Civil Engineering and Surveying

Civil engineers are at the forefront of developing sustainable societies and many find themselves dealing with important social and environmental issues; research reflects this multi-disciplinary activity by collaborating on joint projects with surveyors, mathematicians, chemists and microbiologists across the globe; the institution has constructed sewage treatment systems, using ponds and reed beds, as far away as Egypt and Colombia; this work has recently extended to Thailand to help with recovery in tsunami-hit areas.

There is plenty of help and advice on hand for international students that start from their arrival in Portsmouth. The university operates an orientation week that helps students find their way around the university and explore the services on offer. This also introduces them to the support services including those for academic and wider life and even meeting up with other students. These events are organised by the International Office, based within the Nuffield Centre who also organise events during the year and are point of call for international students. The Students Union offer a wide range of services as well as organising the clubs and societies for students to get involved with outside the classroom. The union was the first in England and Wales to register as a full charity in 2006 but has been in operation since at least 1911, when it published a magazine called The Galleon. It is now based in a building at the northern end of Ravelin Park and includes a student activities centre, a social learning space, a bar and a radio station. The clubs and societies at the university are organised into five different bodies: the Athletic Union, Societies, Student Media, Volunteering and RAG (Raising and Giving). There are some 40 plus sports clubs ranging from football and rugby to lacrosse, pole dancing and octopush, a type of underwater hockey. Societies includes everything from politics and lifestyle groups to a law society as well as the longest running paintball club in the UK.