Student Life in Manchester
Manchester is appeals the thousands of students every year as they ideal place to study, at both of the city's universities; The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University. Also in Manchester is the Royal Northern College of Music, which along with the two universities is in the south of the city around Oxford Road.
The University of Manchester is the result of the merging of Victoria University of Manchester and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, which happened in 2004. The University of Manchester also includes the Manchester Business School. The University is part of the research group, Russell Group and won the 2006 University of the Year award in the Times newspaper. During 2007-2008 the university had well over 40,000 students and over 10,000 staff which meant that it was the biggest single site University in the UK.
Manchester isn't a campus university which means that it is based in the heart of the city, however the main area of the University is home to the majority of their facilities and so is often called campus. The campus is split into the north and south, the north being on Sackville Street and south being of Oxford Road, with a number of other businesses and main roads around them.
The main living campus of the university that has halls of residents on it is the Fallowfield campus. On this campus there are nine separate halls of living, all of which are different from another, these are; Woolton Hall, Oak House, Owens Park, Richmond Park, Allen Hall, Linton House, Ladybarn House, Ashburne Hall and Firs Via. As well as halls of residents there is also a sports hall, conference centre, hotel and the Firs Botanical Experimental Grounds on the campus.
Besides the Fallowfield campus there is also a living campus of Sackville Street, there are a total of 5 halls of residents; Wright Robinson, Chandos, Weston, Lambert and Fairfield. The third campus is Victoria Park, this campus again has halls of residents; St. Gabriel's Hall, Opal Gardens Hall, Dalton-Ellis Hall, Hulme Hall and St Anselm Hall. There are also a number of halls of living around the city like the Whitworth park halls.
Manchester Metropolitan University was first opened in 1970 at Manchester Polytechnic as part of the Manchester College of Art and Design. It was in 1992 when it gained university status and then became Manchester Metropolitan University. The university currently stands as the third largest in the country in terms of how many students attend the university.
The university has four campuses; the main one is the central campus, All Saints which is in the city centre of Manchester. This campus is home to the subjects; Art, Design, Law, Science, Engineering and humanities. This is a hall of residents area and is the closes to the city centre, it's both walking distance as well as the area having the busiest bus routes in the EU and they are cheap too. As well as this you have bars, cafes, shops and takeaways all nearby! You are close to the Students union and Manchester Metropolitan's sports centre and swimming pool.
Another campus is the Aytoun Campus is where the Business school is located, and is another campus that is close to the city centre. The Aytoun campus has a number of things in walking distance like bars, cafes, restaurants, cinemas and theatres. As well as that it's not far from Manchester's shopping centre and again has a good bus service through it.
Didsbury campus is for those who are studying Social work, youth and community or education and is just a few minutes from the centre of the village of Didsbury. Within the village you will find shops, cafes, bars, restaurants etc, and then if you walk the other way you will find yourself in the popular area of Parrs Wood leisure complex. All under one roof you can find a cinema, fast food, bowling, and a gym and have a game of bingo! The campus is in good distance to transport links and the halls re opposite the universities sports fields.
The fourth campus is the Elizabeth Gaskell & Hollings, this is home of health course, speech pathology, psychology and physiotherapy. These campuses are actually separate from one another, but are classed as one by many due to the being directly opposite one another. Nearby to the campuses are shops, bars, cafes and Sainsbury's. They are also in walking distance of the well known Curry Mile, where cheap takeaways are there for you to pick from!
The university has its own students union that is based at the All Saints campus, this works at making students heard within the university as well as arranging countless social events during the year and especially during Fresher's week. Within the university is also the Manchester Metropolitan School of Theatre, which is a drama school within the university. The school has links with local theatres as well as TV companies including Granada and BBC. They have seen a number of students go on to have a career in acting, this includes; Julie Walters, Victoria Wood, Steve Coogan and Amanda Burton.