Southampton, Solent University: Fees, Reviews, Rankings, Courses & Contact info

Overview
Finances
Eligibility
Department and Faculty
Campus and facilities

Overview

About Southampton

Southampton Solent University welcomes students from across the globe, offering a place to grow, connect and build a career that matters. With learners from more than 100 countries on campus, Solent is a genuinely international community where every student finds their place.

Courses at Solent are built around practical learning. Instead of sitting through lecture after lecture, students get hands-on with the tools, techniques and challenges they'll meet in their future careers, whether that's editing a film, coding a solution, testing a product or managing a business project.

Across business, technology, the arts, sport, engineering and more, every course is designed to connect classroom learning to real-world outcomes.

From the very first day, international students are supported by a dedicated team who help with everything from visa queries and accommodation to settling into UK life. No question is too small, and no student is left to figure things out alone.

Solent's campus sits in the heart of Southampton, a compact, friendly city on England's south coast. Shops, cafés, cinemas and music venues are all a short walk away, while the New Forest and central London are both within easy reach for weekend trips and work placements.

So, join Southampton Solent University and become part of a global network of learners and leaders. Your future starts here.

What’s New

Inside the SMART Centre. Where hands-on learning meets real industry

In January 2026, Southampton Solent University opened the SMART Centre, home to the South Coast Institute of Technology (IoT).

The IoT is a regional collaboration bringing together four colleges, two universities and a network of employers. Backed by more than GBP 15 million from the Department for Education, the Institute supports advanced technical education in areas including maritime, engineering and digital technologies. It aims to strengthen skills across the region, create clearer routes from education into employment and widen access to high-quality technical training.

Solent’s new SMART Centre represents a major investment in industry-standard equipment, giving students and apprentices practical training opportunities across a wide range of subject areas.

Home to innovative facilities, fully equipped laboratories and specialist workshops, the new centre provides a high-quality learning environment for the university’s maritime, science and engineering students.

With facilities for materials testing, welding, machining with lathes and mills, and composite work, the centre gives students and apprentices plenty of opportunities for practical experience and helps them develop the technical skills needed for future careers in industry.

Finances

How much will it cost?

Average tuition fees per year

£10,487 Undergraduate Fees are for indicative purposes, check with institution for details

£12,828 Postgraduate Fees are for indicative purposes, check with institution for details

Scholarships & funding

Tuition fees at Solent vary by course, so checking individual course pages is the best way to get accurate, up-to-date figures. To help make studying abroad more affordable, Solent offers a range of scholarships that reduce tuition costs for eligible international students.

Students from EU countries may be eligible for the Solent EU Welcome Scholarship, which reduces undergraduate fees to GBP 10,500 a year. International postgraduate students who achieved a 2:1 or equivalent in their bachelor's degree may qualify for the Solent Postgraduate Taught International Excellence Scholarship, offering a GBP 1,500 fee reduction.

Additional scholarships are available across a range of courses and circumstances. The fees and financial support section of Solent's website is the place to check eligibility.

With support built in from the start, international students can plan their studies with confidence.

Discover scholarships

Southampton provides scholarship for students enrolling for the courses offered by them
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Eligibility

Entry requirements

Entry requirements vary by course, so it's always worth checking individual course pages in the course directory for the most current details. Solent also provides country-specific guidance on entry requirements and visas, helping international applicants understand exactly what's needed before they apply.

As a general guide, undergraduate applicants are expected to hold qualifications equivalent to UK A-Levels, while postgraduate study typically requires a bachelor's degree or equivalent.

If English isn't a student's first language, they'll need to show a suitable level of English proficiency to study at Solent, at either undergraduate or postgraduate level. Solent accepts a range of secure English language tests and offers pre-sessional English courses for students who want to strengthen their language skills before their main programme starts.

Full details of English language requirements, along with country-specific entry guidance, are available on Solent's course pages.

Department and Faculty

Teaching quality

Southampton Solent University is built around one idea: that high-quality teaching should prepare students for what comes next. Lecturers bring real experience from their fields into the classroom, pairing academic knowledge with practical, transferable skills students can put to use from day one.

That commitment has been recognised nationally. In the latest Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF 2023), Solent was awarded three Gold ratings, for teaching, student experience and graduate outcomes — a reflection of the support and opportunity students find here.

Solent was also ranked in the top 20 of UK universities for student satisfaction, out of 130 institutions (Complete University Guide 2027), and named the best university in Hampshire for learning opportunities, teaching, assessment and feedback, and academic support in the 2025 National Student Survey (NSS).

For international students, these results mean more than rankings. They mean a university where teaching is designed to be understood, applied and built upon, and where every student's progress is taken seriously.

Department structure

Solent offers more than 130 undergraduate courses and over 40 postgraduate options, alongside higher technical qualifications, foundation years, apprenticeships and professional qualifications. Many courses are available part-time or through distance learning, giving students flexibility to shape their studies around other commitments.

Courses are organised into academic schools by subject, so students benefit from specialist teaching and subject-specific opportunities in their chosen field. Solent's schools include:

School of Creative Industries
School of Business, Law, and Society
Solent Business School
Solent Law School
School of Health and Sport
School of Technology and Maritime Industries
Warsash Maritime School

Whatever subject a student chooses, they'll be taught by specialists who understand the sector, in departments equipped with the tools professionals actually use. It's a structure built to turn curiosity into a career.

Campus and facilities

Facilities

Solent continually invests in facilities that give students genuine hands-on experience. Subject-specific spaces include a 3D modelling workshop, advanced composites and manufacturing labs, biomedical and biomechanical laboratories, engineering workshops, marine simulation suites, and professional-grade photography, film and music studios — the same kind of tools and spaces students will encounter in the workplace.

The university library holds an extensive collection of books, journals and digital resources, with more than 800 group and individual study spaces designed to suit different ways of working.

Sport is a major strength too. The Solent Sports Complex, a GBP 28 million sport, fitness and health centre built to professional standards, gives students access to facilities that rival those used by elite athletes.

For international students, university-managed accommodation is close by. All four main halls of residence are within a 15-minute walk of campus. Fees start from GBP 130.20 a week and include Wi-Fi, personal contents insurance and all utility bills.