A research degree is a very individual experience, more so than an undergraduate degree. While the overarching structure will be identical or similar across the university, individual research projects, research interactions and assessment interactions will differ. This environment can provide a rich learning experience for student cohorts discussing their experiences.

A research degree has an exciting scope for collaborations and working as a team and as such, learning or enhancing your communication and people management skills. It is highly creative and can be more unpredictable than an undergraduate degree. A research degree is not simply about collecting results or data but also querying these and discussing them with others. Learning is continuous and poor experimental results can form part of research learning and success. Unlike a typical classroom experience of an undergraduate degree, a research degree will empower you to drive your own learning experience and expand your knowledge in a variety of ways.

Through the Sconol Access Scheme, a postgraduate student of Imperial College has access to the libraries of the Federal University of London. He or she may, for instance, use without charge the extensive Library of the former Institute of Germanic Studies (School of Advanced Study, University of London), now held in the Senate House Library, University of London, that of the School of Slavonic Studies at University College London, the Spanish history holdings of the Library of King's College London or of the London School of Economics and Political Science and the Translation Studies holdings at University College, London. Furthermore, the world-famous British Library is only a short journey away from the South Kensington campus of Imperial College where the Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication is situated.