University of Southampton
118px
Motto	Strenuis Ardua Cedunt The Heights Yield to Endeavour
Established	1952 - gained University status by Royal charter 1902 - University College 1862 - Hartley Institution
Type	Public
Endowment	£6.42 million (2008/09)[1]
Chancellor	Helen Alexander CBE[2]
Vice-Chancellor	Professor Don Nutbeam
Visitor	The Lord President of the Council ex officio
Admin. staff	Around 5,000
Students	23,315[3]
Undergraduates	16,470[3]
Postgraduates	6,850[3]
Location	Southampton, England
Campus	City Campus
Affiliations	Russell Group ACU EUA WUN
Website	http://www.soton.ac.uk/

The University of Southampton is a British Russell Group university located in the city of Southampton, United Kingdom. The origins of the university can be dated back to the founding of the Hartley Institution in 1862 by Henry Robertson Hartley. In 1902, the Institution developed into the Hartley University College, with degrees awarded by the University of London.^[4] On 29 April 1952, HM Queen Elizabeth II granted a Royal Charter to give the University of Southampton full university status. This was the first Royal Charter granted by HM Queen Elizabeth II on her accession to the throne.

The university is a member of the Russell Group of research universities and the Worldwide Universities Network. It currently has over 17,000 undergraduate and 7,000 postgraduate students,^[3] making it the largest university by higher education students in the South East region. The main campus is located in the Highfield area of Southampton. Four other campuses are located throughout the city alongside the School of Art based in nearby Winchester.

The university has a strong emphasis on research, having one of the highest proportions of income derived from research activities in Britain.^[5] Southampton is highly regarded as a centre for educational excellence, ranking nationally as a top 20 university in various tables,^[6][7][8][9] and regularly rated in the top 10 of the National Student Survey.^[5] The university is also noted for its large array of indoor and outdoor sports facilities.

History[link]

Hartley Institution[link]

The arrival of Prime Minister Lord Palmerston for the opening of the Hartley Institute on 15 October 1862

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.^[10] At his death in 1850, he bequest £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.

Hartley was an eccentric straggler, who had little liking of the new age docks and railways in Southampton.^[12] 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.^[12] After lengthy legal challenges to the Bequest, and a public debate as to how best interpret the language of his Will, the Southampton Coorperation 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.^[13] 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[link]

Front of the Hartley Library, constructed in the 1930s after the move to Highfield Campus, with the support of private donors.

In 1902, the Hartley College became the Hartley University College, a degree awarding branch of the University of London. This was after inspection of the teaching and finances by the University College Grants Committee,^[14] 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. In order 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,^[15] for which a lease had earlier been secured, commenced use as a halls 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 expansions through the 1920s and 1930s was made possible through private donors, such as the two daughters of Edward Turner Sims for the construction of the University library, 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.^[16] The college decided against evacuation, instead expanding its Engineering Department, School of Navigation and developing a new School of Radio Telegraphy.^[16] Halls of residence were also used to house Polish, French and American troops.^[16] After the war, departments such as Electronics grew under the influence of Erich Zepler and the Institute of Sound and Vibration was established.

University[link]

On 29 April 1952, in the early weeks of the reign of HM Queen Elizabeth II, a Royal Charter was granted to the University of Southampton, which enabled the institution to award its own degrees. 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 number 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.^[17] 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).^[17] 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.^[18] In order 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.^[18]

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 Oceanographic 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).

Research University[link]

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.^[19] 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. 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.^[19]

In the autumn of 1997, the university experienced Britain's worst outbreak of meningitis, with the death of three students.^[20] The university responded to the crisis by organizing a mass vaccination programme, and later took the ground-breaking decision to offer all new students vaccinations.^[19]

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,^[19] which remains one of the highest proportions of income derived from research activities of British Universities.^[5] In recent years a number of new landmark buildings have been added as part of the estates development. These have included new buildings for the School of Electronics and Computer Science and the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC), (whose original building was destroyed in a fire in 2005),^[21] a new Sports Hall and Institute of Developmental Sciences (on the Southampton General Hospital site).

Campus[link]

The University has six campuses - four in Southampton, one in Winchester,^[22] and one international branch in Malaysia. A further campus - the Maritime Centre of Excellence is being developed close to the Highfield Campus.

Highfield Campus[link]

Gardens on Highfield Campus

The Nuffield Theatre, Southampton

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.^[23] In 1956, Sir Basil Spence was commissioned to prepare a masterplan of the campus for the foreseeable future.^[24] This included incorporating the University Road, that split the 59-acre (240,000 m²) 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.^[24] 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).

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. He also contributed some of the newer buildings such as the Zepler and Gower Buildings. In 1991, the Highfield Planning Group was formed within the university under the chairmanship of Tim Holt. 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.

The campus retains an area of parkland in which are scattered 20th-century sculptures by Barbara Hepworth,^[25][26] Justin Knowles, Nick Pope and John Edwards. It also houses the John Hansard Gallery, the Nuffield Theatre and Turner Sims concert hall.

Avenue Campus[link]

Avenue Campus

The Avenue Campus site was previously home to the Southampton Tramsheds and Richard Taunton's College. It was purchased by the university in December 1993 from Southampton city council for £2 million.^[19] Today it houses most of the Faculty of Humanities including the Centre for Language Study. In 2006, a new purpose-designed building for Archaeology was completed.

National Oceanography Centre, Southampton[link]

National Oceanography Centre

The National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS) is a purpose-built, joint venture between the University and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Opened in 1995, NOCS is a waterfront campus on Southampton's Empress Dock, close to the Ocean Village development.

The NOCS comprises the University's Ocean and Earth Sciences academic unit which operates alongside four NERC research divisions. The NOCS is also the base for the purpose-built research vessels RRS Discovery and RRS James Cook (and formerly RRS Charles Darwin).

Southampton General Hospital[link]

The university's presence at the general hospital dates to 1971, when Southampton (along with Nottingham and Leicester universities) became the first new Schools of Medicine to be founded in the United Kingdom in the twentieth century. As a teaching hospital, it is used by a range of undergraduate and postgraduate medical students, research academics and clinicians. Originally based in the South Academic Block, the university's presence has been expanded to include several other buildings which are home to six different research departments.

Maritime Centre of Excellence (formerly Boldrewood Campus)[link]

Boldrewood, located a short distance from the Highfield campus, was the Biomedical Sciences campus of the University. Until 2010, it was used as a non-hospital base for the School of Medicine and home to a research facility for the Biological Sciences. Staff were then relocated to either Southampton General Hospital or Building 85 (the new Life Sciences Building) on the main campus. The site is now being re-developed as the Maritime Centre of Excellence.^[27]

The site, which will be occupied from 2014, will house, amongst others, the Group Technology Centre of Lloyd's Register who have announced a strategic alliance with the University^[28] and the University Maritime Institute.

Winchester School of Art[link]

Uni-link doubledecker bus passing through Highfield Campus

The Winchester School of Art was integrated within the University of Southampton in 1996. This original school premises were purpose build in the 1960s. New buildings have been designed to house the subsequent expansion of student numbers, and new facilities for fashion design, a digital media campus and also to include the internationally respected Textile Conservation Centre which moved its premises from Hampton Court Palace in 1999.^[29]

Uni-link[link]

The Uni-link bus service was created in 1998 by the University. Four routes operate that connect the university campuses and halls of residence located throughout the city for both students at the university and general public.

Malaysia Campus[link]

An international campus is set to open in Malaysia, and the first enrollment is expected in October 2012.^[30][31]

Organisation[link]

Governance[link]

The Professional Services Building

Responsibility for running the University is held formally by the Chancellor, currently Sir John Parker and led at the executive level by the Vice-Chancellor, currently Don Nutbeam. The key bodies in the University governance structure are the Council, Court and Senate.

The Council is the governing body of the University.^[32] It is ultimately responsible for the overall planning and management of the University.^[32] 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.^[32] The Council is composed of members from 5 different classes, namely (1) officers; (2) twelve members appointed by the Council; (3) six members appointed by the Senate; (4) one member of the non-teaching staff; (5) the President of the Students’ Union.^[32]

The University Court provides a forum for consultation with the local and regional community, to help promote public awareness of the University and to attract and maintain goodwill.^[33] The Court is composed of some 190 members, comprising representatives of the University, which includes members of Council, Deans of the Faculties, Heads of Academic Schools, members of staff, students and graduates; representatives of local authorities and of schools and colleges in the region; members of the UK and European parliaments; and representatives of other local societies and bodies.^[33]

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.^[34] The Senate has approximately 150 members, including the Deputy Vice-Chancellors/Pro Vice-Chancellors, the Deans and Associate Deans of the Faculties, the Heads of the academic Schools and Research Centres, representatives from the academic staff in each School, representatives of the research staff and those administrative groups most closely associated with educational activities, and representatives of the Students' Union. The Senate is chaired by the Vice-Chancellor.^[34]

Faculties and academic units[link]

The University comprises eight faculties, each with a number of academic units.^[35] Previous to the restructure of 2010, the university consisted of 3 faculties.

Libraries and collections[link]

Exterior of the 2005 extension to the Hartley Library

The University of Southampton Library has a presence on each of the university's six campuses, holding more than 1.5 million books and periodicals, some 6,000 in electronic form, besides specialist materials, including more than 6 million manuscripts.^[36]

The library contains a number of special collections of rare books and manuscripts.^[37] In 1983, the university received the correspondence of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. It also houses the Broadlands Archive, including the Palmerston and Mountbatten papers. The library also contains 4,500 volumes of Claude Montefiore's library on Theology and Judaism, the Ford Parliamentary Papers, Frank Perkins' collection of books on agriculture, Sir Samual Gurney-Dixons's Dante collection and the James Parkes Library of Jewish/non-Jewish relations.^[37] The library also includes six rare editions of the Divina Commedia; the first of these, the Brescia edition of 1487, is the library's earliest book.^[37]

The Hartley library, first built in 1935, has expanded successively to house special collection and to meet the growth in student numbers. The latest of these was in 2005, when 3200 m² were added and much of the existing building renovated.

Academics[link]

Degrees[link]

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,^[38] for the award of Eng. D. degrees.

Professional qualifications are also awarded, such as Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). Short courses and professional development courses are run by many of the University's Academic Schools and Research Centres.^[39]

The University works closely with members of the Armed Forces.^[39] 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.^[39]

League table rankings[link]

In recent years it has been rated as a top 100 university in the world according to the Times Higher Education Table,^[40] and in the 2011 QS World University Rankings^[41] ranked the university 75th overall in the world.