The University of Portsmouth is celebrating 30 years

To celebrate 30 years as operating as a university – having previously been a polytechnic – The University of Portsmouth is hosting an alumni event on September 10 and 11, where hundreds of alumni from all over the world are coming together.

The weekend will give former students the opportunity to reminisce and relive their youth in the city, as well as reconnect with their previous lectures and explore the city years on.

Over the weekend event, there will be a range of festivities, including a celebration lunch hosted the University’s Chancellor, Karen Blackett OBE and Vice Chancellor, Graham Galbraith, faculty receptions, tours of new innovations including the Centre for Creative and Immersive Extended Reality (CCIXR) and much more.

The University of Portsmouth has roots to 1870 where it was an institution known as Portsmouth and Gosport School of Science and Art, which was then changed to Portsmouth Polytechnic in 1969.

Rees Hall opened the same year as the institution changed to Portsmouth Polytechnic and students still use the halls of residents today.

It was not until 1992 that the polytechnic, which had been one of the best performing for a decade, was given university status, and on July 7, 1992, The University of Portsmouth was born.

The university currently employs 2,550 full-time staff which makes it Portsmouth’s fourth largest employer and it teaches 31,000 students annually, with over 5,000 of which are international students coming from over 150 countries.