If you’re a Soton Tab veteran, you may remember an article we published last year about Solent. The semi-infamous “Why I’d Rather Go To Solent” raved about the virtues of attending Solent. And just a few days ago we published another, similar article about the snobbery of Southampton students.
In some small ways I agree with what the articles say, and I can see where they are coming from, but when it comes down to it I have to fundamentally disagree.
The two universities are home to vastly different cultures. Southampton has been built to what it is over decades, with adjustments and growing with the times. It has one of the biggest and best Student Unions in the country with a campus based and community feel. Solent students are not so lucky. Their SU is much smaller, offers much less and they are stuck in the middle of town, losing the community experience.
They also attract a vastly different type of student. Due to the entry requirements, it is fair to assume that many Southampton students have been fortunate enough to receive a good education, so the uni attracts a fairly academic intake and excels in scientific, forward thinking disciplines like Engineering.
Contrastingly (although of course, there are exceptions), Solent has lower requirements and tends to attract more vocational students who tend to be studying more Art-based degrees such as Media Studies. By nature, these two types of people have a different way of looking at the world.
The teaching style is completely different. Solent place a much higher emphasis on doing. For the most part, their degrees are more vocational and require a lot less of an understanding of the theory or history of its origins. Whereas Southampton, as a research based institution, teaches all of its degrees with this in mind.
The experience of Southampton you receive is also completely different, with Southampton Uni students congregating more on the grimy outskirts rather than the inner-city student hovels where Solent students tend to reside.
I’m not a snob, but I do resent the Labour government for allowing the Polytechnics to award higher educational degrees. I have no problem with allowing people who have come from lower levels of society access to higher education and actively embrace it! I had never paid for my education before I got to University, and I don’t see why money should be an issue. However, I do feel that by allowing it freely to everyone, the fundamental point of higher education has been ruined.
It has almost become a necessity to get a 2:1 in a degree in order to get a decent job, and this is because (if you believe the media) everyone has one. Higher education used to be a way of separating candidates, but now it acts as a standard and is expected, so many young people feel that in order to get a job, they have to get themselves into huge amounts of debt, which they may potentially never pay off.
Work places are now looking for students from certain universities to counteract this. When applying for graduate jobs, they often have a drop down menu for you to select your University and the high regards held for the Russell Group status means that Southampton’s place is usually cemented there.
Solent is not so fortunate, and no article could be written without the explicit observation about how low Solent usually features in national league tables. This is a representation of the University, not through the eyes of a Southampton student, but through the eyes of standardised, nationwide consideration which also takes into account the opinions of Solent educated students.
Rivalry is natural and healthy, so it seems fair that students from both sides will get defensive and territorial about their respective universities. You will find it in any city throughout the UK which is home to more than one University. It’s not something that should be criticised. In fact, I relish the fact that students like their university enough to want to defend it.
I think you’d find it rare to come across many students at Southampton who would actually rather go to Solent. Personally, I would much rather stay at Southampton University and gain from everything they have to offer rather then attend the disjointed student experience that Solent students seem to receive. But that is not to say that the Solent experience is not right for some people – it just isn’t right for me.
We’re going to Switch this Friday – you should totally come
Sex on Tap
Review: TG present ‘Love Song’
Solent went through clearing, Solent went through clearing na na na na
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Actually I went through Clearing. So no.
No troll.
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You were in Monte though right?
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So to sum up this article…
“Solent isn’t as good as Southampton. Also, I like it less.”
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If you don’t label yourself a snob then maybe you shouldn’t write “lower levels of society” in your report.
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This seems like an appropriate time to sing one of my favourite songs..
Altogether now (and in tune to Abba’s Thank You For The Music)
“So we say f*ck off to the Poly,
’cause we’re a Uni,
you’re all thick,
and went through clearing,
your mum works for my mum,
’cause she’s a gypsy,
with no degree,
and in time you’ll all work for me,
so we say f*ck off to the poly,
’cause we’re a real uni.”
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Ugh. “Lad” culture infests both universities and could do with a large dose of pesticide
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The fact that this is sung to the tune of Abba removes any offence this was supposed to cause.
Get back to your Mamma Mia DVD
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As a bouncer in a local establishment I can tell you there is a significant difference in the people that enter from Southampton and Solent who are in the massive minority. I think most of the people that are kicked out for fighting are usually from Solent, whilst I’m not saying they start the fights, they definitely seem to be the common denominators!
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Solent was never a polytechnic by the way people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_universities
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Its degrees were awarded by a poly (what is now nottingham trent) so it might as well have been a poly
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If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck…
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“Solent has lower requirements and tends to attract more vocational students who tend to be studying more Art-based degrees such as Media Studies.”
This makes no sense.
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“I have no problem with allowing people who have come from lower levels of society access to higher education and actively embrace it!” = “I can’t be a racist, I’ve got a friend who#’s black!”
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tldr
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I’m a doorman in a local establishment as well, heavily frequented by UoS students, I am also a Solent student; so don’t lie ‘Doorman’, you don’t have a clue who you’re chucking out most of the time. I achieved 3 As at A level and study engineering. The course is accredited by IET, as is the UoS degree. Stop generalising.
I have experienced both universities, and I can concur that at times SSU is not quite up to scratch with regards to fundamentals and the basic principles, however, the UoS staff were never bothered about their lecturing and did not give a damn about their students, only their research. This is in stark contrast to SSU staff, who will take time to make sure students understand what is being asked of them and make sure they are okay pastorally.
Please don’t make assumptions, such as commenting that SSU students get ‘a disjointed student experience’, you literally know nothing about it.
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I think you are making your assumptions yourself about UoS staff not bothering with their students. It can totally depend on which School you’re studying within, and who your tutor is.
I’m in School of Social Sciences and my tutor is amazing, however I was originally School of Law and my tutor was completely uninvolved and apathetic.
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“I achieved 3 As at A level and study engineering.”
Do you mind me asking, which A levels did you do and what type of “engineering” are you studying at Solent?
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Curious: I did Maths, Physics and Government & Politics. I study Electronic Engineering. Emma; perhaps I was unclear, in my experience the lecturers never seemed bothered. Anon: I said they weren’t bothered about their lecturing, I did not say they were ‘teachers’ or meant to teach students. Lecturers and teachers are completely different beings and I am aware of that, however, facing a board and reading from it is simply not worth the money people pay to attend lectures. Being spoon fed is never something I was after, thanks for the concern though,
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Wait, you did EE at Soton and then switched to Solent??? Wow.
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Lecturers aren’t meant to teach you, they’re meant to give you an insight in the topics which should then be further cemented into your knowledge by further reading, leading to independant learning. I’m tired of people needing to be spoon fed all the time and blaming the system for their own problems…
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“I’m not a snob, but I do resent the Labour government for allowing the Polytechnics to award higher educational degrees.”
Well actually it was John Major’s government that introduced the Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 that allowed polytechnics to become Universities. That’s why they are called post 92 Universities….
Given how the rest of the article just goes on to give further evidence of the author’s astounding levels of ignorance I’d not be surprised if he thought John Major was a member of the Labour Party.
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Despite agree with several of your points, I found this article pretty offensively worded, there was really no need to derogatory terms such as ‘lower levels of society’…
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I went to Solent, and actually agree with a lot of this! I can see it being a totally different experience at Southampton Uni. Solent SU is a joke compared to Southampton Uni SU in many ways. Looking back, I would have preferred to go to Southampton Uni over Solent.
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who the fuck drinks in the SU?
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Poor article based on ignorant hearsay and opinion. Extremely reductive with many basic errors. Glad to hear that we are engaging in such forward thinking subject areas though such as engineering whilst Solent are stuck in their backward, NEW media and creative ways.
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I think when you said “I’m not a snob” it’s pretty evident you are a snob. You’re assuming all Uni. Southampton students have received a better education than Solent. I think your attempt at writing an article to be fair to Solent is absolutely laughable and your article lacks maturity, integrity, experience and a greater cultural awareness. Overall your argument is disjointed.
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Congratulations!
Another article of utter nothingness from Soton Tab
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The lower level of society is the hardest level in Mario Brothers 2 with the boss being Margaret Thatcher.
What it really comes down to is that people who go to solent are cooler and i’d prefer to be cool than rich.
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Cool Story Bro
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I have just finished reading this and all I can tell from this is that you are unfairly comparing universities! I went to Southampton Solent University for my degree because the university provided the tools I needed to further my career and my degree in Record Production. I have nothing wrong with University of Southampton before I go any further as I never went there therefore can not pass judgement. Yes University of Southampton is for academic-based courses and Solent have resources for practical and artistic based courses. Well done on the observation that we already knew! However you clearly do not understand the hard work we put into our courses and use just as many books and research as other universities do! We have to research the history and technical terms of our courses just as much as the rest of you do!
The fact that you mention that Solent is low on the league tables is because those tables are based on ACADEMIA! We are a PRACTICAL university so of course we are not going to be high on the list!
‘Disjointed student experience’!! That is not right! As someone who has graduated from Solent university, I would like to say that the university suited me for the skills I needed to learn and I never have had a ‘disjointed student experience’. I get the feeling you never set foot in the university before writing this article therefore if you did I am sure you would change your mind.
It is like the Mac vs PC argument. There is no right answer. Only what is suitable for the individual and the same applies to University of Southampton and Southampton Solent University. We should just appreciate our differences and be done with it!
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This article is absolute drivel. Why don’t you get off your backsides and actually write a piece that makes some sense. With journalism like this you will be writing for the Soton Tab for the rest of you life.
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Solent is better for partying and that’s what uni is all about. Take the UoS cocks out of your mouth and grab a Stella you panhead.
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hahaha!
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Well this is uninformed and offensive on a number of levels. One thing that I do notice as a Uni student is that Solent students are much better at integrating into the city. For “community experience” you should really read “sheltered and middle-class.” I think if you actually bothered getting out of Highfield you’d notice that the Solent students are not as “vastly different” as you perceive them.
This article is just really embarrassing and only goes to show that there are at least morons at both Universities.
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I’m thinking of going to uni next yr and this article was such a waste of my time!!
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You say this is a response to the article “Why I’d rather go to Solent”, but you appear to have incorrectly assumed that the sentence finished “than Southampton”, when really the punchline at the end of the article read “I’d rather go to Solent than be a c***”. If you bother to read that article, you’ll find it’s not trying to say that one university is better than the other; it’s saying we’ve all got to be more open-minded and stop this petty, snobbish and ultimately destructive competition between the uni’s.
Yes, rivalry can be healthy, but when 3 perfectly nice Solent freshers are driven out of a club by one aggressive bigot, as described in the first article, it has gone too far. It’s a shame that articles such as this promote negative stereotypes of both institutions and their students, instead of supporting a more productive and co-operative relationship, which is the very thing the writer of first article wanted to achieve.
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I think the fact that whoever wrote this article wasn’t willing to put their name to it only illustrates how little confidence they have in their own opinions.
Obvious hit-count article is obvious.
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Terrible grammar. Maybe if you went to Solent and studied a degree like journalism you would have perhaps made less mistakes.
I am also pretty certain that Solent has a much higher employability rate than Southampton, and that is really what matters these days.
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Hi, Elli, do you mind referencing the claim that Solent has a “much higher employability rate thank Southampton”?
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The Guardian ranks Southampton Students having ‘Career Prospects’ of 69%, whilst Solent has 40%. I don’t know how similar this is to employability rate, it might be linked to salary.
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solent student, are you high or something?
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*fewer mistakes
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you are a f*cking loser, you need to get out more mate
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tbh i couldn’t give a flying fuck about it. I spent three years in solent & had a good crack with a load of boys and girlies from both from unis. And all the locals sound as well. Cheers Southampton x
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I happen to go to Solent university, like a lot of the people commenting on here, and yes I do feel duty bound to defend my university for several reasons;
1) I am on a Popular Music Performance course, something that isn’t offered by the University of Southampton (probably coz I’m not into Bach or something) and it happens to be taught by some of the music industries most respected session musicians. The forward thinking attitude and attention to detail with the course is immense, I can go to my tutors with any problem, not just an academic one and I have found that they are much more inclined to think in terms that apply to the modern real world than someone who spends their days with their head in a book AKA living their life….
2) Yes, Solent university has lower entry requirements because the courses being offered are in some cases foundation level courses intended to open up the world of work or higher education for the masses, therefore raising the overall level of education for the entire generation who attend.
3) The wording of this article is two faced, ignorant, offensive and entirely back handed. If you have a problem with people having the chance at education, how they experience it, and where they chose to do so, you can take your head out of mummy and daddy’s backside and come and get a fair look at it rather than observing from your ivory tower. I’ve had friends that chose to go to the other university and adopted this misguided view of Solent, who have then come to the university at my invitation and been thoroughly surprised at how wrong their preconceptions were.
4) Yes we are not the biggest university, yes we are not the most learned, yes we are an arts based University and all of this means the degrees being handed to the students mean more to them than anything on the earth, because they are not the people who ever expected anything like that to happen. When they are handed that degree it’s something they potentially could never have thought to achieve, and it gives them hope and a position to further their lives exponentially. If I were to follow suit with this article I could overly generalise and state that the other universities students tend to be the kind of person who expect everything to happen for them because it is a birth right or some nonsense. Maybe they are surprised the bathrooms in halls don’t come with a butler to wipe their own arses….
Of course this is rubbish as I have previously stated I am friends with graduates and current students of the uni and know it to be rubbish. How’s that for research? Going and talking to people…. Revolutionary thinking isn’t it?!
5) I’d rather be at Solent than a c**t!!
6) life is for living, and you’ve fuelled a fire that’s at students between uni’s don’t give a flying f**k for…. Surely there is some polo club somewhere you can share your outdated opinions, leave the rest of us to enjoy what time we have on this planet, whether it be studying whatever, making music in my case, and enjoying ourselves.
The f**king END
P.S. if any UoS students want to come and enjoy the company of some Solent students, you’re all more than welcome. Unless your as snobby as this clown, then I invite you to come along so we may change your mind
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you guys all seem way cooler than my friends.
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You’re damn right. Spread love, not hate!
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most people i know from our uni are yobbish dicks, it makes no difference. this article is pathetic.
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‘rather then’ ??? Shouldn’t be complaining about Solent if you don’t know your than from your then….
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You can’t write for shit.
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You said the media makes you feel that way about the rivalry between the two universities. ….. well I went to solent. I got a 2:2 and now work for itv…… the same media….. so thanks solent for giving me the skills to make people with proper degrees think more deeply tar
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1) I fail to understand how being “stuck” in the middle of town means we lose community experience…
2) So Solent students are unfortunate are we? Ha, ok, yeah I’m so unfortunate, studying a course I really enjoy…right. Yes I could have just gone for Journalism but that’s not for me, I’d just much rather focus on the music side so boo fucking hoo for me not getting stuck in a course I’d end up hating
3) This article is hardly helping the unnecessary rivalry so well done
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I’m a Southampton University student and recently visited Solent for my sister’s graduation. We were both born in Southampton and went to two different universities, not because of a divide in intelligence or quality, but because we had unique subject interests and took different paths.
Solent offered her some great opportunities as an aspiring photographer and she’s now succeeding as a graduate. The University has excellent industry/vocational links within some courses.
There’ll never be anything superior about being at a Russell Group until this silly, narrow-minded ‘rivalry’ subsides.
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I agree with many points in this article. It’s a sad fact that, some universities are stronger in some respects. They can’t all be exactly the same, and Southampton does attract the brightest and best students. Of course in saying this, there are most certainly exceptions, but this is in reference to the majority.
Whilst Southampton Solent is a practical university, and there ARE definitely many pros and good points about Southampton Solent, there are many practical universities that offer more respected courses. I have several friends from Solent and they are very lovely people, and I wouldn’t for a second consider them unintelligent, as they wouldn’t be at uni if they were morons. Circumstances are important – some people may have been able to get into Southampton’s art courses, but didn’t want to have to stay in Winchester, so opted for Solent. There are many reasons, but I won’t go into that.
I still disagree with some points in this article, such as they lose a ‘community feel’. If anything, I think the social side is a PRO of Southampton Solent. I agree that they do lack some resources, they are disadvantaged by the lower number of societies they have – but this is predominantly due to the fact they haven’t been established as a university for as long as Southampton.
People make assumptions that by recognising that Southampton Solent isn’t as well established, and lacks some of the best researchers and developers that are at Southampton, this is snobbery.
Snobbery is arrogance, condescension, and tendency to associate with a particular group. Just because you recognise that Southampton has a higher degree of academic excellence doesn’t make you a snob. That is simplistic, just as it would be too assume that Southampton Solent is ‘worse’ than Southampton – they certainly offer a more diverse range of courses, and you cannot doubt that they are good for providing students with both knowledge and the skills for life beyond university.
So far I feel none of the 3 articles are free from bias – people seem to be on extreme sides of the argument. Lets hear from people who see things from both perspectives for a change…
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rather be a solent that a c*** you snobby bastard
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“I have no problem with allowing people who have come from lower levels of society access to higher education”
Fuck you, you classist prick.
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Solent = Mac
Southampton = PC
PC beats Mac all the time.
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I’m pretty sure soton uni does humanities subjects as well….
I disagree with new labour’s aim to get everyone into Uni’s and ultimately for everyone to have ‘middle class aspirations': where apprenticeships such as building, plumbing and electricians are frowned upon because they’re too ‘vocational'; and you have to go to Uni no matter what. You are a complete snob, referring to kids from working class backgrounds from ‘lower levels of lower levels of society ‘ Solent does courses in Construction management , which yes is not for the academics but at least it’s a career.
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Personally I would rather people went to Solent, got a degree and a job than sat on the dole. Us Soton uni lot might do better and get a better job (in some cases, not all) but that just means you’re paying more tax for those lazy slobs who sit on the dole doing nothing. So really, I don’t know why you’re directing your snobbery at the students who are trying their hardest to better themselves – at least they are trying to do something with their lives.
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Completely disagree with this biased article. You say you’d rather be at UOS then and in your words “attend the disjointed student experience that Solent students seem to receive.” Be interested to know when your sources have come from with that piece. I’d rather be a Solent. (You know the song).
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Interesting article. Whilst it tries to be independent, it is also slightly biased based on someones experience and views.
Whilst many of of see some of the different observations between the two there is also something called fact.
1) Sense of community – Southampton is one of 7 universities out of 250 HE awarding institutions that is not part of NUS. – Go figure.
2) Your point on national league tables and employers between the two are completely uninformed.
The VARIOUS league tables whilst different still place people in similar places but in no ways the same.one table is focused on graduate employment etc. one is focused on accommodation prices and local amenities within a 2 mile radius.
Thereafter both tables are weighted to research if your university is not research intensive (i.e. if you are not part of the russell group or uni alliance) then you will not score higher than 50 out of 125 unis in the list.
On graduate employment which this table also focuses on. Take where you describe it as art/vocational courses. Apart from Solent’s geoscience, sports science (?) and business based courses. There biggest hurdle to overcome is that the ‘graduate employment classification’ is 20 years out of date so the Captains, Navigators etc at the 2nd highest maritime academy in the uk and top 10 in the world are classed as NON GRADUATEs by there job. – GO FIGURE – society gone mad.
Finally, its crazy that Solent is the second biggest contributor to the creative arts, so enjoy the internet, media, online newspaper and everything else in the world.
Theres a crazy thought provoking twist on the article.
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The author sounds like they are a colossal knob.
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Solent girls are easy to bag and for that, I like Southampton Solent.
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What about those of us who aren’t actually stupid or dumb, that did have the grades to go elsewhere, but wanted to study something that Solent vastly excels at that other universities such as Southampton and those higher up the table simply don’t offer?
Why should I, with my good education, be pigeon holed just because I wanted a career in something that perhaps others don’t see as ‘academic’?
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Totally biased, how can a Southampton student make a comment about solent, without actually experiencing both unis.
“I think you’d find it rare to come across many students at Southampton who would actually rather go to Solent.”
Have you not heard the chant “I’d rather be a solent, than a c****” I would say it honestly depend on who you know, but honestly with that attitude I doubt you’d fit in anyway.
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This is the article I wished I’d read prior to trying to help my daughter to decide which university to attend.
We got sold on the hype of the Solent, a university that was forward thinking and not weighed down by tradition. A university growing in a modern world with its finger firmly on the pulse etc,etc.
Lets just say that hindsight, and this article, has come too late. My daughter is almost at the end of an arduous battle. Where good old fashioned learning has been replaced by a “We’ve given you the tools (mostly information on the internet, available to all) and now it’s up to you to educate yourself approach. She will leave Southampton Solent with a degree that will leave her almost £40,000 in debt.
Yes, she will be getting a degree, but, to quote my daughter, she will have learned nothing.
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I know someone from Solent at work and they pretended they went to Southampton (SH). The fact is Solent is never going to compete with a Russell group university in many ways. On the one hand you can’t judge people like some snob but on the other, you have to remember that to do the same subject like computer science at SH you need better A levels (3 As vs. 2 Ds), they have more money and so better facilities, better research and higher quality staff. A degree from SH is I think justifiably more respectable than one from Solent on average and would expectedly carry more weight with an employer. I say on average. The bloke at work is thick as they come but I’m sure there are exceptions. I went to Warwick BTW so I have no vested interest in either Uni.
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2 things spring to mind reading this. They clearly don’t teach objectivity at South Uni and if this ‘article’ is anything to go by, perhaps you should pass the paper over to SSU media students as it appears this author is very poorly trained.
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