The University of Southampton is a research university located in Southampton, England.
The university's origins date back to the founding of the Hartley Institution in 1862. In 1902, the Institution developed into the Hartley University College, awarding degrees from the University of London.
On 29 April 1952, the institution was granted full university status, allowing it to award its own degrees. Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities in Britain.
In the most recent Research Excellence Framework the university was ranked 18th in the United Kingdom for average quality of research submitted, 11th for research power and 8th for research intensity.
The university has seven teaching campuses.
The main campus is located in the Highfield area of Southampton and is supplemented by four other campuses within the city: Avenue Campus housing the Faculty of Humanities, the National Oceanography Centre housing courses in Ocean and Earth Sciences, Southampton General Hospital offering courses in Medicine and Health Sciences, and Boldrewood Campus an engineering and maritime technology campus housing also the university's strategic ally Lloyd's Register.
In addition, the university operates a School of Art based in nearby Winchester and an international branch in Malaysia offering courses in Engineering.
Each campus is equipped with its own library facilities.
The University of Southampton currently has 17,535 undergraduate and 7,650 postgraduate students, making it the largest university by higher education students in the South East region. The University of Southampton Students' Union, provides support, representation and social activities for the students ranging from involvement in the Union's four media outlets to any of the 200 affiliated societies and 80 sports.
