A student sat at a desk in the University of Southampton's Student Hub, with a laptop open on the desk.

Set up your University IT account

This page takes you through setting up your IT account and email address, as well as enabling Multi-Factor Authentication. You need to complete these steps to access the University's IT systems.

What you need to do

You can set up your University IT account and email address from Monday 3 August. You will need your University of Southampton ID number, also known as your student ID number – you'll find this 8-digit number in your confirmation of place email from the University. If you can't find your ID number, email The Student Hub.

You should also set up Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) as part of this process – you can find MFA guidance on this page. You will not be able to upload your identity documents or enrol at the University until you've done this.

It can take up to 24 hours for us to grant you access to our systems and services, including:

  • Blackboard, our online learning environment
  • your email
  • ID card service
  • enrolment services

If you still can’t access services after 24 hours, contact ServiceLine.

You should check your email account regularly, as this is how we will contact you. 

We recommend opening the page to set up your University IT account in a new tab.

Set up your University IT account

SUSSED: our student intranet

You can get onto the University’s student intranet, SUSSED, as soon as you’ve set up your University IT account and email.

SUSSED will give you access to University news and announcements, as well as useful links, including:

  • Banner – where you can manage your student record and details
  • Blackboard – for communications about your course
  • Subscribe self-service – to manage your University IT account and reset your password

See the student intranet

Securing your account

Use a strong password

When you create your University IT account password, please make sure your password is unique and complex to increase security.

We recommend including a mixture of upper case and lower case letters, numbers and a special character in your password. Never share your password with anyone.

Set up security questions

You’ll need to set up some security questions and answers. We’ll use these to check your identity if you ever forget your password.

Choose security questions with answers only you know, without using sensitive information such as financial or confidential details. You should also avoid easy-to-guess answers like pet or family names.

Add a back-up email address

We strongly recommend adding a personal email address when setting up your IT account. You can use this as a back-up email to access your account if you forget your password. 

You can also use your back-up email address to reset your Multi-Factor Authentication settings if you change or lose your mobile phone.

Enable Multi-Factor Authentication

You'll be prompted to set up Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) which adds an extra layer of security to your account. 

Please allow one hour for your IT account to synchronise before setting up MFA. You won't be able to access our IT services until you complete this step.

We recommend using the Microsoft Authenticator app and setting SMS as a back-up. Once you’ve set up your account, you'll use the app to verify your identity when logging into your IT account.

If you use WhatsApp with the same phone number you use to set up MFA, Microsoft will send you authentication codes using WhatsApp instead of SMS.

Our slideshow on Thinglink will help you through each step of setting up your account. We recommend opening this page in a new tab.

Learn more about your IT essentials

Before you join us, learn a bit more about university IT including key systems we use, Microsoft 365, Wi-Fi and more! 

Find out more

We recommend bookmarking this page so you can easily access it at any time.