Welcome to English at Southampton

The University of Southampton is one of twenty members of the Russell Group - institutions which have distinguished themselves as research-led universities of international quality, and which are committed to the provision of teaching in a research-led environment. This means that students are taught by staff who are working at the cutting edge of their particular discipline in terms of research and publication.

In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, English at Southampton was given an overall grade of 2.8 (a grading shared with Durham, Birmingham, Sheffield, Reading, King's College London, East Anglia, and Birkbeck); 10% of our research was assessed as nationally recognized, 25% as internationally recognized, 40% as internationally excellent, and 25% as world-leading.

  Our commitment to research-led teaching is very much reflected in the activities of the English Department. We're proud of the contributions we make to our individual fields, and see the quality of the research produced by this department as a major reason for you to choose to come here. We have a lively and dedicated team of staff, many of whom have joined Southampton in the last few years from a range of other universities here and abroad.

We offer a broad and imaginative programme with an interdisciplinary emphasis, drawing on the most recent developments in literary studies. We cover the full range of English literature, with particular strengths in medieval and Renaissance studies, the 'long eighteenth century', modernist literature, and international writing; our courses also give you the opportunity to study film and  creative writing. Our teaching is supported by a full programme of visits by international scholars.

Our teaching and assessment methods are varied and often innovative, with a relatively small examined component and an emphasis on various forms of assessed work.

We aim to create a friendly, informal atmosphere in which students feel free to come and ask for advice and guidance, and to provide a well-defined structure of pastoral and academic care to support you throughout your degree. As a result, our student satisfaction scores are high (Southampton University is in the top ten universities nationally, and English at Southampton is joint fifth nationally).