University of Southampton Degree: From the Hartley Institution to a Global Research University
The University of Southampton is a research university located in Southampton, England. The Hartley Institution was founded in 1862 as a consequence of a bequest from Henry Robinson Hartley. The institution was originally established to serve education for the local community but it gradually developed its academic role to become Hartley College in 1896 and Hartley University College in 1902. In the early twentieth century the university moved to its present Highfield campus.
On 29 April 1952 Southampton became an independent university when it was granted a Royal Charter by Queen Elizabeth II. The charter conferred the right to award its own degrees and formally created the University of Southampton. It had previously awarded degrees through the University of London.
A University of Southampton Degree can be obtained from five faculties: Arts and Humanities; Engineering and Physical Sciences; Environmental and Life Sciences; Medicine and Social Sciences. Courses range from engineering, medicine and computer science to history, business, archeology, languages, music and the visual arts.
Faculties and Academic Programs at University of Southampton
The main university campus is Highfield Campus, which includes the Hartley Library, Students’ Union and many of its main teaching facilities. Other sites include Avenue Campus for humanities, Boldrewood Innovation Campus for engineering and business, the Waterfront Campus at the National Oceanography Center and facilities at the University Hospital Southampton. The Winchester School of Art is located in nearby Winchester.
Southampton is international too. The University of Southampton’s engineering and business programs at the University of Southampton Malaysia are now complemented by courses in subjects like business, economics, computer science and finance at the Gurugram, India campus.
Research has been at the heart of Southampton’s development. Its work covers engineering, electronics, ocean and earth sciences, medicine, environmental sciences, humanities and social research. The university has a particularly long history of technological research, for example its Department of Electronics was founded in 1947 and was one of the first such university departments in Britain. The University of Southampton, originally a nineteenth-century educational establishment, has grown into a large multidisciplinary university with teaching and research activities in the UK and internationally.