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University of Portsmouth
Public university in Portsmouth, England From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The University of Portsmouth (UoP) is a public university with city campuses in Portsmouth and Walthamstow, England.[9][10] Its institutional origins trace back to 1870 with the establishment of the Portsmouth and Gosport School of Science and Art.[11] Over the subsequent decades, the institution underwent a series of organisational transformations, becoming Portsmouth Polytechnic in 1969 before gaining university status in 1992. Today, the university is structured into five faculties and offers a wide range of academic disciplines across the fields of business and law, creative and cultural industries, humanities, sciences, and technology.[12] During the 2021/22 HESA reporting year, it enrolled over 28,000 students, comprising both undergraduate and postgraduate cohorts, and employed around 3,500 academic and professional staff.[13][14]
Globally, the university is recognised for its strong emphasis on applied research, particularly in fields such as cosmology, astrophysics, criminology, cyber security, and environmental science. In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF), 77% of its submitted research was rated as internationally excellent or world-leading.[15][16] Portsmouth is regularly ranked among the UK’s leading modern universities, noted for teaching quality, student satisfaction, and graduate employability. In 2023, it was one of only five universities in the South East of England to be awarded the highest rating of Gold in the national Teaching Excellence Framework.[17] As a civic university, it plays a pivotal role in regional economic and cultural development and maintains strategic partnerships with local government, industry, and international academic bodies.[18] Its coastal location, and proximity to the Navy Command, confer a unique maritime heritage and enduring links with naval and defence sectors.
The University is governed by the Board of Governors, which holds ultimate responsibility for strategic direction and institutional accountability.[19] Day-to-day executive authority is delegated to the Vice-Chancellor, who is supported by the University Executive Board (UEB), the University’s principal executive body for integrated leadership and decision-making.[20] Academic governance is overseen by the Academic Council, the institution’s highest academic authority, responsible for maintaining academic standards, quality assurance, and the development of educational and research policy.[21] Ceremonially, the university is headed by a Chancellor, currently Karen Blackett a British Barbadian businesswoman known for her work in the advertising industry.
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History
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19th century
The University of Portsmouth traces its roots back to 1 June 1870 (or 1869 according to some sources) when it was first established as the Portsmouth and Gosport School of Science and Art.[22][23][24] During the late 19th century, the school occupied several buildings in Old Portsmouth and Southsea.[25] The main premises, located at the Crown Sale Rooms in Pembroke Street, was attended by both male and female students.[25][23] Due to its coastal location, the school provided technical instruction to engineers and skilled workers, who often graduated to work at the city docks, including for the Royal Navy at the Portsmouth Royal Dockyard.[26] The curriculum comprised a range of skills including practical geometry, artistic anatomy, and architectural and mechanical drawing.[23] Additionally, the school provided evening classes for local artisans.[23]
Portsmouth Municipal Technical Institute and the College of Art
In 1894, following education reforms which vested local authorities with control over technical and manual education, the Borough of Portsmouth established the Portsmouth Municipal Technical Institute.[27][28] Having acquired the school's science and technology courses, the Portsmouth and Gosport School of Science and Art was restructured to become the College of Art.[25][29]
20th century
In 1903, following the enactment of the Education Act 1902, construction began on a site behind the Portsmouth Guildhall.[30][31] Designed by local architect G.E. Smith and completed in 1908, the building incorporates a combination of Flemish and Renaissance architectural styles.[31] In the same year, the Portsmouth Municipal Technical Institute was succeeded by the newly established Portsmouth Municipal College.[30][32] Providing a range of further and higher education courses in chemistry and engineering, the college occupied the building together with the College of Art, the Portsmouth Day Training College, and a public reference library.[23][27][33] Today, the grade II listed building remains in use by the university and has since become known as the Park Building, having been named after an adjacent urban park known as Victoria Park.[31]
In 1911, male and female Students' union were established.[23] In autumn of 1911, the first addition of student magazine The Galleon, reported the creation of a women's basketball team and expressed discontent over the state of the common room.[23]
Following World War II, there was a decline in the need for engineering skills in Britain.[why?] In response, the college diversified its curriculum to include the arts and humanities.[27]
In 1953, the Portsmouth Municipal College, having changed its name to the Portsmouth College of Technology, became the Regional College for Southern England.[23]
The college was renamed Portsmouth Polytechnic after it 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.
21st century
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.[34]
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Campuses
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The University of Portsmouth campus is spread across Portsmouth city centre, including the Guildhall Campus and the nearby Northern Quarter. There are also sports facilities and halls of residence at Langstone in Milton, on the eastern edge of Portsea Island, as well as a recently established London Campus.
Guildhall Campus
Located in the city centre, Guildhall Campus includes most of the University’s teaching buildings and student accommodation, alongside key facilities such as the University Library, Students’ Union, and Ravelin Sports Centre. The campus blends historic and modern architecture, with highlights including the Park Building, the University’s original site, and the White Swan Building, a contemporary performing arts centre linked to the New Theatre Royal. Other major buildings include St Michael’s Building (pharmacy and biomedical sciences) and King Henry Building (psychology and biological sciences). The nearby Ravelin Park offers green space for events and relaxation, while Guildhall Square hosts graduation ceremonies.
The University Library (formerly the Frewen Library) was extended in 2006 at a cost of £11 million.[35]
Northern Quarter
The Northern Quarter lies just north of the railway line and is home to key academic departments for engineering, science, business, law, and the humanities. Notable buildings include the Anglesea Building (engineering and law), Richmond Building (Portsmouth Business School), and the Dennis Sciama Building, home to the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation and student café The Hub. The Milldam Building houses humanities in a former military barracks, while Burnaby, Buckingham, Lion Gate, and the Future Technology Centre support disciplines including computing, earth sciences, and civil engineering. The sustainable Portland Building hosts surveying and property development programmes.
Langstone
The Langstone Campus is located on the edge of Langstone Harbour and hosts the Langstone Sports Site. The site also includes Langstone Halls, quieter coastal accommodation ideal for students involved in sport.[36]
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. It also used to be home to three halls of residence: Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother (QEQM), Trust Hall and Langstone Flats.
London Campus
In September 2023, the University opened its London Campus in Walthamstow. Offering a block-teaching model with fixed timetables and integrated assessments, the campus aims to support local economic growth and job creation.
Future Campus Investment
The University is investing £250 million into its city-centre campus to create world-class facilities for teaching, research, and innovation. Recent developments include the award-winning Ravelin Sports Centre, with a Student Hub and Technology Building in development.[citation needed]
Anglesea buildings
James Watson building
St Andrew's Court
Park building
University House
St Michael's building
Dennis Sciama building
Library
Ravelin House
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Organisation and structure
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Governance
The university is ceremonially headed by Karen Blackett, who was installed as chancellor in 2017.[37] The university is, however, run day-to-day by the vice-chancellor, presently Professor Graham Galbraith, along with a single integrated decision-making body known as the university executive board. This includes deputy vice-chancellors, the provost, the chief financial officer and the executive deans of faculties, together with the chief people officer and the executive director of corporate governance.[38]
The university's board of governors is the university’s governing body and is ultimately responsible for the university and all of its activities.
Faculties
The University of Portsmouth is composed of five faculties divided into a number of schools, institutes, academies and departments:[39]
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Faculty of Business and Law
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Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries
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Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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Faculty of Science and Health
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Faculty of Technology
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Finances
According to an independent assessment in 2017,[40] the University of Portsmouth is worth £1.1 billion to the British economy and brings £476 million to the city.
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Academic profile
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Portsmouth offers more than 200 undergraduate degrees and 150 postgraduate degrees, as well as 65 research degree programs.[41]
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.[42]
Research
Over 60% of research submitted by the university to REF2014 was rated as world-leading and internationally excellent.[43] 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.[43]
In 2017 Alessandro Melis[44] 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.[45][46]
Rankings
Portsmouth was rated in the top 401–500 universities in the world by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2025, #635 by QS World University Rankings for 2026, #901-1,000 by Academic Ranking of World Universities for 2024, #558 by U.S. News & World Report for 2025-2026, and #847 by CWUR rankings for 2025.
Internationally, the university was ranked 98th in Times Higher Education's '100 under 50' rankings of international modern universities 2017, but did not make the list in any subsequent year.[53]
In the 2022 edition of the Good University Guide – compiled by The Times and The Sunday Times – the university was ranked near the bottom at 88 out of 132.
The University of Portsmouth was one of four universities in 2017 in the south east to achieve the highest Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).[54][55]
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Student life
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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.[56]
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.[57]
Societies and sports clubs
The Union supports a range of over 150[58] student-led groups that provide extra-curricular opportunities to students, including 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[59] 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, polo and pole dancing. As of October 2020 there are 38 different sports clubs .[58]
The Students' Union runs a number of volunteering projects, such as HEFCE's Volunteering Team of the Year.[60] In 2010, the Union was awarded a £15,000 grant to work with elderly residents in the city.[61]
Student media
The university has two functioning student media outlets. Spyglass, the student magazine, and Pure FM, the student radio station, which works alongside local radio stations including Express FM. The university formerly had an active newspaper, The Galleon, as well as a video production society called Victory Studios.
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Notable people
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Faculty
- Deborah Sugg Ryan, Professor of Design History and Theory[62]
- Jen Gupta, Astrophysicist and science communicator[63]
- Nizar Ibrahim, professor of palaeontology
- Claudia Maraston, professor of astrophysics and winner of the 2018 Eddington Medal
- Alessandro Melis, professor of architecture innovation and curator of the Italian Pavilione at the XVII Venice Biennale
- June Purvis, professor of women's and gender history
- Neil Rackham, visiting professor at Portsmouth Business School and award-winning author
- David Wands, professor of cosmology at the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation
Alumni
Notable students of the University of Portsmouth and its predecessor institutions include:
- Mohammed Abubakar Adamu, former head of the Police of Nigeria
- Karen Blackett, Chancellor of The University of Portsmouth and CEO of Group M
- Paola Arlotta, chair of the Regenerative Biology Department at Harvard University
- Simon Armitage, poet, playwright and novelist who was appointed poet laureate in 2019[64]
- John Armitt, civil engineer and chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority
- Ian Bishop, archdeacon of Macclesfield
- Jonathan Bullock, former member of the European Parliament for the East Midlands constituency
- Nira Chamberlain, principal consultant at SNC-Lavalin and president of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications
- David Chidgey, Baron Chidgey, Liberal Democrat politician and former member of Parliament for Eastleigh[65]
- Ron Davies, former secretary of state for Wales and member of Parliament for Caerphilly[66]
- Chuck Easttom, computer scientist, author, and inventor
- John Flint, British banker and former chief executive officer of HSBC
- James Farrar, actor
- Ben Fogle, broadcaster, writer and adventurer[67]
- Christine Foyer, professor of plant science at Birmingham University
- Tim Godwin, former police officer who served as deputy commissioner of Deputy Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis
- Casyo 'Krept' Johnson, London-based musician and half of Krept and Konan
- Craig Jones, Royal Navy officer and campaigner[68]
- Nick Kennedy, retired rugby union player and former director of rugby at London Irish[69]
- Rachel Lowe, businesswoman and developer of the Destination board games[70]
- Diana Maddock, Baroness Maddock, former president of the Liberal Democrats and member of Parliament for Christchurch
- Ehsan Masood, science writer, journalist, broadcaster, and lecturer at Imperial College London
- Andrew Miller, former member of Parliament for Ellesmere Port and Neston
- Gerard Collier, 5th Baron Monkswell, politician and hereditary peer
- Darren Naish, vertebrate palaeontologist, author, science communicator, and scientific advisor to Netflix[71]
- Tim Peake, Army Air Corps officer, European Space Agency astronaut, and former International Space Station crew member[72]
- Grayson Perry, contemporary artist, writer, broadcaster, and recipient of the Turner Prize[73]
- John Rees, national officer of the Stop the War Coalition and visiting research fellow at Goldsmiths, University of London
- Vernon Ross, Archdeacon of Westmorland and Furness
- Carol Smart, feminist sociologist and academic at Manchester University
- Lauren Steadman, Paralympic athlete who competed in three summer Paralympics in both swimming and the paratriathlon
- Anthony Tucker-Jones, former defence intelligence officer and a widely published military expert
- Martin Whitmarsh, businessman and chief executive of McLaren Racing[74]
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See also
References
External links
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