University Cities and Towns in Europe

Gottingen in Germany, about two hours NNE from Frankfurt, is world-renowned as a university town. More Nobel laureates have attended the university than any other institution. The town itself is medium-sized, on a major autobahn and rail line.

Padua Italy has one of the oldest Universities in Italy and about 65,000 students.
I've always enjoyed the town of Aix-en-Provence in France which has a nice University.

John,

I'm sorry you didn't get more responses to your post as it is something I would like to know as well. If you find a resource that answers this question, please post the link in this thread.

I don't know of any books... but here's some university towns I have visited. Besides the two obvious English examples, Oxford and Cambridge, Leuven in Belgium, Lyon in France, and Heidelberg and Trier in Germany have huge student populations. Leuven in particular is (for Americans) an under-visted gem. Many other large cities have sizable university populations, but they are primarily known for other things, like London, Paris, Dublin, Moscow or St. Petersburg.

Hi John,

I aaw this post in a different thread and thought you'd be interested:

Leuven, Belgium
Even a country as small as Belgium still has many hidden treasures for American travelers to discover. The university town of Leuven is one of them, home to Katholiek Universiteit Leuven. Amongst its architechural gems are the medieval library, its glorious Stadhuis (more impressive than any other in Belgium save Bruges, in my opinion) and an impressive Gothic cathedral. Even though the town serves as the home base of Belgium's equivalent to Budweiser (Stella Artois), Leuven's many cafes are a beer lover's dream. And the Oude Markt, quite simply, is the best place for sipping a drink and people-watching I have ever encountered in Europe. And...the town is virtually tourist-free. Check it out.
Tom
Washington, DC USA 06/04/2007

There is a campus in Bushey just north of London which has been set for so many TV and movie theater film productions incl. Hollywood. It's just what you would expect an English campus to look like.Frankfurt's Goethe University has moved into the impressive buildings that used to be headquarters of the US forces in Germany after WW2 and until 1989. Picture

Lille France
Grenoble France
Copenhagen, Denmark
And I'll be studying in Rouen France for 5 months in January

Aberdeen, Scotland is a great university town. The university has been there since the 1200s.

Pisa, Italy, and Bath, England have huge student populations. London has a number of major universities.