About us

The university's origins can be traced back to a private School of Art founded in 1856, which eventually became the Southampton College of Art. Mergers with the Southampton College of Technology, and later the College of Nautical Studies at Warsash, led to the establishment of the Southampton Institute of Higher Education in 1984.

Southampton Institute became a university on 12 July 2005, adopting the name Southampton Solent University on 15 August 2005. Prior to 2005, Southampton Institute provided assistance to Nottingham Trent University in its provision of business-focused degrees, relating to accountancy, finance, and professional ACCA qualifications. Some Nottingham Trent University certificates included Southampton Institute/Solent University stamps to indicate this agreement. In 2015 the University came to an agreement with New College of the Humanities, London whereby it will validate some of their degrees. In November 2017, the Privy Council approved the change of name of Southampton Solent University to Solent University, with effect from 2018.