University of Southampton Highfield Campus — Attraction in Southampton

I have been at Southampton for 2 years now and it’s been mixed.

The good: The student union is decent and is mostly student run. If the student union wasn’t there or wasn’t to the standard it was I think students would be struggling a lot more. Good study spaces. The library and campus has got nice areas to study in (some of the charging ports on level 1 don’t work though). learning spaces and lecture halls are usually well equipped and kept up to date. Avenue campus is also nice to study in. Some courses have really dedicated lecturers. I’m on a course with field professionals and who are supportive and want you to do well. However, this is sometimes ruined by other lecturers who are clearly just here for research, the money, or title. They are very cold, blunt and sometimes provide incorrect information. Module choices for subjects is really good. I like that there’s options to minor in other fields, year or semester abroad options and year in industry. So much choice for societies and sports for you to join. Again these are student run but having the structural support from the uni to have such things is really nice. The new sports facilities are nice too, gym still quite small but really clean and updated!

the bad: halls are SO overpriced. I understand there’s cost of living but in my first year i paid around 7.5k in rent for a small room with a box bathroom where you couldn’t actually open the door 😂 you’re paying for the halls experience - but oftentimes the kitchen was falling apart and we often had no hot water, our oven was faulty and the taps ran grey water. Good that the laundry was free though.

Southampton has to look at how admissions work here when it comes to academic skills and performance. Some students lack basic understanding of what they are studying and why. I suspect a lot of them paid their way in, such students have elitist, rich-kid attitudes, and do minimal work. The main issue stems from students not getting the right support because SO many students were let in at the 2024-2025 cohort. For example a lot of international students do not speak English to IELTS pass level, and it’s difficult to work in group assignments without having your grade bought down. I don’t blame them entirely but feel that the uni should be doing more to support their language skills and stop admitting so many so they get 1:1 help.

The high volume of students coming in impacts the local community. I’ve been lucky to get to know Southampton locals through work who say the university is very closed off and makes a lot of money. Locals suffer as a result, often saying they can’t get what they need in the shops anymore (especially start of term) nor get the bus because it’s always packed, I’ve seen some students pushing the elderly and more needy out the way meaning they have to wait for the next bus.

Lectures (esp in first year) are often taught by phd students who don’t have the right training!! One of my modules was 50% taught by a phd student (who didn’t speak English well) and a LOT of content wasn’t covered. Another lecturer regurgitated half the content from an A-Level textbook word-for-word, despite being second year!! Each lecture balances out to about £100 of a home students tuition fee, you have to ask yourself whether the quality of teaching is worth this?

little support for students in need. From financial to those with disabilities or mental health issues. When you try to get help at the Hub nobody in person is ever available, only via a chatbot. Which is better than nothing, but making yourself known is so difficult!! Also to add that wheelchair access in a lot of buildings is AWFUL to the point where there is no “access” at all. I have friends that struggle so much because of lack of lifts, broken stairlifts etc.

Definitely weigh up your options if you’re looking to apply here. It is a fairly good university. It does things better than a lot of institutions, but could improve...

My daughter studied at this university and was failed and was made to repeat the year three times during her undergraduate degree.

She came in as a A* student and left with low mental health and huge debt after receiving no value for money in her education. She was not alone. Many people experienced the same. Most of the repeat students were from the ethnic minorities and the university charged full time tuition fees for every repeat year. No mercy, no compassion, and zero support.

The teaching was awful and resources archaic or nonexistent. Some lecturers and personal tutors are so complacent and always occupied and lack any understanding of what the students are receiving or lack of it. The course leader was authoritarian and dictatorial and clueless about what ethical and modern teaching practices are; quite literally dinosaur techniques of controlling and silencing students. Compassion, thoughtfulness and empathy or any understanding of how to teach well and treat people well is completely missing at this university.

Learning outcomes, learning experience, and course delivery and communication is severely severely affected. For example, students received a massive online pdf document with hundreds and hundreds of pages of text that can hardly be seen as the main resource for an anatomy module and that was all they were given. No workshops, seminars, or regular engaging sessions in many modules. I could go on and on but what’s the point?! This university should be investigated and bought down in the ratings and league tables so more students and families don’t get fooled by their supposed status. The government should give guidelines on improving their staff members and teaching strategies and training their staff accordingly. This university needs to hire younger and better compassionate competent staff members who can work to improve the student learning and student experience for all students without any discrimination or favor or prejudice. Teaching and support...

I've met some fantastic people at this University, and had some brilliant times. However: The University market themselves in such a way that is very far from how they treat students who pay £9,000 a year as well as over £6,000 for accommodation.

The moment there is a student who has some more diverse needs to accommodate, few care. Trust me when I say if you contact the vice-chancellor or anyone at a Directorship level in the University you run the very real risk of being shunned and ignored.

Many things are designed to benefit the University first, over students.

I looked upon Southampton as a fantastic place, that was really ahead of its time and an understanding open-minded establishment who would help me grow and develop through studying and learning whilst supporting the need for me to run my growing firm.

Turns out there is next to nothing the University could do to really help me combine the two: academically, even down to helping me find somewhere sensible to park my car in my empty University Hall's carpark so I could commute up to London during the week.

I politely tried to contact the Vice-Chancellor again and again regarding this matter and he always had someone else come back - its worrying how he doesn't care. To this day I've never had a direct conversation with him.

I lose nothing by terminating my studies at Southampton apart from fees which are payable, and it saddens me that I will never be able to speak of the place highly, as I once imagined I could.

If you have big plans for your life, visions of growth and success - if you're planning on building something for yourself, like me - I would strongly recommend you consider your options carefully, as, it might turn out the...