University of Southampton

The University of Southampton is one of the world’s top 150 institutions for employability and is ranked in the UK’s Top 20 best institutions for employability, according to the QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2017.

Ranked among the top 20 UK universities targeted by top 100 graduate recruiters (Graduate Market, 2016), the University offers over 400 internships annually.

The University of Southampton’s award-winning careers and employability team helps students access a variety of services including placement, volunteering and work experience support, and mentoring and internship programmes.

The career department has also won several accolades including:

• National Undergraduate Employability’s Most Improved commitment to Employability 2017
• Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) Award for Partnership with Professional Services winner 2016
• AGCAS Award for Academic Engagement Winner 2016

The University’s recent online career support platform, MyCareer, offers extensive and varied work experience programmes, jobs board, employer events, careers fairs and skills workshops to its students. All of these are well-equipped to help students explore and reach their career goals.

The employment rate of the University’s graduates, including both employment and further study, is 95.5% in the latest UK Performance Indicators 2016/17 for Employment of leavers. According to the Guardian University Guide 2019, the graduate level destinations of the University’s graduates is 80.2%.

The University also helps in the development of its doctoral candidates. The University of Southampton Doctoral College is a focal point for the training and development of doctoral researchers across the University, and aims to provide an inspiring and vibrant environment for students’ research and to equip them with the skills they will need to join the next generation of research leaders.

A Russell Group University

The University of Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group - an organisation of 24 top UK universities committed to maintaining the highest research and teaching standards. The University is 8th in the UK, in terms of research intensity (the latest Research Excellence Framework 2014).

As part of the Russell Group, the University works in partnership with other universities to combine resources, in projects such as its GBP 25 million state-of-the-art Cancer Immunology Centre, and builds strong relationships with the business sector, among others.

Membership of the Russell Group is widely considered an indicator of quality university education. Academics and employers all over the world recognise its significance.

Attracting world-class experts

Russell Group universities attract the best academics working on the most innovative research projects.

Studying at Southampton, students will be taught and supervised by world-renowned academics, leaders in their fields. Its wide-ranging and world-leading research projects inform the University’s teaching, and students will benefit from academic staff who are engaged in current research topics.

Strong business connections

The University has strong connections to the business community. All Russell Group members strive to maintain good relationships with business leaders in order to ensure that its courses are relevant for their needs, and that its research helps to solve important issues they face.

Businesses which have a strong working relationship with the University of Southampton, and frequently offer internship and apprenticeship programmes which are ideally suited to the skills of its graduates, thereby increasing their employability prospects.

Studying abroad

Being connected to a large number of Erasmus Universities across Europe and with international exchange opportunities across the world Southampton provides mostly undergraduate students with the opportunity to study abroad. For all levels, there are summer school opportunities around the world.

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The University’s faculties are:

• Faculty of Arts and Humanities
• Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences
• Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences
• Faculty of Medicine
• Faculty of Social Sciences

These faculties are in the University’s campuses:

Highfield Campus

The Highfield Campus is home to many innovative buildings, lively music venues, and great sports and leisure facilities. Home of the innovative Life Sciences Building whichprovides an integrated research base where life sciences staff and students can work with scientists and engineers from other areas within the University.

Winchester Campus

Home to the Winchester School of Art (WSA), the Campus’ up-to-date facilities include the Creative Services Centre with large scale printers, a flat-bed printer, and a Mimaki wallpaper printer.

Avenue Campus

Historic Avenue Campus, located facing out onto Southampton Common park is home to many of the Southampton’s humanities subjects. Students can study in the Campus' own library, which includes the Humanities course collection, and a collection of 4,000 films in many modern languages.

Waterfront Campus

Waterfront Campus houses The National Oceanography Centre Southampton (NOCS), one of the world's leading research centres for the study of ocean and earth sciences.

Boldrewood Innovation Campus

The Campus houses the University’s centre for innovation, business, and education in maritime engineering and engineering sciences. Construction Engineering company, Lloyd’s Register is also based on this campus and shares links with the maritime engineering at Southampton.

University Hospital Southampton

Medical students at the University of Southampton will be based at the University Hospital Southampton. As well as lecture theatres, the facilities include the Centre for Learning Anatomical Sciences, with both histology and wet labs, and a Clinical Skills area.

English Language Proficiency

All programmes at the University of Southampton are taught and assessed in the medium of English (other than those in modern languages). All applicants must demonstrate that they possess at least a minimum standard of English language proficiency - an IELTS score of 6.5 on average, for both the undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Individual course requirements may vary, however, so please check before applying.

In addition to the University’s own English language proficiency requirements, the UK Home Office sets its own minimum standards for applicants requiring a visa to study in the UK. The current requirements are that:

Applicants required to study the University's pre-sessional English programmes must obtain a satisfactory IELTS (Academic) result taken at a UKVI-approved test centre.

Approved tests and providers

Applicants not required to study the University's pre-sessional English programmes may take any of the tests or qualifications listed below:

The University of Southampton accepts the following English Language Tests:

• International English Language Testing System IELTS (Academic)
• Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)
• Pearson PTE (Academic)
• Cambridge English: Proficiency and Advanced
• Cambridge English First (FCE) – only acceptable to applicants applying for foundation year programmes
• Trinity College London ISE (Integrated Skills in English)

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Campus learning facilities

84% of the University’s students were satisfied with course quality, according to National Student Survey (NSS), 2017. The award-winning facilities include:

• The Electronic and Computer Science Mountbatten Building home to three clean rooms totalling 810m2 combined
• Creative Services Centre at the Winchester School of Art offering specialist printing facilities
• World-class wind tunnel complex, named after R.J. Mitchell, designer of the spitfire fighter plane
• Multi-use Research Aquarium at the Waterfront Campus
• Five libraries across the University

Accommodation

The University offers several accommodation options for students including:

• Room type

There are a number of different room type options available to suit every student’s needs and budget. Individual students can avail standard rooms with shared kitchen facilities, rooms with private bathrooms and self-contained studio flats.

• Halls of residence

The University provides a total of ten halls of residence complexes. Students will need to consider a number of factors when choosing their halls complex and they will be required to make either two or three choices for their application, depending on their level of study.

Unaccompanied international students are guaranteed a place in university accommodation for the duration of their studies in the UK.

Transport

A UniLink bus pass is included in Southampton-based hall fees.

Sports facilities

The University’s state-of-the-art sports facilities help students to learn a new sport, train, compete, or just have fun. The Students' Union (Union Southampton) has over 80 sports clubs and students can use a range of facilties belonging to the University and wider community, including indoor and outdoor pitches and courts, watersports facilities, gyms in certain halls of residence and Southampton Alpine Snowsports centre.

Societies, clubs and fitness

Students can make new friends and learn a new skill over 300 clubs and societies supported and funded through the Students’ Union. From taekwondo to tap dance and skydiving, there are clubs catered for sports, social and cultural interests.