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University of Southampton

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{{ Infobox University |name = University of Southampton |image = Image:University_of_Southampton.jpg right|200px |motto = Strenuis Ardua Cedunt
"The Heights Yield to Endeavour"
|established = 1862 Hartley Institution, 1902 Unviersity College, 1952 Royal Charter |chancellor = John Roundell Palmer, 4th Earl of Selborne The Earl of Selborne |vice_chancellor = Bill Wakeham Professor Bill Wakeham |city = Southampton |country = United Kingdom |campus = City Campus| |Students = About 20,000 |Staff = About 5,000 |colours = | type = public university Public |affiliations = Russell Group, Association of Commonwealth Universities ACU, EUA |website = http://www.Soton.ac.uk/ |}} The '''University of Southampton''' is a United Kingdom British university situated in the city of Southampton, on the south coast of Great Britain. The university has a world-wide reputation for high-quality research, and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities Russell Group of research-led British universities. According to the ''Sunday Times'' newspaper League Tables of British Universities 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 [http://www.wun.ac.uk Worldwide Universities Network], and has close links with Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT in the United States. The University's main buildings are situated on a large site on the Highfield Campus in Highfield, Southampton 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, Southampton 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 University of Oxford Oxford, University of Cambridge 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 [http://www.ife.soton.ac.uk Institiute for Entrepreneurship]. The University's Professor David Payne Fellow of the Royal Society FRS Order of the British Empire 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.

Faculties, schools, and centres
* '''Faculty of Engineering, Science and Mathematics''' *
- School of Chemistry *
- School of Civil Engineering and the Environment *
- 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 *
- School of Physics and Astronomy *
- Institute of Sound and Vibration Research *
- Optoelectronics Research Centre *
- Transportation Research Group ** National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (home of the School of Ocean and Earth Science) ** Southampton E-Science Centre * '''Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences''' *
- School of Social Sciences *
- School of Management *
- School of Education *
- School of Law *
- School of Art (based at Winchester School of Art) *
- School of Humanities ** Parkes Institute Centre for research on aspects of Jewish History * '''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 Image:Southampton_University,_Prof_Services_Extension.jpg thumb|left|250px|The extension built on to the ''Professional Services'' building on ''Highfield Campus''

History
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, and his ambition was to set up a harem. 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, Southampton Highfield's Back Lane (now University Road). Although the new main building was formally opened on 20th 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 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-renowned Optoelectronics Research Centre, ORC) and the integrated circuit microchip fabrication laboratories. It is estimated that the costs for rebuilding the centre and replacing the equipment will be around £70 million.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/4390048.stm]

Architecture
The earliest buildings on the main (Highfield, Southampton Highfield) campus date back to the 1910s; however, the centre of the campus is dominated by two imposing 1930s buildings by Giles Gilbert Scott Sir Giles Gilbert Scott - literally in red brick - while the original 1950s masterplan and the majority of the remaining buildings are by Basil Spence Sir Basil Spence in a light, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe 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 (sculptor) John Edwards.

Students' Union
The University of Southampton Students' Union (SUSU), is sited in two 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. In May 2002 (after several attempts going back several years), it chose to disaffiliate itself from the National Union of Students of the United Kingdom NUS, whom SUSU believed to be 'political time-wasters' and 'bureaucratic'. The multiple award winning student radio station, Surge 1287am Surge, broadcasts from new studios in the main Union building. Surge 1287am Surge broadcasts throughout the year on the 1287AM broadcasting AM and the internet and once a year on FM broadcasting FM. 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, and in the ''Stag's Head'', the Union bar. National touring bands play in the ''Garden Court'' in the West Building.

Famous alumni
*Laura Bailey (Model) *Liz Barker (Television presenter) *Guin Batten Guin & Miriam Batten (Olympic Rowers) *Roger Black (Athlete) *Daniel Catán (Composer) *John Yorke Denham John Denham (Politician) *Sue Douglas (Journalist) *Dr. Astrid Fischel (Vice-President, Costa Rica) *Guy Fordham (Hockey Star) *Jeremy Hardy (Comedian) *Baroness Hooper (Politician) *John Inverdale (Sports Journalist) *Stuart Maister (CEO, Broadview Communications) *John Anthony McGuckin (Orthodox Christian priest, scholar, and poet) *Prof. Ray Monk (Professor of Philosophy) *John Nettles (Actor) *Adrian Newey (Technical Director, McLaren Formula One team) *Chris Packham (Wildlife Presenter) *Dr. Stanley Pons (Claimed to have discovered Cold Fusion in 1989) *Jon Potter (Hockey Star) *Jon Sopel (presenter) Jon Sopel (Journalist) *Stella Tennant (Model) *George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy George Thomas (Speaker of the House of Commons 1976 - 1983) (Later Viscount Tonypandy) *Dr. Alan Whitehead (Politician)

Motto
''Strenuis Ardua Cedunt'' (The Heights Yield to Endeavour)

Corporate slogan
''At the Cutting Edge of Innovation''

See also
*Boldrewood (Biomedical Science campus) *Southampton *National Oceanography Centre, Southampton *Southampton Solent University

External links

- University of Southampton website
- Southampton University Student's Union
- Southampton University Christian Union
- Surge - student radio station
- Wessex Scene - student newspaper

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

References
* Mann, John Edgar & Ashton, Peter (1998). ''Highfield, A Village Remembered''. Halsgrove. ISBN 1-874448-91-4. {{Worldwide Universities Network|Southampton, University of}} Category:Education in Hampshire Category:Universities in England Southampton, University of Category:Nursing schools in the United Kingdom Category:Southampton University Category:Nursing schools in the United Kingdom

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