UK’s higher education research opportunities - pathway to career growth, recognition and human advancement
The evolution and progress of mankind has above all else been fuelled by research. One of the biggest contributors to this research is the UK’s higher education system. Over the many decades of the existence of the UK’s higher education system, driven by their research programmes, numerous discoveries and inventions have come to light.
According to education experts the UK’s higher education establishments have long held a leading position in the global research landscape. The UK ranks second in the world for university- industry collaboration, after Switzerland and ahead of the US (BIS, Annual Innovation Report 2012). UK’s higher education establishments are home to some of the oldest and most prestigious learned societies in the sciences ( including the Royal Society, founded in 1660) and the social sciences and humanities ( such as the British Academy, founded in 1902), and have produced some of the greatest thinkers of the last millennium such as Isaac Newton, Mahatma Gandhi and Charles Darwin and have the potential to give birth to even more.
Over the years research programmes of UK’s higher education organisations have made major contributions in terms of discoveries and inventions to science, politics, arts and many other fields of human achievement right throughout the history of the world. As a result of the multifaceted research programmes of the higher education organisations of the UK, over the years there have also been a number of Nobel Peace prize winners. UK universities and research institutions have produced 107 Nobel Prize winners (Nobel Media AB). The UK’s many Nobel Prize winners to mention a few include Sir Alexander Fleming for the discovery of penicillin and Francis Crick for the discovery of the ‘double helix’ structure of DNA. In 2013, University of Edinburgh professor Peter Higgs received the Nobel Prize for Physics, and the three Chemistry prize winners – Michael Levitt, Martin Karplus and Arieh Warshel – also spent part of their early careers in the UK.
Students working through UK’s higher education systems in research and collaboration become the pivotal researchers and developers of a myriad of advanced scientific breakthroughs which greatly impact society and the world. These students, some who even get knighted for their tireless efforts are forever immortalised by their groundbreaking scientific research which opens the doors to a world of opportunity to them while advancing mankind. Furthermore, they have been known to become some of the world’s most influential and inspirational characters some even winning amongst other accolades of recognition Nobel Peace prizes for the scientific research conducted in the UK.
The UK while representing a small percentage of the world’s population is a force to reckon with in terms of its research programmes. According to the findings of education experts this becomes evident by the fact that it is one of the world’s single elargest sources for a multitude of research based downloads, and is always a source for the world’s most highly- cited articles (BIS, 2011). The UK is a highly productive research nation in terms of articles and citation outputs per researcher or per unit of R&D expenditure. It is likely that recent increases in UK research productivity have, at least to some extent, been driven by the increase in UK’s international research collaboration, which is also associated with greater citation impact. Taken together, the observation that the UK’s research programmes are streets ahead of the competition reflects the underlying well- roundedness and high impact of UK research across most disciplines.
According to research findings the UK is a well-rounded research nation, with activity and multidisciplinary competencies across all major research fields. These factors serve to reinforce the UK’s central position in the global research network and also make the UK an attractive destination for researchers and students from other countries in search of higher education opportunities with access to world- renowned research programmes.
The UK has been called a nation of inventors, and a recent public vote on British innovations highlighted its impact on modern technology – from Alan Turing’s ‘ universal machine’ to Tim Berners- Lee’s creation of the World Wide Web. Looking forward, inventions that will shape our future include ionic liquid chemistry (believed to hold the key to ‘green’ chemistry) and a 3D printing technique that can be used on human cells.
With this intellectual heritage, new students in the UK are not only given the opportunity to learn from the brightest minds in their fields, but also to be creative, challenge accepted thinking, and reach their own conclusions.
Students aspiring to continue their higher education in the UK come from every corner of the world not only to be a part of the ground-breaking research opportunities but for so much more. They come in search of experiencing the diversity of the multicultural lifestyle that it offers, new lifestyles, the beauty of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and so much more. These experiences and factors are a mere handful of the many benefits that act as the ultimate temptation to students during their decision to come to the UK to pursue their dreams. For more information on how you
or anyone else can take the first steps towards beginning a satisfying
higher education with the best research opportunities in the UK, please call the British Council on + 94 (0) 11 4 521 521 or visit british
council.lk/study-uk.
Students working through UK’s higher education systems in research and collaboration become the pivotal researchers and developers of a myriad of advanced scientific breakthroughs which greatly impact society and the world. These students, some who even get knighted for their tireless efforts are forever immortalised by their ground-breaking scientific research which opens the doors to a world of opportunity to them while advancing mankind.