Leeds has been a city for students since the 19th century is still a popular place of study today.
There are two universities in the city – the University of Leeds and Leeds Metropolitan University. The colleges of further and higher education include Leeds College of Art and Design, Leeds College of Music and Leeds College of Building. The city is home to more than 200,000 students in total.
The city has a vibrant student scene made up of nightclubs, student areas, bars, cafes, restaurants, music, museums and countryside.
The University of Leeds was set up in 1904 but its roots go back even further. The Leeds School of Medicine began in 1831 and the Yorkshire College of Science was set up in 1874 – this later became the Yorkshire College when classics, modern literature and history were added to its subjects. The two colleges became the university in 1904. Most students at that time would have been from Yorkshire, but now the university has students from all over the UK and from 100 different countries. The Leeds Cancer Research UK Centre includes researchers from the University of Leeds.
Leeds Metropolitan University began in 1824 as the Leeds Mechanics Institute. Other specialist colleges such as Leeds College of Art, Leeds College of Commerce, the Yorkshire Training School of Cookery and the City of Leeds and Carnegie College eventually all joined to become Leeds Polytechnic in 1970. In 1992 Leeds Polytechnic became Leeds Metropolitan University.