Southampton’s ten-year investment in its estate includes a supercharged sports offering with £40 million-worth of extra facilities. At the main Highfield campus, two miles outside the south coast city, an extension to the Jubilee Sports Centre includes a martial arts space and a cycling studio. The improvements should help to create a “front door” to match Southampton’s academic renown; it was a founding member of the research-intensive Russell Group and is ranked joint 80th in the QS World University Ranking 2025. Opportunities for volunteering and entrepreneurship add to the student experience, while the city’s just-big-enough appeal makes it a magnet for school leavers dipping their toes into independent living.

What is the University of Southampton’s reputation? 

Its spot in the elite top 20 of our league table is bolstered by a strong performance in the Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021), in which engineering, allied health subjects and computer science produced some of Southampton’s best results. Overall, about 90 per cent of its work was rated world-leading or internationally excellent and Southampton sits at 14th in our research quality index. Assessors from the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF 2023) found engineering to be the largest undergraduate area at Southampton, followed by medicine and dentistry and then business. The university gained triple silver — overall and for the student experience and student outcomes. However, rates of student satisfaction have declined. In our analysis of the National Student Survey, undergraduates’ reviews of teaching quality put Southampton at 97= (down 35 places) and their evaluation of the wider experience ranks it 74= (down 40 places). A campus in Malaysia offers undergraduate programmes in business, marketing, accounting, computing, finance and economics. 

What degree courses have been discontinued and what new courses are available?

Closed from 2024 entry are degrees in archaeology with history (with or without a year abroad), and philosophy with maths, music or sociology. New for 2024 entry are English language and literature, liberal arts, creative computing, international business (with or without placement or study abroad), and chemistry (digital methods and computational modelling). There are also new integrated master's degrees in artificial intelligence (with or without industrial studies), computer engineering (with or without industrial studies), physics with quantum science and technologies, chemical engineering with industrial placement, mechanical engineering/manufacturing, and maritime engineering (and associated pathways; formerly ship science). New from 2025 are accounting, accountability and taxation; business management and accounting; business management and human resource management; integrated master's in physics with artificial intelligence; sustainable luxury (formerly textile design); and an integrated master's in medical technology, innovation and design.

What are the entry requirements – and my chances of getting in?

Typical entry requirements are BBB at the lower end, rising to A*AA. Southampton is enhancing its contextual offers from 2025 to give students who meet widening participation criteria up to two grades off the standard ask (other than for medicine, which has a separate but aligned policy). Southampton attracted a record number of applications for 2023 entry: more than 45,000 (including the highest demand to date from overseas students, who represented about 12 per cent of applications). There were slim pickings in clearing, with only 1.8 per cent of 2023’s entrants recruited this way.

What are the graduate prospects?

The university has made an impressive 12-place leap up our graduate prospects index to rank 15th, based on 84.3 per cent of graduates being in high-skilled jobs or postgraduate study 15 months on from finishing their degrees. Helping to create career-ready graduates, most of Southampton’s courses offer a year in employment and undergraduates are encouraged to spend time studying abroad. There are also hundreds of internships available with global organisations, charities and regional businesses, covering areas such as community outreach, software analytics, graphic design and human resource development. Students can also take part in innovation projects to resolve a business challenge over a four-week period — an initiative that has been supported by companies including Boeing, Siemens and Shell.

What is the University of Southampton campus like?

The university has six sites within easy reach of each other in the city, plus another in Winchester and a Malaysian campus in the city of Iskandar Puteri. The main site, Highfield, is getting a new flagship teaching and learning building, scheduled to open in 2027, with multi-departmental lecture theatres and an academic workspace for the faculty of medicine. A £5.3 million investment in the facilities for chemical engineering has funded specialist and design laboratories and an immersive virtual control room that simulates industrial facilities, among other resources. High-powered focusing optics have been added to the crystallography equipment as part of a £1.1 million upgrade. The Avenue campus houses most humanities departments, clinical medicine is based at Southampton General Hospital, and Winchester School of Art and the National Oceanography Centre are among the university’s other sites. The National Infrastructure Laboratory, which is dedicated to marine engineering and engineering sciences and was developed jointly with Lloyd’s Register, is at the £140 million Boldrewood Innovation campus and is home to the latest teaching and research facilities for geomechanics, heavy structures, solid mechanics and infrastructure engineering. The business school has recently moved to Boldrewood.

Everything you need to know about the University of Southampton’s student life and wellbeing support

The extended Jubilee Sports Centre has all the basics plus speed climbing, rope climbing and a bouldering wall. There is a 25m pool, gyms at the halls of residence and an outdoor sports complex with grass and synthetic pitches. Making the most of its location, Southampton has three watersports centres where students can take Royal Yachting Association and British Canoeing courses. Its site by the River Itchen is being replaced with a sustainable and inclusive watersports hub.

The university’s John Hansard Gallery and music venue, Turner Sims, offer some culture, while its proximity to sandy beaches and the New Forest provides natural escapes. The nightlife has a reputation for being lively.

Regarding welfare, Southampton has made consent training mandatory for all students. Active bystander training is also offered, while a “Welcome to Southampton” module supports the academic transition to higher education. Mental health and wellbeing help is accessed through the Student Hub, which runs engagement activities. Counsellors and solution-focused wellbeing advice are available too.

What do the students say?

“Studying at Southampton is a wonderful mix of academic excellence, an incredible student experience and a supportive community. It isn’t just about your degree but also personal growth, creating lifelong friendships and preparing for a successful future.”
Ed Brooker, students’ union president 2023/2024

What about student accommodation at the University of Southampton?

The university guarantees accommodation in a single room for all firm and insurance applicants who apply by the July 1 deadline.

How diverse and inclusive is the University of Southampton?

A four-place uplift for Southampton in our social inclusion ranking takes it to 106th overall this year. It is in the top half of universities for the proportion of students who are from ethnic minority backgrounds — who represent a third of the intake, according to the latest figures. About seven in ten students went to non-selective state schools and 31.9 per cent of the intake are the first in their family to go to university. To widen participation in higher education among schools in areas with low progress rates, Southampton runs Learn with US and Ignite programmes, which support students from primary school to sixth-form.

Everything you need to know about scholarships and bursaries at the University of Southampton

Nearly a quarter of UK undergraduates tend to receive a bursary of £1,000 or £2,000 per academic year, based on household incomes of £30,000 or less. A number of merit-based scholarships are available too.