University of Portsmouth

The University of Portsmouth is the only university in the city of Portsmouth. It is based on two main campuses, Guildhall and Langstone. Regarded as one of the stronger performing of the Post-1992 universities, it has become increasingly important as a centre of learning along with the University of Southampton in the South East of England. Recently, the two institutions have shown increasing levels of co-operation, for example by submitting in July 2005 a joint bid for £35 million pounds of funding towards a Dentistry school.

Portsmouth seems better placed than most Post-1992 universities to deal with the surge of applications encouraged by the government's target that 50% of those under-35 should experience Higher Education at some point in their life. Portsmouth has seen its applications for courses increasing, with a 67% year-on-year for the years 2001 - 2005. The University has a successful programme in encouraging wider access to Higher Education through its "UP for It" scheme.

The University offers a wide range of courses, including some rated excellent by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), such as Pharmacology and Pharmacy, Molecular Biosciences, Organismal Biosciences, Mathematics, Statistics and Operational Research. Social Sciences are also a strength of the University, with Education, Modern Foreign Languages (with increasing provison for Mandarin Chinese and Arabic), Politics, Psychology, and finally Nursing all rated as excellent by the QAA. The University offers the European Union's ERASMUS programme either as a optional semester or a compulsory year abroad in language courses run by the School of Languages and Area Studies. Another semester abroad can be made in the United States of America at Moorhead State University, Minnesota.

History

The University was founded as the Portsmouth and Gosport School of Science and the Arts in 1869. Due to the dependence on shipping and trade to the city, the main function of the college was to train the engineers and skilled workmen who went on to work at the city docks, as well as at the large Royal Navy base situated in Portsmouth. However, due to a decline in shipping and population since the World War II, when large swathes of the city were destroyed by German bombing, the college was forced to diversify in terms of its syllabus and teaching in order to attract new students. This steadily continued until the 1960s when, due to a massive government-sponsored expansion in Higher Education, the college was renamed Portsmouth Polytechnic. Along with this new name came the power for Portsmouth to award degrees, accredited and validated by the National Centralised CNNA. The expansion of the polytechnic continued and in the late 1980s, it was considered one of the largest and the best performing polytechnics in the UK. It narrowly missed being awarded university status in its own right in 1990, and instead was awarded university status with the power to validate its own degrees along with the other Polytechnics in 1992, under the provision of the Further and Higher Education Act, 1992.

Campus

The University is split between two campuses: Guildhall and Langstone.

Langstone is the smaller of the two campuses, located on the eastern edge of Portsea Island, the island on which the city of Portsmouth sits. The campus overlooks Langstone Harbour and it is home to the University's sports grounds. It also includes a canteen and bar, as well as a 'student village', which provides accommodation for 570 students in three halls of residence; Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother (QEQM), Trust and Langstone Flats. Students in QEQM and Langstone Flats have access to en-suite bathrooms. It used to be home of the University's School of Languages and Area Studies. The School has now moved into the Park Buliding on the Guildhall Campus.

The Guildhall site is much larger. Unlike most university campuses, it is not all enclosed on one tract of land, instead featuring various university buildings scattered throughout the centre of the city. This campus contains much of the University's teaching facilities, and nearly all of the Student Halls of residence (except the Langstone student village and two halls (Rees Hall and Burrell House) located on Victoria Promenade, the city's main esplanade).

The University's Frewen Library is currently being extended at a cost of £11 million, and is due to be re-opened in mid October. The University has also in recent years invested in the Science Faculty, in particular through the renovation of its aluminium-clad main buliding, St Michael's. The Nuffield Sports Centre used by the Faculty is also being expanded. A new school has been created in the faculty (the School of Professionals Complementary to Dentistry) which opened in 2005, and is housed in the William Beatty Building. Its Head of School, Sara Holmes, was awarded an MBE in the 2006 Queen's Birthday honours list. Across the University there is a programme of renovation and expansion of teaching facilities.

There was a third campus called Milton, located in the Milton area of the city. However, this has since been demolished. The Portsmouth Business School has since moved into the Richmond Building and became part of the Guildhall campus in 2004, and was opened by the current Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King.

Student Union

UPSU (University of Portsmouth Student Union), an affiliated member of the National Union of Students, is based in a large purpose-built facility in the Gulidhall Campus, close to most of the Halls of Residence. The Union cost £6.5 million to build in 2002, and houses two bars, a nightclub and a grocery shop, along with other retail outlets such as a bookshop. Following financial difficulties in 2005, UPSU was re-structured and is now a registered charity, under the direct control of the University. As a result of this new investment, in October 2005 the Union was redeveloped, in particular its bars, and this could allow for extra teaching and exam space. However, this intrusion by the University proper into the affairs of the traditionally separate Students' Union was not greeted with great enthusiasm by all students.

Student activities

The University offers a wide range of sports clubs, and fields teams in many competitions and in BUSA leagues. The sports on offer vary from traditional team games like Football, Rugby Union, and Cricket to Aquapush, a form of under-water hockey. Notably, the University is home to the longest running university Paintball club in the United Kingdom. Unsurprisingly given Portsmouth's rich maritime history and location, Sailing and Rowing are also very popular, and the sailing team enters a team the for the annual Cowes Week regatta on the Isle of Wight.

The University has its own magazine, Pugwash, and also its own radio station, FM. The magazine was voted the best student magazine in the UK in the years 2000 and 2003. Both of the media outlets are open to anyone studying at the university, and they welcome a varied mixture of contributions.

Chancellorship

The Chancellor of the University is Lord Palumbo of Walbrook, a property developer who was once Chairman of the Arts Council of Great Britain. He sits as a Conservative peer in the House of Lords and was educated at Eton College and also Worcester College, Oxford.

The Vice-Chancellor is Professor John Craven. Professor Craven is an economist, and was educated at the University of Cambridge and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Notable Alumni

Simon Armitage - Poet
David Chidgey, Baron Chidgey of Hamble-le-Rice in the County of Hampshire - Liberal Democrat politician
Ron Davies - Former Labour Politician and Former Secretary of State for Wales
Ben Fogle - Television presenter and Travel writer
Rachel Lowe - Game Designer, Entrepreneur & Head of RTL Games
Diana Maddock, Baroness Maddock - Liberal Democrat politician
Andrew Miller - Labour politician
Ricky Salmon - Radio presenter
Howie Watkins - Television presenter and "Performance Biologist"
Kate Edmondson - Television presenter of TMF UK's 'The Loaded Hour'
Grayson Perry - Artist winner of the 2003 Turner Prize
Shirley Conran - Writer

External links

Education in Hampshire | Portsmouth | Universities in England