Portsmouth registered an extraordinary 25 per cent increase in applications at the start of 2009, attracting almost double the numbers received at the beginning of the decade. It has always been among the leaders of its generation of universities, but a wider portfolio of courses, a modernised campus and new facilities in the city are proving a powerful draw.

Teaching

Strength in teaching has been recognised with the award of two national centres of excellence and 40 per cent of the work submitted for the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise was considered world-leading or internationally excellent. Applied mathematics achieved particularly good results and European studies, while biomedical and biomolecular sciences also did well. Portsmouth also has the best record of any of the new universities in the National Student Survey. The results published in 2008 showed satisfaction levels of more than 95 per cent in politics, history, geography, mathematics and statistics and management.

Graduate employment is healthy, especially for a university where a high proportion of the students take arts subjects. Languages are Portsmouth’s traditional strength – one student in five takes a language course at some level – and the facilities rival those of many traditional universities. About 1,000 Portsmouth students go abroad for part of their course, and at least as many come from the Continent.

However, it is in health subjects that the university’s reputation has been growing most obviously. The School of Professionals Complementary to Dentistry is one of the first new dental education facilities in England for 50 years. A £9-million Dental Outreach Centre, operated in partnership with King’s College London, will open in 2010. There is also a Centre for Molecular Design and the UK’s first dedicated brain tumour research centre.

Development

The main Guildhall campus, dotted around the city centre, has undergone extensive redevelopment. The £11-million library complex, integrated into its 1970s predecessor, was commended in the 2008 Civic Trust awards. Earlier developments included the aluminium-clad St Michael’s Building and the eco-friendly Portland Building, with its solar panels. The business school has moved into a new £12-million building on the main campus. Other recent additions include a sports science building that houses laboratories, a swimming flume and two British Olympic Medical Centre accredited climatic chambers. A new £9m building for the internationally recognised Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation opened in 2009.

Teaching in all subjects is now concentrated on the Guildhall campus, while much of the residential stock are a couple of miles away at Langstone. A £6.5-million student centre caters for the multicultural population of the university with alcohol-free areas, an international students’ bar and a family area for students with children. Modernised sport, exercise and fitness facilities include resistance and cardiovascular training gyms, dance studios and a sports hall.

Access

Almost a third of the undergraduates come from working-class homes, although this is still slightly below the national average for the subjects and entry qualifications. Efforts are being made to broaden the intake further through an award-winning membership club that introduces teenagers to higher education through workshops, holiday courses and access to university facilities. The projected dropout rate has improved considerably and, at 13 per cent is now better than the university’s benchmark.

Student life

Portsmouth has a larger working-class population and more deprivation than some applicants may realise. But the new 170-metre Spinnaker Tower is already a landmark and the city has a vibrant student pub and club scene to supplement a popular students’ union. The cost of living is not as high as at many southern universities, and the sea is close at hand. Hall places are offered to 90 per cent of first years and the university runs “secure a home” days at the beginning of September to help the remaining new arrivals with house-hunting. The university is launching a new combined broadband, phone and TV service for students living in private accommodation, mirroring a similar offer for those in halls. Parents will be able to download software allowing them to call students at no cost, using a PC.

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