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