The University of Southampton is a university situated in the city of Southampton, on the south coast of England. The university is a member of the Russell Group and of the Worldwide Universities Network.
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 Education Supplement, the University 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 places great emphasis on inter-disciplinary cooperation and on collaboration with industry. This is most evident in the University s Business division.
History
The University of Southampton has its origin as the Hartley Institution which was formed in 1862 from a benaction by Henry Robertson Hartley (1777 1850). Hartley was the son of a local wine merchant.On his death he lt £103,000 to the Southampton Corporation on condition that it was invested in such manner as might 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.
In February 2008, the university rebranded itself, which included redesigning the website and changing the logo.
The University s main buildings are situated on a large site on the Campus in Highfield, but the University has other campuses elsewhere around the city: at Boldrewood (biomedical sciences), 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 School of Art, known as the Winchester School of Art. The Avenue Campus houses most of the Humanities subjects taught at the University, including History, English, Film, Philosophy and Modern Languages. The Centre for Language Study is based at Avenue Campus. Archaeology is also located there in a series of purpose-designed buildings (the most modern archaeology facilities of any British university). Music is still taught on the Highfield Campus, near the Turner Sims Concert Hall.
The University of Southampton and the MIT recently announced the launch of a long-term research collaboration, the Web Science Research Initiative (WSRI), that aims to produce the fundamental scientific advances necessary to guide the future design and use of the World Wide Web.The Web Science Research Initiative (WSRI), is headed by Professor Tim Berners-Lee.
Notable academics
The University s Professor David N. Payne FRS CBE, currently Director of the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC), invented the erbium-doped fibre amplifier EDFA, without which fibre optic cables could not transmit over long distances without electrical regeneration of the signal. Professor Payne is also Chairman of SPI (Southampton Photonics, Inc.), a commercial company which is a spin-off of this research. Former head of the School (then 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, was appointed to the School of Electronics and Computer Science as Professor of Computer Science.
Organisation
List of Faculties, Schools and Centres
Faculty of Engineering, Science and Mathematics
School of Chemistry
School of Civil Engineering and the Environment (includes the centre for Environmental Sciences)
School of Electronics and Computer Science (
ECS)
School of Engineering Sciences (includes Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Ship Science)
School of Geography
School of Mathematics
School of Ocean and Earth Science (SOES)
School of Physics and Astronomy
Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR)
Optoelectronics Research Centre
Transportation Research Group (TRG)
National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (home of the School of Ocean and Earth Science) (NOCS)
Southampton E-Science Centre
Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences
School of Social Sciences
School of Management - see below
School of Education
School of Law
School of Art (based at Winchester School of Art)
School of Humanities
Parkes Institute
Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
School of Biological Sciences
School of Health Professions and Rehabilitation Sciences
School of Medicine
School of Nursing and Midwifery
School of Psychology
Health Care Innovation Unit
Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute
ESRC National Centre for Research Methods
Campus life
Architecture
The earliest buildings on the main (Highfield) campus date back to the 1910s; however, the centre of the campus is dominated by two imposing 1930s buildings by the local architect Colonel R. F. Gutteridge - constructed in red brick - while the 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 an area of parkland in which are scattered 20th century sculptures by Barbara Hepworth, FE McWilliams, Justin Knowles, Nick Pope and John Edwards.
Students Union
The University of Southampton Students Union (SUSU), is sited in three buildings opposite the Hartley Library. One, the West Building, dates back to the 1940s in a red brick style, complementing 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. The newest building was built during the mid-1990s which includes the recently rurbished Union shop, on the ground floor, and hairdressers and travel agency, both on the first floor. In May 2002 (after numerous attempts going back several years), it chose to disaffiliate itself from the NUS, believed by SUSU to be too bureaucratic. The multiple award winning student radio station, Surge, broadcasts from new studios in the main Union building. [36]The award winning website SUSU.org was created and run by students at the university. The student newspaper, originally Wessex News, is now published once every three weeks as Wessex Scene following a name change in 1996. Events are held in The Cube, the Union s nightclub, The Bridge , the Union s cocktail bar, and in the Stag s Head, the Union bar. National touring bands play in the Garden Court in the West Building.
Halls of Residence
The University provides accommodation for all first year students who require it. Places in halls are also available for international and postgraduate students. Accommodation may be catered, self catered, have ensuite facilities, a sink in the room, or access to communal bathroom facilities. Each of the large sites has a Junior Common Room system that runs social activities and events throughout the term and supervises the running of the onsite bars.