A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
 | |
| Latin: Universitas Hantoniensis | |
| Motto | Latin: Strenuis Ardua Cedunt |
|---|---|
Motto in English | The Heights Yield to Endeavour[1] |
| Type | Public research university |
| Established | 1862 – Hartley Institution 1902 – Hartley University College 1913 – Southampton University College 1952 – gained university status by royal charter |
| Endowment | £11.9 million (2023)[2] |
| Budget | £722.4 million (2022/23)[2] |
| Chancellor | Ruby Wax |
| Vice-Chancellor | Mark E. Smith |
| Visitor | Penny Mordaunt (as Lord President of the Council ex officio) |
Academic staff | 2,600 (2021/22)[3] |
Administrative staff | 3,380 (2021/22)[3] |
| Students | 23,795 (2021/22)[4] |
| Undergraduates | 15,110 (2021/22)[4] |
| Postgraduates | 8,685 (2021/22)[4] |
| Location | Southampton, Hampshire, England |
| Campus | City Campus |
| Colours | Marine Blue |
| Affiliations | |
| Website | southampton |
 | |
The University of Southampton (abbreviated as Soton in post-nominal letters[5]) is a public research university in Southampton, England. Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities in the United Kingdom.
The university has seven campuses. The main campus is located in the Highfield area of Southampton and is supplemented by four other campuses within the city: Avenue Campus housing the School of Humanities, the National Oceanography Centre housing courses in Ocean and Earth Sciences, Southampton General Hospital offering courses in Medicine and Health Sciences, and Boldrewood Campus housing an engineering and maritime technology campus and Lloyd's Register. In addition, the university operates a School of Art based in nearby Winchester and an international branch in Malaysia offering courses in Engineering. Each campus is equipped with its own library facilities. The annual income of the institution for 2022–23 was £722.4 million of which £122.1 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £631.3 million.[2]
The University of Southampton currently has 14,705 undergraduate and 7,960 postgraduate students, making it the largest university by higher education students in the South East region. The University of Southampton Students' Union, provides support, representation and social activities for the students ranging from involvement in the Union's four media outlets, to any of the 200 affiliated societies and 80 sports.[6] The university owns and operates a sports ground for use by students and also operates a sports centre on the main campus.[7]
History
Hartley Institution
The University of Southampton has its origin as the Hartley Institution which was formed in 1862 from a benefaction by Henry Robinson Hartley (1777–1850). Hartley had inherited a fortune from two generations of successful wine merchants.[8] At his death in 1850, he left a bequest of £103,000 to the Southampton Corporation for the study and advancement of the sciences in his property on Southampton's High Street, in the city centre.
...employ the interest, dividends and annual proceeds in such a manner as best promote the study and advancement of the sciences of Natural History, Astronomy, Antiquities, Classical and Oriental Literature in the town, such as by forming a Public Library, Botanic Gardens, Observatory, and collections of objects with the above sciences.[9]
— Bequest to the Corporation of Southampton of Henry Robertson Hartley estate.
Hartley was an eccentric straggler, who had little liking of the new age docks and railways in Southampton.[10] He did not desire to create a college for many (as formed at similar time in other English industrial towns and commercial ports) but a cultural centre for Southampton's intellectual elite.[10] After lengthy legal challenges to the Bequest, and a public debate as to how best interpret the language of his Will, the Southampton Corporation choose to create the Institute (rather than a more widely accessible college, that some public figures had lobbied for).
On 15 October 1862, the Hartley Institute was opened by the Prime Minister Lord Palmerston in a major civic occasion which exceeded in splendor anything that anyone in the town could remember.[11] After initial years of financial struggle, the Hartley Institute became the Hartley College in 1883. This move was followed by increasing numbers of students, teaching staff, an expansion of the facilities and registered lodgings for students.
University College
In 1902, the Hartley College became the Hartley University College, a degree awarding branch of the University of London.[12] This was after inspection of the teaching and finances by the University College Grants Committee,[13] and donations from Council members (including William Darwin the then Treasurer). An increase in student numbers in the following years motivated fund raising efforts to move the college to greenfield land around Back Lane (now University Road) in the Highfield area of Southampton. On 20 June 1914, Viscount Haldane opened the new site of the renamed Southampton University College. However, the outbreak of the First World War six weeks later meant no lectures could take place there, as the buildings were handed over by the college authorities for use as a military hospital. To cope with the volume of casualties, wooden huts were erected at the rear of the building. These were donated to university by the War Office after the end of fighting, in time for the transfer from the high street premises in 1920. At this time, Highfield Hall, a former country house and overlooking Southampton Common,[14] for which a lease had earlier been secured, commenced use as a hall of residence for female students. South Hill, on what is now the Glen Eyre Halls Complex was also acquired, along with South Stoneham House to house male students.
Further expansion through the 1920s and 1930s was made possible through private donors, such as Edward Turner Sims's two daughters Mary and Margaret for the construction of the university library, to fulfil a request in his will, and from the people of Southampton, enabling new buildings on both sides of University Road. During World War II the university suffered damage in the Southampton Blitz with bombs landing on the campus and its halls of residence.[15] The college decided against evacuation, instead expanding its Engineering Department, School of Navigation and developing a new School of Radio Telegraphy.[15] The university hosted the Supermarine plans and design team for a period but in December 1940 further bomb hits resulted in it being relocated to Hursley House.[16]
Halls of residence were used to house Polish, French and American troops.[15] After the war, departments such as Electronics grew under the influence of Erich Zepler and the Institute of Sound and Vibration was established.
University
| University of Southampton Act 1953 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act to dissolve the Hartley University College at Southampton founded 1850 registered 1902 and to transfer all the rights property and liabilities of that college to the University of Southampton and for other purposes. |
| Citation | 1 & 2 Eliz. 2. c. iv |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 6 May 1953 |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
On 29 April 1952, Queen Elizabeth II granted the University of Southampton a royal charter, the first to be given to a university during her reign, which enabled it to award degrees.[17] Six faculties were created: Arts, Science, Engineering, Economics, Education and Law. The first University of Southampton degrees were awarded on 4 July 1953, following the appointment of the Duke of Wellington as Chancellor of the university. Student and staff numbers grew throughout the next couple of decades as a response to the Robbins Report. The campus also grew significantly, when in July 1961 the university was given the approval to acquire some 200 houses on or near the campus by the Borough Council.[18] In addition, more faculties and departments were founded, including Medicine and Oceanography (despite the discouragement of Sir John Wolfenden, the chairman of the University Grants Committee).[18] Student accommodation was expanded throughout the 1960s and 1970s with the acquisition of Chilworth manor and new buildings at the Glen Eyre and Montefiore complexes.
In 1987, a crisis developed when the University Grants Committee announced, as part of nationwide cutbacks, a series of reductions in the funding of the university.[19] To eliminate the expected losses, the budgets and deficits subcommittee proposed reducing staff numbers. This proposal was met with demonstrations on campus and was later reworked (to reduce the redundancies and reallocate the reductions in faculties funding) after being rejected by the university Senate.[19]
By the mid-1980s through to the 1990s, the university looked to expand with new buildings on the Highfield campus, developing the Chilworth Manor site into a science park and conference venue, opening the National Oceanography Centre at a dockside location and purchasing new land from the City Council for the Arts Faculty and sports fields (at Avenue Campus and Wide Lane, respectively).[20]
Research university
.jpg)
Under the leadership of then Vice-Chancellor, Sir Howard Newby the university became more focused in encouraging and investment in more and better quality research.[21] In the mid-1990s, the university gained two new campuses, as the Winchester School of Art and La Sainte Union College became part of the university.[20] A new school for Nursing and Midwifery was also created and went on to provide training for NHS professionals in central-southern England. This involved a huge increase in student numbers and the establishment of sub-campuses in Basingstoke, Winchester, Portsmouth and Newport, Isle of Wight.[21]
In the autumn of 1997, the university experienced Britain's worst outbreak of meningitis, with the death of three students.[22] The university responded to the crisis by organising a mass vaccination programme, and later took the ground-breaking decision to offer all new students vaccinations.[21]
The university celebrated its Golden Jubilee on 22 January 2002. By this time, Southampton had research income that represented over half of the total income.[21] In recent years a number of new landmark buildings have been added as part of the estates development. New constructions on the main campus include the Jubilee Sports Complex in 2004,[23][24] the EEE (ECS, Education and Entrance) building in 2007,[25][26][27] the new Mountbatten building in 2008 housing the School of Electronics and Computer Science[28][29] following a fire[30][31] and the Life Sciences building in 2010.[32][33][34] In addition, the Hartley Library and Student Services Centre were both extended and redesigned in 2005[35][36][37] and the Students' Union was also extended in 2002.[38][39] Other constructions include the Archaeology building on Avenue Campus in 2006[40][41] and the Institute of Development Sciences building at Southampton General Hospital in 2007.[42] The university has also significantly redeveloped its Boldrewood Campus which is home to part of the engineering faculty and to Lloyd's Register's Global Technology Centre.[43]
The university joined the Science and Engineering South Consortium (SES) on 9 May 2013. The SES was created to pool the collective insights and resources of the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Imperial College London and University College London to innovate and explore new ideas through collaboration whilst providing efficiencies of scale and shared utilisation of facilities. This is the most powerful cluster of research intensive universities in the UK and the new consortium is to become one of the world's leading hubs for science and engineering research.[44]
In 2015, the university started a fundraising campaign to build the Centre for Cancer Immunology based at Southampton General Hospital. At the beginning of 2018, the target amount of £25 million was raised, allowing 150 scientists to move into the building in March 2018. The Centre for Cancer Immunology is the first of its kind in the UK and contains facilities that will hosts clinical trial units and laboratories that will explore the relationship between cancer and the immune system.[45][46]
Campuses
The university has seven educational campuses – five in Southampton, one in Winchester, and one international branch in Malaysia.[47] The university operates a science park in Chilworth. The university also owns sports facilities and halls of residences on a variety of other nearby sites.
Highfield Campus
The university's main campus is located in the residential area of Highfield. Opened on 20 June 1914, the site was initially used as a military hospital during World War I. The campus grew gradually, mainly consisting of detailed red brick buildings (such as the Hartley library and West building of the Students' Union) designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott.[48] In 1956, Sir Basil Spence was commissioned to prepare a masterplan of the campus for the foreseeable future.[49] This included incorporating the University Road, that split the 59-acre (24 ha) campus in two and the quarry of Sir Sidney Kimber's brickyard that itself was split by a stream. Unable to remove the road and the private houses along it, Spence designed many of the buildings facing away from it, using contemporary designs working in concrete, glass and mosaic.[49] During recent decades, new buildings were added that contravened the master plan of Spence, such as the Synthetic Chemistry Building and Mountbatten Building (the latter of which was destroyed by fire in 2005).
In 1991, the Highfield Planning Group was formed within the university under the chairmanship of Tim Holt.[49] This led to the development of new buildings such as the Jubilee Sports Hall, Student Services Building and the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research. In addition, existing buildings, such as the Hartley Library, were extensively renovated and extended. A new masterplan for the Highfield campus was drawn up in 1998 by Rick Mather, who proposed that the University Road should become a tree-lined boulevard backed by white-rendered buildings.[50] He also contributed some of the newer buildings such as the Zepler and Gower Buildings.[49]
Avenue Campus
Avenue Campus is currently home to the Faculty of Humanities, with the exception of Music, and is located a short distance away from the main Highfield campus. The site previously housed the Southampton Tramsheds and Richard Taunton's College, of which the existing building still stands on the site. It was purchased by the university from Southampton City Council for £2 million in December 1993[21] so that the university could expand – planning regulations meant that excess land on the Highfield campus couldn't be built on and had to be reserved for future car parking spaces. The car parking spaces have now been built.[51] The departments moved onto the campus in 1996.[52] The campus consists of the original Tauntons building from the early 20th century but redeveloped with a glass-fronted courtyard and extension and a new Archaeology building built in 2006 costing £2.7 million.[53]
Boldrewood Campus
Boldrewood Campus, located a short distance from the Highfield campus, houses the university's new Maritime Centre of Excellence, the Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute and Lloyd's Register's Group Technology Centre.[54][55][56]
The campus was formerly the Biomedical Sciences campus of the university and acted, until 2010, as a non-hospital base for the School of Medicine and home to a research facility for the Biological Sciences. These departments were then relocated to either Southampton General Hospital, the new Life Sciences building at Highfield, or the University of Southampton science park.[57]
National Oceanography Centre, Southampton
The National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS) is located in Southampton Docks three miles south of the main university campus. The campus is home of the university's Ocean and Earth Sciences department and is also a campus of the Natural Environment Research Council's research institute, the National Oceanography Centre.[58] Five of the National Oceanography Centre's research divisions are based on the campus.[58]
Planning of the campus began in 1989 and was completed in 1994 due to cuts and uncertainties whether a national research centre could be successfully integrated with a university.[59] It was opened in 1996 by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The campus was also the base for the NERC purpose-built research vessels RRS James Cook and until recently the RRS Discovery and the RRS Charles Darwin.[60]
University Hospital Southampton (UHS)
The university maintains a presence at Southampton General in partnership with the NHS trust operating the hospital.[61] It is home to some operations of the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Health Sciences, although these two faculties have bases on Highfield campus. As a teaching hospital, it is used by a range of undergraduate and postgraduate medical students, research academics and clinicians.[62]
The university's involvement began in 1971, when it became the first to house a new school of medicine alongside the universities of Nottingham and Leicester, and currently extends to several operations and specific research centres.[21]
Winchester School of Art
The Winchester School of Art, located in central Winchester, houses the university's arts and textiles courses that are part of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. The school itself was established in the 1960s and was integrated into the University of Southampton in 1996.[63] The campus contains the original school buildings from the 1960s, in addition to structures built when the merger occurred and in 1998 when the Textile Conservation Centre moved to the site from Hampton Court Palace. The centre remained with the school until its closure in 2009.[64]
Malaysia Campus
The university opened its first international campus in Iskandar Puteri, Malaysia, as the University of Southampton Malaysia in October 2012.[65] Located in the state of Johor near the southwestern tip of Malaysia, the campus is located within EduCity in Iskandar Puteri - a new city comprising universities and institutes of higher education, academia-industry action and R&D centres, as well as student accommodation, shared sports and recreational facilities.[66]
The campus operates courses in engineering, it offers an Engineering foundation year programme[67] and MEng programmes in Aeronautics and Astronautics, Mechanical Engineering and Electrical and Electronic Engineering. All programmes have been approved by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) and the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM).[68]
The split campus degree programmes take place in Malaysia for the first two years, with the final two years at Southampton.[69] In 2016, the Malaysia Campus' first group of students graduated, along with the first PhD graduate.[70]
As part of its expansion plans, the University of Southampton Malaysia has moved into its new 150,000sq ft state-of-the-art estate in Eco Botanic City, Iskandar Puteri.[71] The new campus is equipped with a myriad of open learning spaces, lecture halls, an Aerospace Lab, a Design Studio, Business Experimental Labs, and a 12-terminal Bloomberg Suite to enhance the quality and learning experience throughout the students’ journey. From the initial offerings of four Engineering programmes, UoSM has now grown to offer 20 programmes in the fields of Engineering, Business and Computer Science fields.
Currently, among all the British universities with a campus in Malaysia, UoSM is the only one that is ranked in the world’s top 100 universities and the Top UK University in Malaysia.[72]
Science Park
The University of Southampton Science Park contains approximately 50 businesses connected to the university.[73] Originally established in 1983 as Chilworth Science Park, named after the manor house that is now a luxury hotel and conference centre,[74] the park houses business incubator units to help these companies. The companies occupying the park range in expertise and fields including oil and gas exploration, pharmaceuticals, nanotechnology and optoelectronics,[75] with three of the twelve successful spin-out companies created since 2000 being floated on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) with a combined market capitalisation value of £160 million.[76] The park was renamed in 2006.[77]
Transport links
To connect the university's Southampton campuses, halls of residence, hospitals, and other important features of the city, the university operates the Unilink bus service for the benefit of the students, staff and the general public. The service is currently operated by local bus company Bluestar using the Unilink name. The service consists of four routes. The U1 runs between Southampton Airport and the National Oceanography Centre via Wessex Lane Halls, Highfield campus, Portswood, Southampton City Centre and Southampton Central railway station. The other regular routes, the U2 and the U6, run between the City Centre and Bassett Green and Southampton General Hospital respectively. Introduced in 2023, the U7 and U8 lines connect the Highfield campus to Winchester and Chilworth respectively while the final route, the U9, runs an infrequent service between Southampton General hospital and Townhill Park. Students who live in halls of residence provided by the university receive an annual bus pass, allowing them to use all Unilink services for free.[78]
Organisation
Governance
Responsibility for running the university is held formally by the Chancellor and led at the executive level by the Vice-Chancellor, currently Prof Mark E. Smith. The key bodies in the university governance structure are the Council and Senate.
The Council is the governing body of the university.[79] It is ultimately responsible for the overall planning and management of the university.[79] The council is also responsible for ensuring that the funding made available to the university by the Higher Education Funding Council for England is used as prescribed.[79] The council is composed of members from 5 different classes, namely (1) officers; (2) eight lay members appointed by the council; (3) four members appointed by the Senate; (4) one member of the non-teaching staff; (5) the President of the Students' Union.[79]
The Senate is the university's primary academic authority, with responsibilities which include the direction and regulation of education and examinations, the award of degrees, and the promotion of research.[80] The Senate has approximately 65 members, including the Vice-Presidents, the Deans and representatives from the academic staff in each faculty and those administrative groups most closely associated with educational activities, and representatives of the Students' Union. The Senate is chaired by the Vice-Chancellor.[80]
Faculties
The university comprises five faculties, each with a number of academic units.[81] This current faculty structure came into effect in 2018, taking over from a previous structure consisting of eight faculties. The current faculty structure is:
- Faculty of Arts and Humanities
- Humanities
- Winchester School of Art
- Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences
- Chemistry
- Electronics and Computer Science
- Engineering
- Optoelectronics Research Centre
- Physics and Astronomy
- Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences
- Biological Sciences
- Geography and Environmental Science
- Health Sciences (nursing, midwifery, allied health professionals)
- Ocean and Earth Sciences
- National Oceanography Centre
- Psychology
- Faculty of Medicine
- Southampton Medical School
- Cancer Sciences
- Clinical and Experimental Sciences
- Healthcare Enterprise and Innovation
- Human Development and Health
- Primary Care, Population Sciences and Medical Education
- Faculty of Social Sciences
- Economic, Social and Political Sciences
- Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute
- Mathematical Sciences
- Southampton Business School
- Southampton Education School
- Southampton Law School
Affiliations
Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities in Britain.[82]
Academic profile
Courses and subjects
Southampton awards a wide range of academic degrees spanning academic degrees for bachelor's in a variety of degrees and master's degrees as well as junior doctorates and higher doctorates. The postnominals awarded are the degree abbreviations used commonly among British universities. The university is part of the Engineering Doctorate scheme,[83] for the award of Eng. D. degrees.
Short courses and professional development courses are run by many of the university's Academic Schools and Research Centres.[84]
The university works closely with members of the Armed Forces.[84] It provides professional military educators in the British Army to study for a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE). The university also works with the Royal Navy to provide training and qualifications towards Chartered Engineer status.[84]
Admissions
|
| Domicile[88] and Ethnicity[89] | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| British White | 46% | ||
| British Ethnic Minorities[a] | 17% | ||
| International EU | 6% | ||
| International Non-EU | 31% | ||
| Undergraduate Widening Participation Indicators[90][91] | |||
| Female | 49% | ||
| Private School | 13% | ||
| Low Participation Areas[b] | 8% | ||
In terms of average UCAS points of entrants, Southampton ranked 25th in Britain in 2023.[92] The university gives offers of admission to 84.0% of its applicants, the 6th highest amongst the Russell Group.[93]
According to the 2017 Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, approximately 15% of Southampton's undergraduates come from independent schools.[94] In the 2016–17 academic year, the university had a domicile breakdown of 72:7:21 of UK:EU:non-EU students respectively with a female to male ratio of 53:47.[95] 60.5% of international students enrolled at the institution are from China, the highest proportion out of all mainstream universities in the UK.[96]
Rankings and reputation
| National rankings | |
|---|---|
| Complete (2025)[97] | 20 |
| Guardian (2024)[98] | 20 |
| Times / Sunday Times (2024)[99] | 17 |
| Global rankings | |
| ARWU (2023)[100] | 151–200 |
| QS (2025)[101] | 80= |
| THE (2024)[102] | 97= |
In the 2023 international university rankings, Southampton ranked 78th (QS World University Rankings)[103] and 108th (Times Higher Education World University Rankings).[104] The 2022 Round University Ranking ranked Southampton 72nd globally,[105] and the 2022 CWTS Leiden Ranking placed Southampton 85th worldwide.[106] The 2021 U.S. News & World Report ranks Southampton 97th in the world and 11th in the UK.[107]
Southampton was originally awarded Bronze ("provision is of satisfactory quality") in the 2017 Teaching Excellence Framework, a government assessment of the quality of undergraduate teaching in universities and other higher education providers in England.[108] The Bronze award was appealed by the university,[109] however it was rejected by the HEFCE in August 2017.[110] In response, the university's Vice Chancellor, Christopher Snowden, claimed the exercise was "devoid of any meaningful assessment of teaching" and that "there are serious lessons to be learned if the TEF is to gain public confidence."[111] Enrollment into the exercise was voluntary and institutions were made aware of the metrics used before agreeing to be assessed by the TEF.[112] In January 2018, the university confirmed that it would re-enter the TEF believing that it would benefit from changed evaluations that would benefit Russell Group universities.[113] In 2018, Southampton was awarded Silver by the Teaching Excellence Framework Panel.[114] In the 2023 TEF assessment, the university maintained its overall Silver rating.[115]
The Guardian ranked the university at number 1 in the UK for Civil Engineering[116] and Electronic and Electrical Engineering in 2020.[117]
In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF), which assesses the quality of research in UK higher education institutions, Southampton is ranked 17th by GPA and 16th for research power (the grade point average score of a university, multiplied by the full-time equivalent number of researchers submitted).[118]
Researchedit
The university conducts research in most academic disciplines and is home to a number of notable research centres. Southampton has leading research centres in a number of disciplines, e.g. music, computer sciences, engineering or management sciences, and houses world-leading research institutions in fields as varied as oceanography and web science.[citation needed]
Within the university there are a number of research institutes and groups that aim to pool resources on a specific research area.[84] Institutes or groups identified by the university of being of significant importance are marked in italics.