Durham University (University of Durham in general)

Member Name: collingwood21

Product:	University of Durham in general
Date:	19/09/01 (1429 review reads)
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Durham is a beautiful little city situated in the North East of England, and home to one of the country's most famous "old" universities. Over the years, it has had students such as Mo Mowlem, Nasser Hussain, Jonathon Edwards and Minette Walters pass through it, and has been found to lurk relatively high in league tables, both for academic excellence and a very low dropout rate; it is for these reasons that I have heard it being referred to as the "Oxbridge of the North". I was fortunate to attend Durham for three years (1997 - 2000), and I hope that this op covers my experiences adequately; as always, if I miss anything out, just post a comment and I will try and answer it.

However, I will point out now that this category is about the university in general - I will not be covering my course (archaeology), as I have already written about this in previous ops and don't want to repeat myself. If you want this information, then I refer you to that op and/or category.


● The city
Durham is a small place, actually about the size of a small market town, but is classed as a city because of the cathedral (recently voted Britain's favourite building), which together with the castle forms a World Heritage Site. The two buildings are situated at the centre of the city on a hill above a bend in the River Wear, an area known as Palace Green. The road that runs along the landward side of the hill is the Old Bailey, and leads to Prebends Bridge in one direction, and the market place and city centre in the other. The centre itself has a string of shops that lead from the market place, and although the selection isn't great, I always found it perfectly adequate, as it had most major high street chains (Woolworths, Body Shop, WH Smith, Waterstones, etc), some excellent cafes and restaurants (I especially liked Emilio's on Old Elvet Bridge) and a cinema (although I hear rumours about it closing down soon).
There is also a bus station and main line train station, so transport is no problem.

Out of the centre, the newer colleges are about 15-20 minutes walk south (near Neville's Cross), along the main road that takes you past the union and the university bank branches. North of the centre is Hild Bede and Gilesgate, which is a popular student housing location. The size of the city can actually be a positive advantage, as it is easy to find your way around, virtually everything is within walking distance (if you don't mind walking up hills a lot that is) and it feels safe. Good places to visit outside of Durham are Newcastle (great for shopping and the Museum of Antiquities), Gateshead (Angel of the North, International Athletics Stadium and the Metro Centre) and Hadrian's Wall.

● The location of the university
Being an old university, Durham is not based around a single campus as many of the newer ones are. While the science departments (chemistry, geography, geology, physics, computer science, archaeology, biology and maths) are structured in the "science site" together with the main library on South Road, the arts, law, education and other departments are situated around the city, interspersed with retail, residential and college buildings. A second library is based on Palace Green in the city centre which houses law, theology and local studies collections (this is actually the original university library), while the education books are based in a third library close to the relevant department and Hild Bede college.

The student union (a rather ugly concrete heap that goes under the name "Dunelm House") is to be found on the edge of city centre, about 10 minutes walk from the science site and just across the river from Palace Green. Don"t be too put off by the outside of it though, as once you are inside, the union bar (Kingsgate) commands stunning views over the river and cathedral. Also t
o be found in this building is the athletics union, a laundry, cafeteria (good food, very cheap!), student travel agency, society notice boards, meeting rooms, shop and the accommodation office. Of course, some of the rooms here are put to far more evil uses during exam time, when you could find yourself taking your finals tantalisingly close to Kingsgate. :-(

The other important locations of the university are the offices and health centre, which are to be found very close to one another about five minutes walk away from the union, just opposite Old Elvet Bridge. Hopefully you will rarely need to use either, but it is good to know that they are centrally located and easy to find - the offices are signposted from the bridge, and the health centre is just over the road. If you are intending to be a postgraduate student, then you may also need to know that your admissions office is along this road too.


● The collegiate system
One of the more unusual aspects of Durham University is its adherence to the collegiate system, which is similar to the arrangement used by Oxford and Cambridge. Each student in the university is also a member of a college; you are requested to nominate a chosen college on your application form, and you must be accepted by both a college and a department to gain admission to the university. Occasionally, if you are accepted by your department and not your nominated college, then you may be offered a place in a less popular college by the university.

Each college is seen a residential and social community, having halls of residence, a bar and common room, clubs and societies, sports teams and facilities such as a laundry, library and shop (some colleges also have their own chapel and boathouse on the river). Colleges are headed by a Principal and Vice-Principal (who will be lecturers in the university), and have elected student representatives to the university, a student bar steward and social secre
taries to organise events and activities for college members. All colleges provide meals as part of your residential charge for the whole term; be warned though, the food is pretty dire across the board and it is worth budgeting to provide extras to supplement this diet!

The oldest college in Durham is University College, known to us as simply "castle" - this is because the main body is based at (surprise, surprise) the castle. If you are lucky, students here can get to live in the castle halls of residence (which I have heard can be rather posh), but don't count on this, as castle also owns the worst halls in the university as well! Castle now forms part of the group of older colleges, which are commonly referred to as the Bailey colleges (no prizes for guessing why), together with Chad's, Cuthbert's, John's and Hatfield. The older colleges tend to have more of an Oxbridge air about them and for this reason attract a disproportionate amount of public school types and clotted cream kids (rich and thick) - it is no exaggeration to say that at these colleges they actually use the croquet lawns for croquet (rather than sunbathing on or playing Frisbee which is their proper function). Living in the old colleges also has the disadvantage of being very close to the cathedral bells (which are especially vociferous on Sunday mornings), but are well situated for the city centre and you do get to reside in some wonderful old buildings.

Further along South Road are the group of newer colleges, which are purpose built student residences rather then converted old buildings ? what they lack in architectural charm though, it made up by proximity to the science site. The new colleges include Grey, Collingwood (which I went to!), Trevelyan, Van Mildert, Aidan's, Mary's (the women-only college or brothel) and Hild Bede (actually situated on its own by the education department). These are referred to as the hill colleges as th
e road which is a very long (and in places rather steep) hill that stretches from the science site out of the city - it can be very hard work walking up this hill sometimes, which is why we are all grateful for the bus stop outside Collingwood! :-)

Living in halls cost around £750 per term - check with your college for exact prices.


● Social life and Sports
For most students, social life revolves around their college, but university-wide events are put on by the union from time to time. Each college has a college day (i.e. Collingwood Day, Grey Day, etc) at the end of the summer term, where games, competitions and (inevitably) drinking are arranged as a post-exam release. Outside of the university, there are several good restaurants in the city (Emilio's, La Spagettata, etc) two nightclubs and a small cinema - if you want more than that you will have to go into Newcastle (one stop away by train), which has an excellent reputation for nightlife. Unfortunately, I am not the best person to comment on such matters as I have to admit to not being much of a social animal - sorry! As for sports, there are teams at both college and university level, with rugby and rowing being especially popular, and a well equipped sports centre at Maiden Castle.


● Student Support Services
Here I would just like to mention the student services that I have had experience of:

Accommodation - A small office with ads for student houses provided. No university managed houses, no accompanied viewing scheme, but some useful literature. Sorry, but I really didn't find them to especially useful.

Health centre - I always found the health centre staff to be very helpful, and never had any trouble getting appointments. Open surgeries were provided twice a week, specialist clinics (e.g. contraception) were available, and all the doctors I met were approachable. A counselling service was also available, althou
gh I personally found this to be no use at all.

Computers - There are abundant computer rooms with open access provided around the university and in colleges, some of which are open 24 hours. Each student is provided with server spacer to save their work (sorry, cannot remember how much exactly but everyone I know found it to be adequate), and a number of free printer credits per year (varies, depending on whether you are under/postgrad and the year of your programme) but more can be bought from the IT service. Free Internet access and email is also provided, and courses to introduce you to all aspects of computing are run throughout the year.

Night Bus - Runs throughout the evening on a route that covers the colleges, union and major student areas of the city. The bus has a "suggested fare" of 50p for any length journey, but if you have no money it will still take you; lone female students will take priority if there is insufficient room for everyone.

In addition to this, there are chaplaincy, nightline and childcare services, but I have no direct experience of these.


● Pros and Cons
Overall, there are a number of reasons to consider Durham University:
- Academic excellence
- The beautiful location
- You don't want to live in a very large city
- You like the idea of the college system
- You are an Oxbridge reject (lets face it, there are lots of them in Durham)
- The good reputation of your intended dept (most of them do have one)
- It is a small place so you can walk everywhere

However, some disadvantages that I found were:
- It can be quite pretentious; avoid if you hate black-tie dinners, regattas, Pimms and the sight of students driving Mercedes (yes, honestly)
- Social events could work out to be expensive
- College food was universally awful
- Terms are shorter than average, so the workload can be intense

Expect to be offered at le
ast BCC for a place, although this does vary and can be as high as AAB for high demand courses.

For more information, visit www.dur.ac.uk

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