Free Self Defence Classes

The perfect opportunity to learn personal safety skills which will cover blocks, evasive manoeuvres and counter strikes. Come along to:

Monday 26 November, Portland Atrium,12-2pm
Tuesday 27 November, Spinnaker Sports Centre, 11am-1pm
Wednesday 28 November, Langstone Village Centre Communal Lounge, 2-4pm
Thursday 29 November, Rees Hall Pier Room, 1-3pm

Beer Goggle Obstacle Course

Third Space, 12-5pm

See what it feels like to be drunk and to have a lot of fun! We have beer goggles which simulate how things look when drunk so come along and try to complete our obstacle course.

Chlamydia Screenings

The Students’ Union is taking part in a Chlamydia screening challenge to get 1,000 screenings and £1,000.

Alongside our series of one-off events that are available to view via the events section of our website, we will also be running events on a weekly basis to assist you with exploring your options, researching jobs, making applications and looking for work experience or volunteering opportunities.

Our events calendar contains details relating to all of our events and information about how to secure your place. Visit the Careers Events pages.

Please note that the dates and times of these sessions vary.  Check the events calendar for a date that suits you.

University of Portsmouth Chancellor Sandi Toksvig

Writer, comedian and broadcaster Sandi Toksvig has been installed as Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth.

She hopes to use her new role to help bring the University and its excellence to the attention of as wide an audience as possible.

She said: “I hope to represent the students and the staff in public forums and to be available to speak up for their needs and achievements.”

Ms Toksvig began her comedy career at Girton College, Cambridge University, where she wrote and performed in the first all-woman show at the celebrated Footlights theatre.  At Cambridge she studied law, archaeology, and anthropology, graduating with a first-class degree and receiving two prizes for outstanding achievement.

Yesterday, she addressed an audience of 300 VIPs, governors, staff and students while many current and former students worldwide  watched the ceremony streamed live over the internet.

Vice-Chancellor Professor John Craven, welcomed Ms Toksvig and discussed the role of Chancellor. He said one of the key reasons Sandi was invited to be the University’s Chancellor was because she epitomises values the University holds dear, including education, personal freedom and autonomy.

Dr Sherria Hoskins, head of psychology, welcomed Ms Toksvig on behalf of staff. She said: “People come to Portsmouth and they fall in love with it.  Some never leave, choosing to make it their home. Part of the Portsmouth experience is a feeling of integration with the local community, of the excitement of being part of a creative and dynamic city by the sea. We hope that you will fall in love with it too and become an ambassador for the city and its University of which we are so proud.”

Godfrey Atuahene Junior, president of the Students’ Union, said: “There is no such thing as an average Portsmouth student. We come from across the whole country and from more than 100 countries across the world, and we range in age from 17 to 77. I really love this about Portsmouth and I would ask you to share your experience of Portsmouth, its students and our achievements, with the outside world. We accomplish great things every day and I think that deserves to be celebrated.”

Ms Toksvig is a firm believer in the value of education. She said: “All education is important and not just the vocational kind.

“At university I learnt to think and most importantly, to question what I thought I already knew. Historically great ideas have often sprung from the unexpected.

Stuart Iles, Chairman, Board of Governors, Dr Sherria Hoskins, Head of Department of Psychology, Sandi Toksvig, Chancellor, Professor John Craven, Vice-Chancellor, Godfrey Atauahene Jnr, President of the Students’ Union.

“It is fine to learn something for its own sake and not just because it might help with the CV.”

The secret to success was no mystery and involved determination and commitment: “I choose projects I like the sound of, then I get up early and work very hard.

“Modern celebrity is not true success. If you want success, study something for more than 30 years and eventually the world will beat a path to your door wanting to know what you know.”

In 2010 the University of Portsmouth made her an honorary Doctor of Letters in recognition of her work as a writer, broadcaster and comedian.

She said of her career: “It’s been a busy three decades or more.  I began in repertory theatre at Nottingham Playhouse and moved into television via a children’s television programme called No 73. After that many television series followed including Whose Line is it Anyway? and Call My Bluff.

“My latest TV show, 1001 Things You Should Know, begins airing on Channel 4 in November. I have written more than 20 books including my new novel, Valentine Grey, and a new history book, Heroines and Harridans. I have written a column for Good Housekeeping magazine for more than 20 years, am the host of the News Quiz on Radio 4 and my new play Bully Boy opened in the West End in September.”

Despite an enormously successful career she said she didn’t worry about success, instead preferring “to do good work and then go home to dinner with my family”.

Her father Claus Toksvig, a foreign correspondent for Danish television, had been the greatest influence on her life and her family have donated his books to the University’s School of Languages and Area Studies, which teaches American Studies. The family have also donated a prize in his name, the Claus Toksvig prize, for an American Studies Dissertation.

Ms Toksvig hopes to come to know the city of Portsmouth much better over her five-year term as Chancellor.

She said: “I don’t have many personal connections to the city although I have performed with great pleasure at the New Theatre Royal, dined aboard HMS Victory and spent some time admiring the waterfront when I made a documentary sailing around Britain with John McCarthy.

“I plan to spend more time here and get to know the city known as the home of great writing.”

So we set up a blogging team of students and asked them to blog regularly about their course, lectures, socials, work. Everything to do with student life.

You can read the blogs at www.port.ac.uk/studentblogs.

We are looking to recruit more bloggers to the team

We would love to hear from any current student at the University, whether undergraduate, postgraduate, part-time, mature and research students, and students from overseas.

I want to be a student blogger!

If you would like to join the blogging team, please write a piece of no more than 750 words on an aspect of your experience here at the University.

You could write about your course, any societies you’re a member of, a fieldtrip you’ve been on, any interesting research projects, your favourite unit on your course, or any other aspect of student life.

Please send your entry as a Word document to studentblogs@port.ac.uk by Friday 5 October 2012.

Remember to also include this information:

• full name
• course
• year of study
• are you a mature student?
• are you a part-time student?

We will be reading the entries after that date and will contact any successful applicants later in the autumn term.

Join before 1 October 2012 and you will not only save precious time in your first few weeks but also £10. You will have 12 months unlimited access to:

• a range of over 50 fitness classes per week
• 100 x station gym
• badminton, squash and tennis courts

The Department of Sport and Recreation will be open from 7.00am starting on the academic year 2012/13.

How to join

Visit www.port.ac.uk/sport to join and pay online, then go to Early Bird membership and follow the easy steps. Make sure you read the terms and conditions before purchasing.

• First thing you must do on the day of your graduation is go to Spinnaker Sports Centre to collect your student and guest tickets (which you booked in advance) and your gown. Check below the dates and times of the ceremonies and make sure you arrive with plenty of time on the day.

• You can find all information about graduation at www.port.ac.uk/departments/services/graduation.

• The University will broadcast your graduation live on all campus plasma screens and online at www.port.ac.uk/graduationlive.

• Will you be tweeting? Please tag your tweets with #uopgrad.

Monday 16 July 2012, 11,30am

• Department of Accounting and Finance (Undergraduates)
• Department of Strategy and Business Systems (Undergraduates)

Monday 16 July 2012, 2.30pm

• Institute of Criminal Justice Studies

Tuesday 17 July 2012, 10.30am

• Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation
• Learning at Work
• School of Engineering

Tuesday 17 July 2012, 2.30pm

• Department of Economics (Undergraduates)
• School of Computing

Wednesday 18 July 2012, 10.00am

• School of Civil Engineering and Surveying

Wednesday 18 July 2012, 1.00pm

• School of Languages and Area Studies

Wednesday 18 July 2012, 4.00pm

• School of Education and Continuing Studies

Thursday 19 July 2012, 10.30am

• Department of Sport and Exercise Science
• School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
• Department of Mathematics

Thursday 19 July 2012, 2.30pm

• Department of Geography
• School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences

Friday 20 July 2012, 10.00am

• School of Creative Technologies

Friday 20 July 2012, 1.00pm

• Department of Psychology
• School of Creative Arts, Film and Media

Friday 20 July 2012, 4.00pm

• Department of Accounting and Finance (Postgraduates)
• Department of Economics (Postgraduates)
• Department of Human Resource and Marketing Management (Postgraduates)
• Department of Strategy and Business Systems (Postgraduates)
• School of Law (Postgraduates)

Monday 23 July 2012, 10.30am

• Portsmouth School of Art, Design and Media
• School of Biological Sciences
• Dental Academy

Monday 23 July 2012, 2.30pm

• Portsmouth School of Architecture
• School of Health Sciences and Social Work

Tuesday 24 July 2012, 10.30am

• Department of Human Resource and Marketing Management (Undergraduates)
• School of Law

Tuesday 24 July 2012, 2.30pm

• School of Social, Historical and Literary Studies