[HDNG]INTRODUCTION:[EHDNG][PARA]UMIST, the University of Manchester Institute of Science and [PARA]Technology, spreads out in a 27-acre line of buildings with [PARA]Manchester University at one end. Together with [ULNE]Manchester [PARA]Metropolitan University[EULNE] and a number of other colleges, this is the[PARA]largest educational complex in Europe. UMIST and its students [PARA]have both formal and informal links with these other institutions, [PARA]particularly the University, although this year, the two institutions [PARA]have formally separated [ITAL](but they're still good friends)[EITAL]. UMIST's [PARA]Main Building, which was built in 1902 just before it was first [PARA]allowed to award degrees, is an art nouveau redbrick block. But [PARA]most of the architecture is 60s and 70s concrete blocks, white [PARA]fronts, straight lines and glass. [ITAL]Useful rather than beautiful.[EITAL] [PARA]Once upon a time, it was only possible to study sciences and [PARA]engineering, but these days, social sciences and even arts are [PARA]available, but still it's test tubes and all that stuff which dominate.[HDNG]ATMOSPHERE:[EHDNG][PARA][BOLD]Being A Student In Manchester: [EBOLD]see [ULNE]University of Manchester[EULNE].[ITAL] [PARA]UMIST students are a hard working crowd, with their noses in [PARA]books or their faces reflected in computer screens as often as [PARA]not. This tends to be one of the rigours of science-based [PARA]courses - the work regime is stricter and the resources are [PARA]better. This doesn't mean they don't know how to have a good [PARA]time, but they're tamer than their colleagues in other Manchester [PARA]colleges (but that ain't saying much). Students wear either [PARA]anoraks or Metallica T-shirts and bum-fluff facial hair. And the [PARA]men are worse.[EITAL][ITAL][HDNG]LIFE IN MANCHESTER:[EHDNG][EITAL][PARA][ITAL]'I'm comin' home I'm comin' home, to your house!' 'My rabbit's [PARA]dead!' 'Listen Naaaadia, you've got a duty to know about these [PARA]things!' Yes, this is the home of 'The Living Soap', the studes you[PARA]loved to loathe. Unfortunately, many people regard the show as a[PARA]depiction of an average student household, which presupposes [PARA]that Manchester is an average student city. Not likely, Mr [PARA]Holdsworth![EITAL][PARA][ITAL]Manchester students dress to thrill, if not in the classic late-80s [PARA]bags, at least in high style. Manchester is Mecca for 2nd-hand [PARA]gear, especially Oldham market. The famous Afflecks Palace, [PARA]although past its best, is the place to tog up for term time, [PARA]anything from rags to records and back to rags again (although [PARA]it's quite designer grunge/nouveau 70s nowadays). Amongst the [PARA]200 or so stalls, there's usually a job going for about ú15 a day, [PARA]which keeps the landlord at bay.[EITAL][PARA][ITAL] A job's pretty handy (there are a few about but many hunters)[PARA]because life ain't cheap here. Although not on a London scale of [PARA]urban extortion, there are too many temptations to look after the [PARA]pennies and the pounds end up playing follow the leader. [PARA]However, Manchester has very little of the crowded loneliness of [PARA]London or its impersonality. The people are friendly (Paul Calf [PARA]isn't representative of all locals) and, amongst students, local [PARA]pride is a virus. At the end of term, students from the south [PARA]frequently return (to their mothers' horror) sporting 'Born in the [PARA]North - die in the North' t-shirts.[EITAL][PARA][ITAL] While the city sprawls for about 10 miles in all directions, its [PARA]centre is relatively small which makes getting out and about a [PARA]cruise. With so much to do around town, there's no excuse for a[PARA]Saturday night on the sofa. A bar or a club on the other side of [PARA]town is only 20 minutes walk and, since the student residential [PARA]areas tend to be inner-city districts, a minicab home won't be [PARA]grant-busting.[EITAL][PARA][ITAL] At the very core, indeed, the hard core of the Manchester [PARA]Scene is ecstacy ('E' or 'the dance drug'). This and other, [PARA]nastier, drugs are readily available in the clubs, pubs and on the [PARA]streets of Manchester. Manchester students' attitudes to drugs [PARA]obviously vary enormously between individuals and although use [PARA]of 'E', 'acid' (LSD) and 'dope' (cannabis) is quite widespread, the [PARA]pressure to partake is small. Fun abounds without chemical [PARA]playmates. [EITAL][PARA][ITAL]Manchester offers a student just about everything any city can, [PARA]but many find it oppressive, especially if they're not from a big [PARA]city. The bright lights invite, but they dazzle too.[EITAL][ITAL][HDNG]THE CITY:[EHDNG][EITAL][PARA][ITAL][STAT][BULL] Population: 2,454,800 [BULL] London: 167miles [BULL] Liverpool: [PARA]28miles [BULL] Birmingham: 72miles[ESTAT][EITAL][PARA]Manchester, although it's been around since the days when [PARA]Caesar took his strolls in the forum, was really built out of cotton [PARA]during the Industrial Revolution. Out of the money from cotton, [PARA]that is. Industry flooded Manchester and the canals drained it, [PARA]making the city one of the alltime boom towns.[ITAL] But it didn't last, [PARA]and Manchester found depression pretty depressing, scarring the[PARA]city with slums and factories. Some of these, such as Moss [PARA]Side and Oxford Road (opposite the Union Building), remain [PARA]downbeat war zones, but many have been redeveloped and its [PARA]chequered history has left Manchester rich in culture. Being a [PARA]student here is to be rocking in the free world with every facility [PARA]under the sun, from theatres to Afflecks Palace, from museums[PARA](such as the University's own natural history museum) to Old [PARA]Trafford.[EITAL][ITAL][HDNG]TRAVEL:[EHDNG][EITAL][PARA][BOLD]Trains:[EBOLD] Not 1 but 2 mainline stations, Manchester Piccadilly for [PARA]London and the South, and Manchester Victoria for just about [PARA]everywhere else. Routes go all over, including London (2:30hrs, [PARA]1/hr); Birmingham, Edinburgh and Bristol.[PARA][BOLD]Coaches:[EBOLD] All sorts of coach services, including, of course, [PARA]National Express to, among most other places, London (ú16.00, [PARA]3:30hrs, 7/day), Birmngham (ú7.50, 2:20hrs, 8/day), Edinburgh [PARA](ú13.75, 5:55hrs, 2/day)[PARA][BOLD]Car:[EBOLD] From the north, M6 (then M61 or M62), A6 or M66; from the [PARA]east, M62, A58, A62; from the South, M6, A6, A523, A34; and [PARA]from Wales, the M56. Parking may well be a problem in central [PARA]Manchester,[ITAL] but, for the lazy or environmentally carefree, a car [PARA]doesn't go amiss.[EITAL][PARA][BOLD]Air:[EBOLD] Manchester Airport is one of the UK's big ones - flights all [PARA]over the world as well as inland.[PARA][BOLD]Hitching:[EBOLD] [ITAL]Not possible from central Manchester, but quite good on[PARA]arterial routes out of the city.[EITAL][PARA][BOLD]Local:[EBOLD] Manchester has a major bus network, running all over [PARA]town, especially up and down Oxford Road[ITAL].[EITAL] Trains are a [ITAL]quicker[EITAL][PARA]alternative, especially for the outskirts. The spanking new Metro [PARA]Link tram service is now up and trundling.[PARA][BOLD]Taxis:[EBOLD][ITAL] Manchester's centre, being relatively small, means taxi [PARA]trips are a viable resort. The black cabs which screech to a halt [PARA]as you hail them are a lot more expensive than the private traders[PARA]who are only supposed to pick up phone callers and drop ins. [EITAL][PARA][ITAL][BOLD]Bicycles: [EBOLD]Manchester's quite bike-friendly (flat with a fair few [PARA]bicycle lanes), but theft is rife. A mountain bike will identify you [PARA]as a drug pusher, especially if you're about 12.[EITAL][HDNG]LIBRARIES and COMPUTERS:[EHDNG][PARA][STAT][BULL] Books: 237,000 [BULL] Periodicals: 1,500/yr [BULL] Study places: [PARA]558 [BULL] Computer workstations: 7,000[ESTAT][PARA]Only 350 of the computers are available for general use (still, [PARA]that's 1 for every 12 undergrads).[HDNG]CAREER PROSPECTS:[EHDNG][PARA][STAT][BULL] Careers Service [BULL] No of staff: 13full [BULL] Unemployed after [PARA]6mths (1992): 12%[ESTAT][PARA]A phenomenal proportion of UMIST students are sponsored by [PARA]companies to study there (12% and growing). Such a large [PARA]number is achieved by a central service run by the Institute. [ITAL][PARA]Sponsorship can be a very cushy number, depending on the deal.[PARA]At best, it means lots of dosh, paid work during vacations and a [PARA]job at the end only if the students want it. At worst, it's a moral [PARA]commitment to work for some bunny-blinding chemical company[PARA]who gave you 10p.[EITAL][HDNG]FAMOUS ALUMNI:[EHDNG][PARA]David Clark MP (Lab); Sir John Cockroft (scientist); John Dalton [PARA](chemist - not the type that stocks condoms); John Fairclough [PARA](Chairman of the Engineering Council); Sophie Grigson (TV [PARA]cook); Keith Oates (Chief Executive, MandS); Sir Arthur [PARA]Whitten-Brown (trans-Atlantic pilot).[HDNG]FURTHER INFO:[EHDNG][PARA]Prospectuses for undergrads and postgrads. Special course [PARA]leaflets are available from the Information Office and also, 'Trip', [PARA]a guide to the Union is distributed from their own offices.
