University of Southampton

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Image:University of Southampton.jpg
University of Southampton "Dolphin" logo

The University of Southampton is a British university situated in the city of Southampton, on the south-coast of the United Kingdom. The university has a world-wide reputation for high-quality research, and is a member of the Russell Group of research-led British universities. According to the Sunday Times newspaper league table, Southampton is perennially in the top ten for research (its primary focus), while in 2002 it came 11th overall (out of around 200 British institutions). Southampton is a member of the Worldwide Universities Network, and has close links with MIT in the United States.

The university's main buildings are situated on a large site on the Highfield Campus in Highfield, but the university has other campuses elsewhere around the city: at Boldrewood (biomedical sciences), New College (formerly La Sainte Union College), Southampton General Hospital and on the waterfront at the National Oceanography Centre. It also has a campus in the nearby city of Winchester which is the home of the university's fine & performing arts departments (formerly the independent institution Winchester School of Art, but now an integral part of the university). The Avenue Campus houses most of the Humanities subjects taught at the University, including History, English, Philosophy and Modern Languages. The Centre for Language Study is based at Avenue Campus, but there is also an equally large and well-equipped branch at New College. Music is taught on the Highfield Campus.

Southampton is probably best known as an engineering, science and social science university. In the most recent RAE assessment (2001), it has the only engineering faculty in the country to receive the highest rating (5*) across all disciplines. According to the Times Higher Educational Supplement, Southampton has the second largest research income among British universities for the physical sciences and mathematics, and the third largest research income for engineering and technology. The university is also strong in other disciplines - in archaeology, the first three professors produced by Southampton later became heads of archaeology at Oxford, Cambridge and University College London. The music department is also renowned, benefiting from the Turner Sims concert hall, situated in the middle of the university's Highfield campus. In addition, the university is home to the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (formerly Southampton Oceanography Centre), a leading research centre for oceanography. The university places great emphasis on inter-disciplinary cooperation and on collaboration with industry. This is most evident in the University's Centre for Enterprise and Innovation, which is jointly run by Faculty of Engineering and the School of Management. This focus has recently been augmented by the establishment of a separate Institiute for Entrepreneurship.

The University's Professor David Payne FRS CBE invented the optical amplifier, without which fibre optic cables would not work. Professor Payne is also Chairman of Photonics, a commercial company which is a spin-off of this research. Former head of the Department of Electronics and Computer Science, Professor Tony Hey CBE, is now Corporate Vice-President of Microsoft UK. Another Southampton Professor, Martin Fleischmann, Professor of Electrochemistry, came to notoriety in 1989 when, along with a research collaborator, he claimed to have produced cold fusion in a laboratory. Subsequent researchers were unable to substantiate his claims. In 2004, the inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, accepted a part-time post as Professor of Computer Science at the University.

Contents

Faculties, schools, and centres

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The Gower Building is a landmark on Highfield Campus
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The extension built on to the Professional Services building on Highfield Campus

History

The University of Southampton has its origin as as the Hartley Institution which was formed in 1862 from a benefaction by a local wine merchant. In 1919 it was renamed Hartley University College, and subsequently University College Southampton. Before 1952, the college's degrees were awarded by the University of London.

In 1952, the Queen granted the University of Southampton a Royal Charter to award degrees in its own right. This conferred full university status and made Southampton independent of the University of London. Despite being one of the last of the "civic" universities, it grew rapidly and gained a reputation for a strong academic approach. It expanded rapidly during the 1960s, when a number of new "plate glass" universities were springing up; such as the University of Warwick, University of York, University of East Anglia and a number of others.

In 2005, a large fire destroyed part of the Mountbatten Building, holding optical fibre research laboratories (the world-reknowned Optoelectronics Research Centre, ORC) and the microchip fabrication laboratories. It is estimated that the costs for rebuilding the centre and replacing the equipment will be around £50 million.[1]

Architecture

The earliest buildings date back to the 1910s; however, the centre of the campus is dominated by two imposing 1930s buildings by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott - literally in red brick - while the original 1950s masterplan and the majority of the remaining buildings are by Sir Basil Spence in a light, Mies van der Rohe style. A new masterplan for the Highfield campus was drawn up in 1998 by renowned architect Rick Mather who has also contributed some of the newer buildings. The campus has expanded rapidly over the last decade, with many notable new buildings including one designed by Norman Foster. The campus retains a very large area of parkland in which are scattered important 20th century sculptures by Barbara Hepworth, FE McWilliams, Justin Knowles, Nick Pope and John Edwards.

Student Union

The University of Southampton Student's Union (SUSU), is sited in two buildings close to the Hartley Library, one, the West Building, dating back to the 1940s in a red brick style, to complement the Hartley Library opposite; the Main Building was built in the 1960s in the Basil Spence masterplan. This was extended with new nightclub and cinema facilities in 2002. In May 2002 (after several attempts going back several years), it chose to disaffiliate itself from the NUS, whom SUSU believed to be 'political time-wasters' and 'bureaucratic'. The student radio station, SURGE (Southampton University Radio from Glen Eyre), broadcasts from Glen Eyre halls, north of the university from studios in the main union building. SURGE broadcasts throughout the year on the 1287AM and the internet and twice-yearly on FM. The student newspaper is the Wessex Scene, which comes out fortnightly. Events are held in The Cube, the Union's nightclub, and in the Stag's Head, the Union's pub. National touring bands play in the Garden Court in the West Building.


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The University of Southampton is a world-leader in yacht design and marine engineering. It was closely involved with Ellen McArthur's Kingfisher and with the Americas Cup.

Famous alumni

Motto

Strenuis Ardua Cedunt (The Heights Yield to Endeavour)

Corporate slogan

At the Cutting Edge of Innovation

See also

External links

News articles

Template:Worldwide Universities Network

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