Town / City Centre Universities - where?

[ClumpingKate]

So I know Oxford and Cambridge, many London unis and Manchester are all city based universities with their buildings on public streets in the centre of town. Anywhere else that largely matches this description?
Failing that, am looking for campuses that are located in the central area, say less than a mile (30 mins walk) from the centre of town.

Where have I missed?

Actually, Exeter is a short walk from the city centre and is a campus university. Locally, it's still counted as in the city centre, and whenever I visit, I find it very easy to pop into town.

I certainly walked past Exeter University buildings on my way from the shopping area to the car park on a recent visit.

St Lukes Campus, Exeter, is near the city centre and cathedral. The Streatham campus is easily accesible from the station but is on a hill and is not nestled next to other buildings in the city as Sheffield, Bristol and Manchestger are,for example. You could have walked by it if you parked a long way out! Most people don't though.

Well the students at Exeter certainly feel they're in the city from what they used to tell me.

But the broader point is that there are variations on "city centre university" - what one means by a city, what one means by 'city centre' and whether the applicant is looking for a campus university, or buildings spread through a city centre.

And the even broader point about this being the first or main criterion for a university choice? Hmmmm, not the best way of thinking about it really.

She mentioned Cambridge too. I suppose it's expanded quite a lot with the Science Parks etc but the centre feels to me less like a city with a university in it and more like a university with a town attached

It is a bit. Durham and St Andrews even more so.

And the even broader point about this being the first or main criterion for a university choice? Hmmmm, not the best way of thinking about it really

Depends on the course. If it's something like English that can be studied more or less everywhere, then why not choose the uni based on whether you like the city? If you want to do something more specialist, you may not have as much choice, granted but even then I think you need to like the city/campus as well.

I haven’t read the whole thread but surely loads of universities are like this ; Bristol, Leeds, Edinburgh, Durham, Newcastle

I agree that Cambridge is town like, but not Oxford. Oxford is a proper city. It's really quite big!

Strathclyde is right in the centre of Glasgow, spent a fab 5 years living there- still miss it.

Town or City?
Campus or not ?
Coastal or central ?
Big or small?
Scotland / Wales / England / NI?

there are lots of criteria worth weighing up
it also rather depends on the courses available.

Southampton Solent is City Centre but for some reason is not an MN favourite

If it's something like English that can be studied more or less everywhere, then why not choose the uni based on whether you like the city?

As someone who teaches in the field, I'd say this is pretty bad advice - not all English courses are the same, just like not all Engineering courses, or Physics degrees, are the same.

Not sure why humanities subjects are always represented as the throwaway random degrees which can be done anywhere.

Sheffield Uni Students Union also scores very highly and there is a cafe bar where you can start the night that is only a few minutes from where the central bars start. Top (or close) on whatuni for years. Loughboro also scores highly on that front. It's worth looking at how the unions score as they tend to reflect student overall satisfaction in everything and you get lots of feedback from individuals about the uni altogether.

Liverpool - campus is in the centre and the residential areas are nearby if you like, or out by the park if you don't. A diverse but small city if you like best of both worlds.

Wolverhampton. It's a small city-uni is directly in the centre and the halls are next to a 24 hour ASDA 😂
Perfect.

University of Southampton isn't all that far from the city centre.

Both unis in Newcastle are bang in the city centre, Sunderland is all around and Durham is, too. Not that anywhere in Durham is much more than half an hour walk from the centre.

Oxford is a proper city. It's really quite big!

Not compared to cities like Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle,Leeds or Liverpool.

Well, no obviously not. But it is not the sticks either. And I speak as someone from Glasgow...

As pp have said Aston University is very near the centre of Birmingham (ie walking distance) but has the benefit of feeling like a campus as well.

DD is doing languages at Edinburgh. The Uni buildings are walking distance of Princes Street, Waverley Station and all the trendy bar areas.

Awesome city. I may be biased as I grew up there.

One minute we are talking about Cambridge and then Huddersfield and St John York. Not quite the same!

The OP didn't ask about universities I should allow DD to like, based on prestige, just for 'city' universities. Huddersfield and York St John fit that that particular brief. As does my suggestion of NUA, although this would be no good at all if it turns out she's applying for e.g. Physics or PPE.

I think I was largely looking for traditional pre-1992 universities. Predicted grades are AAB which won't get her into Oxbridge but will be enough for most of the others.
I think she is worried about missing London and that sense of being able to slip into being an anonymous person on a city street, not always a student.

And the even broader point about this being the first or main criterion for a university choice? Hmmmm, not the best way of thinking about it really.

If you're doing a non-niche subject and have AAB predicted, then you're going to have a wide choice of universities. You might as well start narrowing it down somehow, and you've got to live there for 3 or 4 years. My kids all wanted city unis, not discrete campuses, so they crossed them off first, plus London as none of them wanted to go there, and then started working down the league tables and looking at courses. If there hadn't been enough courses of a decent standard that appealed, I guess they would have had to start widening their filter.

I think she is worried about missing London and that sense of being able to slip into being an anonymous person on a city street, not always a student

I think then, that an important part of her education should be getting out of London, and realising that it is not the only way to live. There is such ignorance about the rest of Britain from some Londoners ...

So given these more specific criteria, she should look at Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff, Queens Belfast, and Leeds, as well as Glasgow and Edinburgh. That is the "big civics" (Birmingham is the original "redbrick"). Although Edinburgh is arguably one of the "ancient" universities. Anyhow ...

These are all excellent universities, with a wide range of degrees, in major cities which cater for students, but not reliant on them.

I can't remember - is your DD looking at an arts & humanities, and social science degree (HASS) or a STEM degree? That broad division might help - I wouldn't necessarily recommend Birmingham, for example, for HASS degrees, although their arts & humanities research & teaching is excellent - but it's a university dominated, in almost all areas of policy, by STEM considerations.

But for engineering and medicine, Birmingham is one of the best in the country. Although for engineering, outside of London I'd also be advising Durham - but that isn't a city where a student can be "anonymous."

There is such ignorance about the rest of Britain from some Londoners ...

Yep

Although for engineering, outside of London I'd also be advising Durham

Or Sheffield