If you read our school articles, you have likely seen the terms "campus university" and "city university". We use them when we share details about campus facilities and campus life. Both terms are clear enough to need little explanation. Still, in this article we want to look at what makes a university a campus or a city university. We also cover how the two differ, and the advantages and disadvantages each one brings you.
Students preparing to start university have many factors to weigh before making a final decision. The university's location, living conditions in its city, and the pros and cons of each type are just a few of them. Both city and campus universities give students a very good learning and education experience, yet they differ in certain ways.
What Is a Campus University and a City University?
How you define a campus university or a city university can change depending on the country you go to. Generally speaking, though, a campus university gathers its main building and all its facilities in a single area. Its students spend most of their time within that area.
A city university, on the other hand, has a center, but most of its buildings are spread in and around a city. Students often need to move around the city and its surroundings to attend their classes. Universities of this kind usually have more than one campus in the city, or even across the country. Still, the campus that houses administrative buildings such as the rector's office counts as the main campus.
Accommodation and Facilities
Campus universities, especially those in the United States and the United Kingdom, may tend to provide students with housing in their first year. Student halls are usually within walking distance of the many facilities a campus offers. These include classrooms, lecture halls, laundry rooms, medical centers, gyms, grocery stores, restaurants, and dining halls.
City universities can offer their students housing too, just like campus universities. However, the residence buildings are often spread across the city rather than gathered in one center. These buildings sometimes have private or shared kitchens, washing machines or laundry rooms, and common areas. In the common areas, students can come together to study or socialize. Students can of course reach the university library buildings and other facilities, but they sometimes need public transport to do so.
Costs
Most shops, restaurants, and cafes serving students inside a campus can keep their prices more reasonable than those outside. In addition, on-campus housing offered only to the university's own students can cost less than dorms and flats in the city center.
Sports facilities the university opens to its students may offer discounted membership fees. Events organized by the university's student union can also charge lower entry fees. It varies by country and city, but using off-campus facilities for similar services can cost more. These facilities apply their standard rates, even though some places do offer student discounts.
Student Life
Campus universities aim to give their students almost everything they need in one place. So events and social activities run by the university or its student union can be closer to students on campus. That can mean students spend less time on travel.
Campuses do host social events students can join in their free time. Even so, these cannot compare with the number and variety of social and cultural activities a city center offers.
City universities often sit at the very heart of a small or large city's social and cultural life. Students can find every kind of restaurant, cafe, shop, mall, museum, cinema, theater, and art gallery on almost every corner. Reaching such places is usually easy on foot, by bike, or by public transport.
Personal Preferences
Choosing a university is of course a personal decision, tied directly to your own preferences. A busy city and what it can offer may appeal to you. You may see yourself as an independent person, or find being in a city and living city life a regular source of motivation. If so, a city university may be the right choice for you.
On the other hand, you may be looking for the calm a campus university can offer. Finding almost everything you might need in the same area, just a few steps away, may sound more appealing. In that case, you can lean toward a campus university. Whatever you choose, university is a place where you will build new skills and make new friends. You will soon realize that the next few years will be a unique and rich experience.
