University of Southampton

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University of Southampton
Motto:	Strenuis Ardua Cedunt "The heights yield to endeavour"
Established:	1862 Hartley Institution 1902 University College 1952 Royal Charter
Type:	Public
Chancellor:	Sir John Parker
Vice-Chancellor:	Professor Bill Wakeham
Visitor:	The Lord President of the Council ex officio
Staff:	Around 5,000
Students:	24,735[1]
Undergraduates:	17,120[1]
Postgraduates:	7,615[1]
Location:	Southampton, England
Campus:	City Campus
Affiliations:	Russell Group ACU EUA
Website:	http://www.southampton.ac.uk/ http://www.soton.ac.uk/

The extension built on to the Professional Services building on Highfield Campus

The University of Southampton is an 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.^[2] 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.

[edit] Location

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.

[edit] Organisation

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

[edit] 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

[edit] School of Electronics and Computer Science

The School of Electronics and Computer Science, generally abbreviated "ECS", is regarded by the IET as having the "biggest and strongest academic unit in the country in Electrical and Electronic Engineering."^[3] and has been at the forefront of the Open Access movement.

The school is regarded as one of the best in the UK for both computer science and electronics, scoring 5th and 1st for the subjects respectively in the Guardian Unlimited University Guide 2008^[4] and 5th and 2nd respectively by both the Times Online Good University Guide^{[5] [6]} and the Good University Guide ^[7].

ECS was the first academic institution in the world to adopt a self-archiving mandate (2001) [2] and since then much of its published research has been freely available on the Web [3]. It created the first and most widely used archiving software (EPrints) which is used worldwide by 213 known archives and continues to be evolved and supported from the School [4].

[edit] Professional Campus planned for University’s Boldrewood site

The University of Southampton is planning to develop the UK’s first wholly integrated ‘professional campus’. The plans will see the transformation of the University’s Boldrewood campus.^[8]

Lloyd’s Register, an independent risk management organisation, will move its London marine operations to the Boldrewood campus.^[9]

The practice of corporations and business schools sharing resources and facilities is well established in some countries but this will be the first ‘professional campus’ in the UK. The Lloyd's Register Group will maintain its building in the City of London as the corporate office and governance of the Group will remain based there.

[edit] Web Science Research Initiative (WSRI)

The University of Southampton and the MIT recently announced the launch of a long-term research collaboration that aims to produce the fundamental scientific advances necessary to guide the future design and use of the World Wide Web.^[10] The Web Science Research Initiative (WSRI), is headed by Professor Tim Berners-Lee.

[edit] History

The Staff Club and gardens. The centre of the western half of the Highfield campus is a landscaped garden with a variety of trees, plants and sculptures.

The University of Southampton has its origin as the Hartley Institution which was formed in 1862 from a benefaction by Henry Robertson Hartley (1777-1850). Hartley was the son of a local wine merchant.^[11] On his death he left £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."

The city officials housed Hartley's books in a building in Southampton's High Street, in the city centre. The Hartley Institution was borne out of this, and became a university college in 1902. 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.

Having outgrown the High Street premises, the college was set to move to greenfield land near Highfield's Back Lane (now University Road). Although the new main building was formally opened on 20 June 1914, the outbreak of the First World War occurred before any lectures could take place there. 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. The college continued to use these after the war, eventually replacing the makeshift extension with brick buildings. With the continuing expansion, an academic bookshop was built on the site of Church Farm and the Students' Union complex and refectory were built on the site of Sir Sidney Kimber's brickyard.

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 created; such as the University of East Anglia, University of Lancaster, University of Warwick, University of York and a number of others.

In 2005, a large fire destroyed part of the Mountbatten Building, holding optical fibre research laboratories (the world-renowned 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, making this what is believed to be the world's most destructive university fire.^[12] The ORC is currently housed in temporary buildings while the centre is being rebuilt.^[13]

In February 2008, the university rebranded itself, which included redesigning the website and changing the logo.^[14]

[edit] Academic rankings

[edit] Campus life

[edit] Architecture

Avenue Campus

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 ^[31] - 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.

[edit] 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 refurbished 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.^[32] The multiple award winning student radio station, Surge, broadcasts from new studios in the main Union building. ^[33]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.

[edit] 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.

The three main halls of residence are:

• Glen Eyre Halls Complex

which includes:

• Chamberlain Hall
• Hartley Grove Courts
• Chancellors' Courts
• New Terrace
• Old Terrace
• South Hill Lodges
• Richard Newitt Courts
• Brunei House
• Beechmount House
• Gower building
• Small Halls, including Bencraft Court

The 16-storey extension to South Stoneham House

• Wessex Lane Halls Complex

which includes:

• Connaught Hall
• Montefiore 1,2,3 & 4
• South Stoneham House

• Archers Road and Small Halls

which includes:

• Highfield Hall
• Bencraft Court
• Erasmus Park (serving the Winchester School of Art)
• Gateley Hall
• Romero Hall
• Shaftesbury Avenue Apartments
• St. Margaret's House
• Tasman Court

[edit] Notable academics

The University's Professor David 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.^[34] Former head of the School (then Department) of Electronics and Computer Science, Professor Tony Hey CBE, is now Corporate Vice-President of Microsoft UK.^[35] 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.^[36] 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.^[37]

[edit] Notable alumni

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

• John "Sex" Aldrich (Legend of Econometrics)
• Kevin Ashman (International Mastermind champion)
• Laura Bailey (Model)
• Daniel Batchelor (Musician)
• Liz Barker (Television presenter)
• Guin & Miriam Batten (Olympic Rowers)
• Roger Black (Athlete)
• Stephen Baxter (Science fiction writer)
• Daniel Catán (Composer)
• John Denham MP (Politician)
• Sue Douglas (Journalist)
• Evan Enwerem (Former President of the Senate of Nigeria)
• Edgar Feuchtwanger (Historian)
• Guy Fordham (Hockey Star)
• Sir Adrian Fulford (Judge of the International Criminal Court)
• Jeremy Hardon (Comedian)
• Dr Phillip Hallam-Baker (Web pioneer, security)
• Baroness Hooper (Politician)
• John Inverdale (Sports Journalist)
• Neil J. Gunther (Scientist)
• Datuk Sulong Matjeraie (Court of Appeal Judge of Malaysia)
• Stuart Maister (CEO, Broadview Communications)
• John Anthony McGuckin (Orthodox Christian priest, scholar, and poet)
• Dominic Mohan {The Sun Newspaper}
• Prof Ray Monk (Professor of philosophy)
• John Nettles (Actor)
• Adrian Newey (Technical Director, Red Bull Racing Formula One team)
• Chris Packham (Wildlife presenter)
• Jon Potter (Field Hockey Star)
• Richard Thomas (Information Commissioner)
• Jon Sopel (Journalist)
• Matthew Taylor (Chief Executive, Royal Society of Arts)
• Stella Tennant (Model)
• George Thomas (Speaker of the House of Commons 1976 - 1983, later Viscount Tonypandy)
• Dr Alan Whitehead (Politician)
• Stephen Payne (Principle Architect of the Queen Mary 2)
• Sally Clark (lawyer, convicted for the murder of her two children in 1999, subsequently quashed on appeal in 2003; notable for the involvement of Professor Sir Roy Meadow and Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy)
• Louisa Pilbeam (News reporter, Daily Mirror)
• Tom Latchem (News reporter, The People)
• Dr Chai Patel, former chief executive of the Priory Healthcare Group

In addition, Radio One DJ Scott Mills, though not an alumnus, began his career on Southampton University's radio station, Surge.

[edit] See also

• Boldrewood (Biomedical Science campus)
• Southampton Medical School
• National Oceanography Centre, Southampton
• La Sainte Union College of Higher Education
• National Cipher Challenge

[edit] References

[edit] News articles

• Southampton student union parts company with NUS
• Students demonstrate at university ball sponsored by BAE Systems
• "Fire destroys top research centre" BBC News, October 31, 2005
• "Student anger over boycott grows" BBC News, 28 April, 2006

[edit] External links

• University of Southampton website