The largest of the nine new universities created in 2005, Southampton Solent also has the broadest range of programmes, stretching from Foundation courses for those without the qualifications to begin degrees, to PhDs.

The 10,000 students embrace civil and mechanical engineering, as well as media, arts and business, with a separate maritime centre capitalising on the coastal location.

The subject mix explains why the former Southampton Institute is now one of the few universities with a majority of male students.

The newly rebranded Solent Curriculum plays to the university’s strengths in vocational courses, with an eye to maintaining a good graduate employment record.

There is a strong representation of “non-traditional” disciplines, such as yacht and powercraft design, computer and video games, and comedy writing and performance.

Enterprise

A new range of courses for 2008 included degrees in fashion management, television and music production, and coaching and sport development. A Graduate Enterprise Centre provides advice and rent-free offices for those hoping to start their own businesses, while the Warsash Maritime Centre is an internationally renowned training and research facility for the shipping and offshore oil industries.

Teaching quality assessments generally went well, but research grades were low in the last assessments. Social work produced by far the highest levels of satisfaction in an otherwise disappointing set of National Student Survey results published in 2007.

Applications shot up by 24 per cent in 2007 and were close to the national average at the official deadline for courses beginning in 2008. Demand for places remains especially strong in marine-based courses. The university is higher education’s premier yachting institution, with a world champion student team that has won the national championships four times in six years.

Watersports

Three new boats will support courses at the new, purpose-built Watersports Centre, where some of the activities are targeted on disadvantaged young people in the area. The centre now boasts seven powerboats, nine dinghies and three keelboats.

Almost a third of the students come from Hampshire and there has been a substantial increase in the proportion with working-class roots, taking it above the national average for the university’s subjects and entry qualifications. Solent’s 17 per cent projected dropout rate is also better than the university’s “benchmark”. About 11 per cent come from overseas, while 100 are enrolled on research degrees.

There is a special link with the Channel Island of Guernsey, which has no higher education of its own. Colleges on the island (and in various parts of the south of England) bring students for taster courses and provide evidence of academic potential that can lead to entry on criteria other than A level.

The main campus has few architectural pretensions, but is conveniently based in the city centre within walking distance of the station. Recent investment has included a new Centre for Professional Development in Broadcasting and Multimedia Production, which includes an online editing suite, digital television studio and gallery, for use by undergraduates as well as community groups and professionals.

Business

Media, arts and society courses now attract almost as many students as the consistently popular business school. Other recent additions include the Centre for Health, Exercise and Sports Science, which enables sports science students to conduct the latest types of fitness testing, including ergonomic and biomechanical movement analysis. New music studios feature an industrystandard recording complex, while a performance space and dance studio, opened in 2008, includes a dance floor, tiered seating and a technical viewing gallery.

Students like the location, close to the city’s growing complement of bars and nightclubs, as well as to the main shopping area. There are more than 2,300 hall places close to the campus, most of which are allocated to first years and almost half of which are en suite.

A landlord accreditation scheme helps to guarantee standards of accommodation for those who rely on the private sector. Away from the water, there is the usual range of sports facilities, with a sports hall and fitness suite on campus and outdoor pitches, tennis and netball courts four miles away.

Students living in hall and members of university sports clubs get free fitness classes and gym use.

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