testosterone levels in the womb influence both finger length and brain development.
Scientists have been interested for years in the observation that ratios of finger lengths differ in men and women. In men, the ring (fourth) finger is usually longer than the index (second); their so-called 2D:4D ratio is lower than 1. In females, the two fingers are more likely to be the same length.
That’s all very well. However my index fingers are longer than my ring fingers. And I have a (strongly mathematical, academic) degree in Engineering from the Imperial College, London.
Source: Boys with Longer Ring Fingers are Better at Math [Slashdot].
From the IC Department of Computing alumni office:
Dear Alumnus
Imperial College would like to produce a brochure promoting Engineering’s past and potential achievements for our celebrations and cultivation events associated with the Centenary.
The intention is to have 100 from the past 100 and 100 for the next century – ie 100 alumni who have made a big impact in the last century on engineering, business, society, wealth creation, quality of life etc – and 100 current staff and students or recent alumni whose work or potential will have had an impact when we look back from our next centenary.
Accordingly, DoC is asking you to nominate a colleague (including yourself) you consider real successes in your DoC class (or other classes) with a one sentence reason for each one why you consider them a success.
With best wishes
Helen
Helen Harth
Industrial Liaison Officer
Department of Computing, Imperial College London
South Kensington campus
London, SW7 2ZA
Tel: 020 7594 8278
Email: h.harth {at} imperial.ac(.)uk
www.doc.ic.ac.uk/careers
Bummer! Probably a couple of years early for me to make this, LOL 
I wonder if anyone from my time in DoC (1999-2003) has been, or indeed, should be nominated.