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University of Portsmouth

Coordinates: 50°47′43″N 1°05′37″W / 50.795307°N 1.093601°W / 50.795307; -1.093601
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University of Portsmouth
MottoLucem Sequamur (Latin)
Let us follow the Light
TypePublic
Established1869 - Portsmouth and Gosport School of Science and the Arts
1992 - gained University status
Endowment£1.62m[1]
ChancellorSandi Toksvig
Vice-ChancellorProfessor John Craven
Students21,827[2]
Undergraduates18,219[2]
Postgraduates3,385[2]
Other students
223 FE[2]
Location
Portsmouth
,
England, UK
CampusUrban
ColoursPurple  
Black  
White  
AffiliationsUniversity Alliance
Association of Commonwealth Universities
European University Association
The Channel Islands Universities Consortium
Websitehttp://www.port.ac.uk/

The University of Portsmouth is a university in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. It was created in 1992, from Portsmouth Polytechnic. The University is a member of the University Alliance.[3]

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 dockyard situated in Portsmouth. However, due to a decline in shipping and population since World War II, when large swathes of the city were destroyed by German bombing, the college was forced to diversify its syllabus and teaching in order to attract new students.

In the expansion of British Higher Education in the 1960s, the college was renamed Portsmouth Polytechnic and given the power to award degrees accredited and validated by the CNAA. The expansion of the polytechnic continued and in the late 1980s, it was one of the largest polytechnics in the UK.

In 1992, Portsmouth and other polytechnics were granted university status with power to validate their own degrees under the provision of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. The formal inauguration of the University of Portsmouth was celebrated at a ceremony in the Portsmouth Guildhall on 7 July 1992.

Campuses

The University is split between two main areas, the University Quarter, which is centred around the Portsmouth Guildhall area and 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 onsite, as well as a 'student village' feel, which provides accommodation for 565 students in three halls of residence; Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother (QEQM), Trust Hall and Langstone Flats. Rooms in QEQM and Langstone Flats are en-suite.

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 city's main esplanade).

The University Library (formerly the Frewen Library) was extended in 2006 at a cost of £11 million.[4] Although originally due to open in October 2006, it was not complete until January 2007, when 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, adjacent to James Watson Hall, named after the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA.

A new faculty called "Creative and Cultural Industries" was opened in September 2006. It aims to provide a unique environment in which all aspects of creative thinking will flourish and develop by combining creative schools from across the university.

Organisation and structure

Portsmouth Business School

  • Department of Accounting and Finance
  • Department of Economics
  • Department of Human Resource and Marketing Management
  • Department of Strategy and Business Systems
  • School of Law

Faculty of Engineering & Technology

  • School of Civil Engineering and Surveying
  • School of Computing
  • Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation
  • School of Engineering
  • Department of Mathematics

Faculty of Science

  • School of Biological Sciences
  • School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
  • Department of Geography
  • Dental Academy
  • School of Health Sciences and Social Work
  • Institute of Marine Sciences
  • School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences
  • Department of Psychology
  • Department of Sport and Exercise Science
  • The Expert Centre (CETL)

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

  • Institute of Criminal Justice Studies
  • School of Education and Continuing Studies
  • School of Languages and Area Studies
  • School of Social, Historical, and Literary Studies
  • Foundation Direct (CETL)

Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries

  • Portsmouth School of Architecture
  • School of Art, Design, and Media
  • School of Creative Arts, Film, and Media
  • School of Creative Technologies
  • Portsmouth Centre for Enterprise
  • Institute of Industrial Research

Academic profile

Alternative medicine courses

The university validates a professional doctorate programme in chiropractic for the Anglo-European College of Chiropractic, a private college.[5] 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.[6]

Reputation and rankings

Portsmouth has been rated as the fifth best modern university in the UK by The Times Good University Guide[7] and 60th overall.[8]

UK University Rankings
2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993
Guardian University Guide 56 67[9] 65[10] 66 63[11] 59 - 58[12] 64 61[13] 60
Times Good University Guide 63[14] 67 58 56 61[15] 59 67 67 61 67 62 69= 69= 69= 68 62= 61 64= 63= 57= 59
Sunday Times University Guide 53 55 58 62 60 58 60 63 64 66 60 57 60 61 66 66=
The Complete University Guide 57[16] 61[16] 63[17] 62 60[18] 66
The Daily Telegraph 56[19] 60
FT 63 61 65 56

Student life

Students' Union

Students' Union

The Students' Union provides a wide range of services and learner support to students of the University. The Union is a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity. It exists as a students’ union within the definitions of the Education Act 1994. In June 2010, the University of Portsmouth Students' Union was the first students' union in England and Wales to register as a full charity in order to comply with legislation introduced in 2006.[20][21][22]

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 current Union building was voted best Union in the UK in the New Musical Express in 2004. It houses a student activities centre, a social learning space, a bar, a radio station [23] and a computer help store. It is also connected to a Co-Op and Blackwells bookshop. The Union previously housed two nightclubs, Lux and Co2, but these were closed and redeveloped for other uses in 2009.[24]

The Students' Union offers a range of sports clubs[25] from traditional team games like football, rugby union, netball and cricket to Octopush, a form of underwater hockey and lacrosse. The University is also home to the longest-running university paintball club in the UK[citation needed]. Every year, the sailing club enters a team the for the annual Cowes Week regatta on the Isle of Wight. There is also a range of extreme sports available, including wakeboarding, surfing, climbing, skiing and snowboarding.

As well as sporting activities, the union offers social groups, such as the award winning Amnesty Student Group,[26] Juggling, Afro-Caribbean, LGBT, Pagan and Spiritual,[27](registration required) Christian Union and Geography societies. There are also course-oriented societies such as the Politics Society, Brightsparks Enterprise Society[28] (affiliated with the Portsmouth Centre of Enterprise), the Property Development Society (based in the School of Civil Engineering & Surveying), and the Student Law Society. Despite not offering a degree in Music, the University has a full-time music department offering instrumental lessons and ensembles. These include the Choir, Orchestra, Wind Band and Big Band.

The Students' Union runs a number of volunteering projects, such as HEFCE's Volunteering Team of the Year.[29] In 2010, the Union was awarded a £15,000 grant to work with elderly residents in the city.[30]

People

University officers

The current Chancellor, as of 31st October 2012, is Sandi Toksvig [31] who studied law, archaeology, and anthropology at Cambridge, and received an honorary degree from University of Portsmouth in 2010.

Former Chancellors include Sheila Hancock CBE,[32] who received an honorary degree from the University in 2005 in recognition of her services to drama and Lord Palumbo of Walbrook, a property developer who was once Chairman of the Arts Council of Great Britain.

The Vice-Chancellor is Professor John Craven, who was appointed in 1997. Professor Craven is an economist, and was educated at the University of Cambridge and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He previously was a professor of economics at the University of Kent. The Deputy Vice-Chancellor is Rebecca Bunting and the Pro-Vice-Chancellor is Doctor David Arrell.

Notable alumni

References

  1. ^ http://www.port.ac.uk/departments/services/finance/PublishedFinancialAccounts/filetodownload,105551,en.pdf
  2. ^ a b c d "Table 0a - All students by institution, mode of study, level of study, gender and domicile 2006/07" (Microsoft Excel spreadsheet). Higher Education Statistics Agency. Retrieved 2008-04-12.
  3. ^ "Helping build a strong future for UK universities". University Alliance. 2012-12-14. Retrieved 2013-01-04.
  4. ^ "Library | University of Portsmouth". Port.ac.uk. Retrieved 2013-01-04.
  5. ^ "Anglo-European College of Chiropractic". Retrieved 2 Feb 2011.
  6. ^ Simon Baker (27 January 2011). "No relief for acupuncture students as private college collapses in debt". Times Higher Education.
  7. ^ Asthana, Anushka (2007-09-23). "University of Portsmouth". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 25 July 2008. Retrieved 2010-05-27. {{cite news}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 24 July 2008 suggested (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ Asthana, Anushka. "THE SUNDAY TIMES UNIVERSITY GUIDE". London: The Sunday Times. Retrieved 14 September 2010. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help) [dead link]
  9. ^ "University guide 2013: University league table". The Guardian. 21 May 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  10. ^ "University guide 2011: University league table". The Guardian. London. 2010-06-08.
  11. ^ "University guide". The Guardian. London. 2008-02-10. Retrieved 2010-07-27.
  12. ^ "University guide". The Guardian. London. 2008-02-10. Retrieved 2010-04-26.
  13. ^ "Univ2004~subject~subjects~Institution-wide~Institution-wide~~~3". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2010-04-26.
  14. ^ "University of Portsmouth". Which?. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  15. ^ Watson, Roland; Elliott, Francis; Foster, Patrick. The Times. London http://extras.timesonline.co.uk/tol_gug/gooduniversityguide.php. Retrieved 2010-04-26. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help) [dead link]
  16. ^ a b "University League Table 2013". Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  17. ^ "Business Studies - Top UK University Subject Tables and Rankings 2011". Complete University Guide. Retrieved 2013-01-04.
  18. ^ http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/single.htm?ipg=6524
  19. ^ "University league table". The Daily Telegraph. London. 2007-07-30.
  20. ^ "Portsmouth become first students' union to register as a charity". NUS. Retrieved 2013-01-04.
  21. ^ Jacob Leverett (02 June 2010). "Union registers as charity". UPSU.net. Archived from the original on 7 November 2011. Retrieved 2013-01-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  22. ^ [1][dead link]
  23. ^ http://purefm.com/#
  24. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/8093124.stm. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help) [dead link]
  25. ^ "Activities". Upsu.net. Retrieved 2013-01-04.
  26. ^ [2][dead link]
  27. ^ https://www.facebook.com/groups/pompeypaggles/members/
  28. ^ www.uopbrightsparks.com
  29. ^ http://www.nus.org.uk/Student-Life/Volunteering/Credits-for-your-career-/
  30. ^ Published on Monday 29 March 2010 12:29 (2010-03-29). "Old folk and students to learn from each other". Portsmouth.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-01-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  31. ^ "Sandi Toksvig becomes Chancellor". October 21, 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012. {{cite news}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
  32. ^ Portsmouth Today - May 16 2007 accessed May 16, 2007 Template:Wayback

50°47′43″N 1°05′37″W / 50.795307°N 1.093601°W / 50.795307; -1.093601

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