University of Portsmouth

The University of Portsmouth is a public university in the city of Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. It was previously known as Portsmouth Polytechnic from 1969 until 1992, when it was granted university status through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. It is ranked among the Top 100 universities under 50 in the world.

University of Portsmouth
Former names
Portsmouth Polytechnic
MottoLatin: Lucem Sequamur
Motto in English
Let us follow the Light
TypePublic
Established1992: University of Portsmouth (gained university status)
1969: Portsmouth Polytechnic
1953: Portsmouth College of Technology
1908: Portsmouth Municipal College
1870: Portsmouth and Gosport School of Science and Art
Endowment£1.79 m (as of 2012)[1]
ChancellorKaren Blackett[2]
Vice-ChancellorGraham Galbraith[2]
Academic staff
1,490[3]
Students25,515 HE (2018/19)[4]
Undergraduates21,090 (2018/19)[4]
Postgraduates4,425 (2018/19)[4]
Other students
125 FE[5]
Location
Portsmouth
,
Hampshire, England, UK
CampusUrban
ColoursPurple     
Black     
White     
AffiliationsUniversity Alliance
The Channel Islands Universities Consortium
Universities UK
Websitewww.port.ac.uk

The university offers a range of disciplines, from Pharmacy, International relations and politics, to Mechanical Engineering, Mathematics, Paleontology, Criminology, Criminal Justice, among others. The University is a member of the University Alliance[6] and The Channel Islands Universities Consortium.[7] Alumni include Tim Peake, Grayson Perry, Simon Armitage and Ben Fogle.

History

The roots of the University can be traced back to the Portsmouth and Gosport School of Science and Art.[8] which opened in 1870 and was funded by subscription. Technical education (including science-based subjects) later became the responsibility of the local authority, which founded Portsmouth Municipal Technical Institute in 1894 to fulfil this function.[9] However, the city required a permanent purpose-built home for technical education and as a consequence Portsmouth Municipal College was constructed on a site behind Portsmouth Guildhall.[10] Portsmouth Municipal College opened in 1908 (the new college replaced Portsmouth Municipal Technical Institute, although many of the staff transferred to the new institution) and the building also incorporated the College of Art, Portsmouth Day Training College for teachers and a public library.[11] The original college building is still in use by the University of Portsmouth and is now known as Park Building.

In 1911 two Student Unions were established for male and female students; as early records from the Student Union newspaper The Galleon show.[8]

From 1945 to 1960 the college diversified its syllabus adding arts and humanities subjects after World War II, in response to a decline in the need for engineering skills. In 1953 the institution changed its name to Portsmouth College of Technology.[12] The college gained polytechnic status in 1969 and by the late 1980s was one of the largest polytechnics in the UK . On 7 July 1992 the inauguration of the University of Portsmouth was celebrated at a ceremony at Portsmouth Guildhall. As a new university, it could validate its own degrees, under the provision of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. On Friday 4 May 2018, the University of Portsmouth was revealed as the main shirt sponsor of Portsmouth F.C. for the 2018–19, 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons.[13]

Campuses

The university is split between the University Quarter, which is centred around the Portsmouth Guildhall area, and the Langstone Campus.

Langstone Campus

Langstone is the smaller of the two campuses, located in Milton on the eastern edge of Portsea Island. The campus overlooks Langstone Harbour and it is home to the university's sports grounds. It also houses a restaurant for the students and provides accommodation for 565 students in three halls of residence: Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother (QEQM), Trust Hall and Langstone Flats.

Langstone Campus used to be home of the University's School of Languages and Area Studies, which has since moved into Park Building in the University Quarter.

University Quarter

The University Quarter is a collection of university buildings located around the centre of the city. This area contains most 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 Southsea Terrace.

The University Library (formerly the Frewen Library) was extended in 2006 at a cost of £11 million.[14] It was opened by the crime writer P. D. James. The University has also recently invested in the Faculty of Science, in particular by renovating the aluminium-clad main building, St Michael's.

A new faculty called "Creative and Cultural Industries" was opened in September 2006.

Military Technological College of Oman

On 7 June 2013, the University of Portsmouth announced its partnership with the Military Technological College of Oman. This involves the University of Portsmouth providing academic guidance and academic accreditation for the education of 4,200 students with technical roles in armed services and a few civilian employers in the Sultanate of Oman.[15] This has been criticised by the student Amnesty International Society and by Campaign Against the Arms Trade who consider Oman an authoritarian regime, likely to use military capabilities on their own citizens or in regional conflicts.[16]

  • Anglesea buildings
  • Greetham halls
  • James Watson building
  • Park building
  • University House
  • Sports fields
  • St Michael's building
  • Dennis Sciama building
  • Eldon building
  • Library
  • Ravelin House
  • Portsmouth business school

Organisation and structure

Governance

Portsmouth is formally headed by the Chancellor, currently Karen Blackett.[17] The Chancellor is largely a ceremonial role; Portsmouth is run day-to-day by the Vice-Chancellor, presently Graham Galbraith, along with a single integrated decision-making body known as the University Executive Board https://www.port.ac.uk/about-us/structure-and-governance/our-people/university-executive-board. This includes Pro Vice-Chancellors, the Director of Finance and the Executive Deans of Faculties, together with the Chief Operating Officer, the Director of Human Resources and the University Secretary and Clerk.[18]

Faculties

The University of Portsmouth is composed of five faculties divided into 29 departments:[19]

Finances

The University of Portsmouth is worth £1.1 billion to the British economy and brings £476 million to the city, an independent assessment in 2017 has shown.[21]

Academic profile

Portsmouth offers more than 200 undergraduate degrees and 150 postgraduate degrees, as well as 65 research degree programs.[22]

The university formerly validated BSc (Hons) degrees in Acupuncture and MSc courses in Traditional Chinese medicine that were carried out by the London College of Traditional Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, a private education provider that collapsed in early 2011.[23]

Research

Over 60% of research submitted by the University to REF2014 was rated as world-leading and internationally excellent.[24] In two subject areas respectively - Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy, and Physics - 90% and 89% of all research submitted was rated as world leading and internationally excellent.[24]

In 2015, the University of Portsmouth won a £272,000 award from the Education and Training Foundation to research how best to deliver study programmes in the UK.[25]

In 2016, Dr Victoria Wang and Professor Mark Button, of the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies, were awarded £299,355 by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to investigate unintended consequences of data release, including those associated with issues of trust, identity, privacy and security. The project is in partnership with Swansea University's Department of Computer Science, the DVLA and other government agencies.[26]

In 2017 Alessandro Melis[27] and Steffen Lehmann created the interdisciplinary project CRUNCH: Climate Resilient Urban Nexus Choices: Operationalising the Food-Water-Energy Nexus. This is a £1.6 million research project funded by Horizon 2020, Belmont Forum, ESRC and other funding bodies. University of Portsmouth is leading the project. The partners are five universities from Miami, Eindhoven, Gdansk, Uppsala and Taiwan. Crunch involves universities, local authorities and small business.[28][29]

Rankings
Rankings
National rankings
Complete (2021)[30]53
Guardian (2020)[31]21
Times / Sunday Times (2020)[32]53
Global rankings
ARWU (2019)[33]501–600
QS (2020)[34]
601–650
THE (2020)[35]501–600
British Government assessment
Teaching Excellence Framework[36]Gold

The University of Portsmouth is one of only four universities in the south east to achieve the highest Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).[37][38]

The University was ranked 21st by The Guardian University Guide 2020,[39] 51st by The Complete University Guide 2019[40] and 53rd by The Sunday Times University Guide 2018.[41]

Internationally, the University was ranked 98th in Times Higher Education's ‘100 under 50’ rankings of international modern universities 2017.[42]

Portsmouth was rated in the top 401 – 500 universities in the world by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2017.[42]

Student life
Students' Union

The University of Portsmouth Students’ Union (UPSU) is a registered charity that represents and supports all UoP students, who automatically become members upon registering for their course. The Students’ Union offers members support services, development opportunities and represent them at different levels throughout the University, in the community and beyond.

The earliest record of the Union is in the September 1911 edition of The Galleon student magazine. From 1965, the Union was based in Union House - now St Paul's Gym - on St Pauls Road. In 1983, it moved to the ex-NAAFI building, Alexandra House, where it remained for 19 years. Since 2002, the union has been situated at the north end of Ravelin Park. The Union previously housed two nightclubs, Lux and Co2, but these were closed and redeveloped for other uses in 2009.[43]

The Union Advice Service offers confidential, impartial and non-judgemental support. The service delivers a range of academic & non-academic, information, advice, and guidance to the students of the University of Portsmouth and partner institutions. The service also undertakes other activities and events throughout the year to promote the health and wellbeing of students. The Advice Service is based in Gun House at The Union, next door to Cafe Coco. Portsmouth was named the UK's most affordable city for students in the Natwest Student Living Index 2016.[44]

Societies and sports clubs

The Union supports a range of student-led groups that provide extra-curricular opportunities to students. There are over 190 sports clubs, societies, media groups and volunteering opportunities. Students can also create new societies with the support of the Union.

The Students' Union offers a range of sports clubs which are administered by the Athletic Union[45] The sports range from traditional team games like athletics, football, cricket, rugby union, netball, trampolining, and table tennis to octopush (a form of underwater hockey), lacrosse and pole dancing. As of July 2017 there are 44 different sports clubs .[46]

The Students' Union runs a number of volunteering projects, such as HEFCE's Volunteering Team of the Year.[47] In 2010, the Union was awarded a £15,000 grant to work with elderly residents in the city.[48]

Student media

The university has four main media outlets. The Galleon the student newspaper, Pugwash the student magazine and is the oldest student media attached to the university, Victory Studios the student television station and Pure FM, the student radio station, which works alongside local radio stations including Express FM.

Notable people

Faculty
  • Matthew Weait, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Alumni

Notable students of the University of Portsmouth and its predecessor institutions include

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gollark: Oh, and DC logins, too.
gollark: The API just tells you about dragons, when provided their code. That's it.
gollark: It's hardly sensitive information.
gollark: Oh, and the fact that for some reason you need a key instead of it just being available to any user.

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  2. "About Us". University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
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  4. "Where do HE students study?". Higher Education Statistics Agency. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
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  7. "University Partnerships:Channel Islands University Consortium". States of Guernsey Education Department. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
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  10. Thomas, James (1998). ‘To Meet All Competition: Park Building and the Provision of Education in Portsmouth 1908 – 1997 – Studies in the History of the University of Portsmouth No.1. University of Portsmouth.
  11. Thomas, James (1998). ‘To Meet All Competition: Park Building and the Provision of Education in Portsmouth 1908 – 1997 – Studies in the History of the University of Portsmouth No.1. University of Portsmouth.
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