Overseas university spotlight: University of Southampton (UK)
Famous for its Titanic and Mayflower heritage, Southampton is a city that has long been connected with the sea, and nowadays, it's no wonder that the University of Southampton specializes in all things oceanography and maritime.
In fact, a Southampton alum who studied its well-known Ship Science degree was one of the designers of the luxury ocean liner Queen Mary 2.
But in addition to being home to a large commercial port, Southampton is surprisingly also a green, walkable and safe city.
The university makes up a large part of it, with five faculties located across five campuses (plus a sixth campus in Winchester and a seventh in Malaysia).
Here are some of the highlights from my visit!
Highfield campus
The University of Southampton was founded in 1862 and is now a Russell Group institution that ranks in the top 15 of UK universities and top 80 worldwide.
There are around 25,000 students in total, about 6,500 of whom are international.
The oldest and largest campus at the University of Southampton is in Highfield, just north of the city.
It's really easy to catch a bus there from the city centre or directly from the Southampton International Airport; either way, it's only a 10-minute.
The Highfield campus is where the main library, which was used as a hospital in World War II, and the Students' Union are located.
In the Students' Union, you'll field a shop, places to eat and even squash courts.
Highfield is also where the sports centre, the Student Hub and the campus doctor's office are.
The Student Hub is a great first stop for students needing assistance.
And speaking of student support, Southampton is the only university I'm aware of that offers 24/7 student well-being support via an online chat.
Another potentially little known fact about the university is that it ranks second in the UK for its music program!
The music building just happens to be right next to the Turner Sims Concert Hall, which showcases around 70 concerts a year.
Although many of the academic buildings were built in the brutalist architectural style of the 60s, the university must have amazing landscapers -- because the green spaces and gardens really make up for it.
Boldrewood campus
The University of Southampton has a strong reputation for its STEM subjects, and a lot of that has to do with its top notch facilities.
The Boldrewood Innovation Campus is the university's newest, and this is where engineering courses are based.
Here, you'll find a 138-meter towing tank, which is the largest in the UK and one of the largest in Europe.
So it's no surprise that this is the place to be for anyone interested in maritime engineering.
The UKCRIC National Infrastructure Laboratory on site houses five engineering labs, including a large structures testing lab for those in civil engineering.
When it comes to running engineering tests, Southampton also specializes in digital imaging.
The labs are set up with various infrared cameras to map the stresses and look at impacts in different ways.
Waterfront campus
The third campus I got to visit was the Waterfront campus, located dockside in the south of the city.
It's also home to the National Oceanography Centre Southampton (NOCS), and students get the benefit of being co-located with the largest group of marine scientists in the UK.
As you could probably guess, this is where the university's ocean and earth science subjects are taught.
Southampton takes in around 200 students a year for these subjects, in which they can student just oceanography -- or oceanography with marine biology or biology.
The facilities are just amazing; they also have one of the top 10 marine libraries in the world.
But the student cafe takes the cake...
The university also owns its own boat, the RV Callista, and students get to take around five to six trips in their first year alone.
Other campuses
Southampton's other two campuses in the city are the Avenue Campus (home to humanities subjects) and the General Hospital Campus (where medicine is taught).
For students interested in the arts, the University of Southampton is affiliated with the Winchester School of Art, which is located 20 minutes north in the historical city of Winchester.
This is quite unique, as it's rare for a Russell Group university to have a leading specialist art school within it.
The city of Southampton
With a population of around 250,000 people, Southampton has a different look and feel to it than other cities in the UK.
This is due in part to the fact that, as a major port, it was heavily bombed in World War II.
Prior to the war, it was a walled city; fortunately, there are still a few remnants of the walls that remain.
Southampton is definitely still closely connected to the sea though.
And as the place where the Titanic departed on its maiden voyage, there are numerous memorials to its engineers, musicians and all the lives lost around the city.
The BBC's regional broadcasting centre is also based here.
I found my favorite little coffee spot across from the O2 Guildhall at a place called The Artisan.
It was right next door to a number of large parks in the city centre.
And for those looking to get out of the city, there are so many nice places nearby as well, such as the New Forest National Park and the Isle of Wight, just on Southampton's doorstep.
University of Southampton: Summary
I first learned about the city of Southampton given its connections to the Titanic.
Nowadays, I've worked with a number of students who have enrolled in Southampton based on its reputation for STEM subjects.
The university has some of the most unique engineering, maritime and oceanography facilities in the UK and Europe and is also one of the UK's leading research institutions.
On top of this, it's one of the best when it comes to student support for mental health.
And with its own airport and many train link connections, the city of Southampton gives students plenty of options for venturing further afield -- although staying put along the coast seems to be just fine, too.
