ABSTRACT
The academic structure which that has been so far considered varies more radically from subject to subject than from institution to institution. But the social environments of the three Universities and the College are strikingly unlike. The scope of their formal influence beyond the regulation of teaching and study ranges from the provision of a few social rooms and sports grounds to a comprehensive collegiate life. The two civic universities fall between these extremes. The tower of the Parkinson building dominates Leeds, asserting selfconsciously, even pompously, the worthiness of learning. If Leeds approaches Northampton in the amorphousness of its social setting, the nightly reabsorption of its students into the back streets and suburbs of a city, and the gracelessness of its institutional style, Southampton is closer to Cambridge. It accommodated twice as many in its halls—two-fifths of the men, and 90% of the women—all grouped within a mile of the university.
