At Solent, our aim is to deliver innovative, inclusive and intellectually stimulating teaching, to develop self-confident and highly employable graduates.
Industry-based learning
All our courses are designed with employability in mind, which makes industry-based learning a priority.
We make the most of partnerships with local businesses and organisations to offer students the most relevant experience that will provide the necessary skills for their future career. Notable partners include Southampton FC, ABP Southampton Marathon, B&Q and Carnival.
Here’s a quick look at just some of the initiatives our students have the chance to get involved with:
With a store in the Marlands Centre, Re:So is Solent's student-led retail initiative. With students responsible for designing the products, stock-taking, retail management, promotion, and much more, they can get experience in every aspect of commercial activity.
The shop often hosts notable guest speakers advising students on how to get into the fashion industry. Its 'learning zone' also runs workshops, exhibitions and photo shoots to expose students to a wide range of experience for their CVs.
Visit the Re:So website
As a Solent student you can access opportunities through Solent Creatives, our student-powered freelancing agency.
We help students to embark on freelance work experience and build a portfolio by introducing you to real, paid creative assignments from businesses of all sizes.
You will be supported by the Solent Creatives team to collaborate with clients, create amazing work, and belong to a community of creative students. We provide training, advice and expertise to enable you to start your freelancing career alongside your studies.
Check out the video below to find out more about Solent Creatives.
Solent Creatives
Whether it's creative promotions, training films, or entertainment, Solent Productions deals with all things video.
Solent Productions
Solent TV is a showcase of the best work created by our students and commissioned by the channel. Students have the opportunity to work on a full-scale shoot, whether as writer, director, lighting and sound tech, camera operator, make-up artist or musician.
For BA (Hons) Sport Coaching and Sport Development students, the Coaching Innovation Programme is a way to give back to the community while getting valuable experience. The aim is to address social needs by using coaching, sport or physical activity, and some students have taken this further to turn it into a career.
Coaching Innovation Programme
Solent has made the most of its industry contacts, and TV production, film, media and technology, and media students have regularly had the opportunity to assist at the Common People, Bestival and Glastonbury festivals, among others. Working a live environment to tight deadlines, students have access to the very best specialist equipment.
Live events and festivals
Every year, the BA (Hons) Popular Music lecturers run a competition. Students on the course are invited to enter by writing an original song and performing it live. The prize? A recording session at the world-famous Abbey Road Studios, in London - host to musical icons such as Pink Floyd and the Beatles.
As well as boosting the winners' chances of a musical career after graduation, the day gives the student the chance to have their track recorded and shaped in an industry-leading studio.
You may be familiar with Solent's digital 3D cinema, one of only three in the world that has the Dolby Atmos system. Run by student society Sonar, you can regularly catch the latest blockbusters being shown for between £4 and £4.50 a ticket.
With the line up changing every year, students do everything - the marketing, operations, finance, promotion and staffing, as well as the technical side of things - to make sure the viewers' cinema experience runs smoothly.
Sonar Films
Campus improvements
The Spark
Designed with learning fully in mind, it’s no wonder our newest building, the Spark, won the Best Student Experience category at the Education Estates Awards.
The Spark opened at the start of the 2016/17 academic year and is part of a £100 million investment to upgrade our East Park Terrace campus.
Designed to enable a more informal teaching culture, the building is equipped to break down the teacher-student hierarchy. Most of the furniture is moveable, giving students the opportunity to create learning spaces that work for them.

There are three types of classroom within the Spark:
- Traditional
- Agile: In these rooms, academics can combine traditional patterns of presentation with more student-centred, activity-based approaches. The different types of furniture that the rooms contain allow academic staff to tailor lessons to the students' needs.
- Plectrum: Suitable for dynamic teaching activities that involve movement around the room. Good examples would be students needing to move between groups, or activities that involve discussion within groups that need some separation.
Accessibility is key, and each classroom has height-adjustable tables. Each of the 30-student capacity teaching rooms near the lifts on each floor are fully compliant with the Equality Act 2010, meaning that even if all 30 students were wheelchair users, the room remains functional, effective and safe.
- Jane Austen: With a capacity of 200, the Jane Austen is our traditional style lecture theatre. The space is easily accessible for wheelchair users with direct access via a lift through the doors at the bottom.
- Palmerston: Our Harvard-style lecture theatre can accommodate up to 150 people. The semi-circular layout allows academics to cross boundaries between lecturer and audience, and is perfect for debates and discussions.

- The Pod: The building's most striking feature is 11m high and was designed to reflect the region's nautical heritage, our strong maritime links and forward-looking ethos. Inside is a lecture theatre with a 12-screen video wall.
- The Bridge: Located at the top of the Pod, the Bridge is a unique space that gives learners the chance to learn in a smaller social environment, as well as being used for events.
- Amphitheatre: Ideal for performance students. The glass around the top of the stairs features quotes nominated by students in a font designed by an academic from Solent’s visual communications course.
- 36-screen video wall
- Conference Centre: With several event spaces, Solent's Conference Centre is located here, offering a range of dining, conference and room hire services.

Refurbishment of the Herbert Collins building
In September 2017, the Faculty of Creative Industries, Architecture and Engineering moved into the Herbert Collins building, which was renovated to provide a range of learning spaces, purpose built for the school.
New facilities include body labs, hair and makeup studios, and an infinity photography studio.

St Mary's campus
Home to the Warsash Maritime School, St Mary's is the new home for officer cadet education and training, as well as first certification courses. Located within the grounds of City College, the campus is a short walk from the city centre and Solent's East Park Terrace campus.
Officially opened by Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal in January 2018, the new premises provides cadets with brand new engineering workshops, a welding area, electrical and control laboratories, an ECDIS simulator suite and marine electro-technical officer (METO) workshops.

The Solent Sports Complex
Opened in May 2019 as part of a £100 million campus redevelopment, the Solent Sports Complex brings state-of-the-art health, fitness and wellbeing equipment and services to Solent University students and staff, as well as the local community.
Solent Sports Complex
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