Student Life in the North East
Containing two of the UK’s most popular universities, Durham and Newcastle, as well as a number of other highly respected educational institutions, the North East of England is a great place for students looking to combine their studies with a vibrant and diverse social life. The area also has a wealth of beautiful natural scenery and historically important architecture, with the region’s coastline, Northumberland National Park, Durham Cathedral and Hadrian’s Wall, a huge Roman wall built across the width of Northern England, all a day trip away.
Although the biggest city in the region is actually Sunderland, the North East’s accepted principal city is Newcastle, which provides many of the area’s social, cultural and entertainment outlets. Home to Newcastle University, Newcastle has built a strong reputation in recent years as a party city, with its night-life and lively social scene among the city’s biggest attractions. However, Newcastle also has a rich cultural heritage, offering visitors a mixture of stunning architecture – the Newcastle Gateshead Quayside area is a must see – and cultural opportunities such as regular arts festivals, hundreds of live music venues and the Theatre Royal, one of the UK’s most famous theatres.
Just outside Newcastle in Gateshead, students will find the Angel of the North, a huge winged sculpture twenty metres high and over fifty metres wide. Nearby is the Gateshead MetroCentre, officially the largest shopping and leisure centre in Europe. Packed with over three hundred shops, an eleven screen cinema, bowling alley, laser game and over fifty different places to eat and drink, the centre is extremely popular with students in the area who have time to kill and money to spend.
For students looking for something a little more relaxed during their studies, the University of Durham offers the perfect location. As well as being one of the UK's most respected Universities, with a worldwide reputation for academic excellence, the University of Durham is situated at the heart of the small and picturesque city of Durham.
Home to Durham Cathedral, one of the region’s two world heritage sites, the other being Hadrian’s wall, Durham is a small city, offering beautiful and ancient architecture, green surroundings and a close-knit, friendly community. Other local attractions include the Victorian Viaduct which stands high above the city and Durham Castle, which was donated to the University in 1840 and since then has been occupied by University College. The castle keep is now accommodation for students of the college, but public access to the castle by guided tour is still possible. The city's social scene may not be as lively as it is in Newcastle, but with regular train and bus services running between the two cities, students are never too far away from Newcastle night-life.
Other places of interest in the North East include the region’s unspoilt coastlines, with miles and miles of golden sands, huge cliffs and stunning sea views. Also, the region’s Roman heritage offers numerous ruins and old forts, as well as Hadrian’s wall which sits just south of the border between England and Scotland. There are also many museums in the area that focus entirely on the North East’s Roman past.
The people of the North East have a reputation for their passion and pride but also their sense of community, meaning that students living in the area should always expect a warm and friendly welcome. In fact, a recent regional image campaign used the tag line ‘passionate people, passionate places’.
The North East region has one of the lowest costs of living in the UK, with students able to enjoy the area’s entertainment and social scene without breaking the bank. Newcastle and Sunderland in particular offer low costs of living and although Durham is slightly more expensive, it is still much cheaper than many other university cities in the UK.
Crime rates in the area are also pretty favourable, on a par with national averages, and although the rate of crime in Newcastle is higher than average, rates are still pretty low when compared to other UK cities of similar size and population.
Access to, and around, the North East is fairly easy, with the region’s major cities serviced by the East Coast Main line, providing high-speed train links between London and Edinburgh, and every major city in between. Also, the A1 offers direct road access from the South of England right up through the North East and into Scotland, while the A19 links all the major cities in the North East to one another.
Each city in the region also has its own train station, providing links to most other cities and towns in the region as well as throughout the UK. Internal bus services also operate in the city centres, many of which offer travel discounts to students.
For international travel, the North East offers the Newcastle International ferry port, with services to Amsterdam and Scandinavia, as well as a number of regional airports, the biggest of which are Newcastle Airport and Durham Tees Valley Airport. Students can fly throughout Europe from Newcastle with low-cost airlines, and even reach far-flung destinations worldwide including the USA and Mexico.
