Universities

Manchester is home to two major universities: The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University. The former is the largest full-time non-collegiate university in Britain, and was created in autumn 2004 by the merger of Victoria University of Manchester and UMIST. In nearby Salford is the University of Salford, which is within two miles of Manchester city centre.

With the University of Bolton, the Royal Northern College of Music and University Centre Oldham all nearby, Greater Manchester has a total student population of around 99,000, although the widely-held theory that this is a particularly large student population for an area of its size, or one of the largest in Europe, is a myth. The University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University and the Royal Northern College of Music are grouped together on the southern side of the city centre, and effectively form one large campus, split down the centre by Oxford Road, the busiest bus route in Europe.