ITIL® Expert Level

About Southampton

Southampton

Southampton is a vast city located on the south coast of England, and it is the ceremonial county of Hampshire. It is 75 miles south-west of London and 19 miles Portsmouth north-west. It is an important port and closest city to New Forest. Southampton has an approximate population of 253,651, and it is a unitary authority. Name of this town while writing is abbreviated as “ So’ton” or “Soton”, and people of Southampton are called Sotonian.

This city has various employers that include University of Southampton, Southampton Airport, BBC South, the NHS, ABP, Carnival UK and Southampton Solent University. Southampton is known for its link with RMS Titanic, Spitfire in the world War II as one of the departure points for D-Day. It is also known as the home port for various large cruise ships in the world. Southampton has a large shopping centre and retail parks. According to 2001 census, Southampton and Portsmouth are known to be parts of the different urban area however by the time of 2011 census both towns merged to become a sixth largest area in the England called South Hampshire. The population of the region is 855,569. New built up area is also known as Solent City. With a population of around 1.5 million, it has become one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom.

Education

Southampton city has high education sector. Southampton Solent University and the University of Southampton together has a student population of over 40,000. The University of Southampton was discovered in 1862 and got its Royal Charter in 1952 as University, and it has over 22,000 students. This university is ranked in top 100 research Universities in the world in 2010 Academic Ranking of World Universities.  The University of Southampton was positioned in the top 80 universities in the world in 2010 by THES-QS World University Rankings. University itself considers it one of the top 5 research universities in the United Kingdom. This University has a good global reputation for engineering, sciences, chemistry, cancer sciences, oceanography, sound and vibration, computer science, electronics, optoelectronics, textile conservation at Textile Conservation Centre. Southampton is also home to National Oceanography Centre, Southampton also was known as NOCS, and the focus of Natural Environment Research Council funded marine research. There are 17,000 students at the Southampton Solent University, and it provides training, research, consultancy, design and other services required for industry and business.

War sash Maritime Academy is also located in Southampton that provides certification and training for international offshore oil industries and shipping. Along with school sixth forms at St Anne’s and King Edward’s, there are two sixth form college in Southampton namely Richard Taunton Sixth Form College and Itchen College. A large number of Southampton pupils will travel outside the city for example to Southampton city college and Barton Pevent College for further education. College offers various courses for school leaves as well as access courses for adult learners. In Southampton, there is 79 state run school that comprises of  1 nursery school, 21 infant schools, 24 primary schools, 16 junior schools, 8 secondary schools, 2 secondary schools with sixth forms, nine special schools and two academies called Oasis Academy Lord’s Hill and Oasis Academy Mayfield. Independent Schools in Southampton include King Edward VI School, St Mary’s College and The Gregg School.