Top 10 Gay Unis


Manchester Met tops gay student chart

Do you think Manchester is the real winner? Have your say here

Polly Curtis, education correspondent
Wednesday August 10, 2005

Manchester Metropolitan University is the best place to be a gay student - if you are looking for the highest gay to straight ratio, unlimited events run by the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual society and the widest range of "queer theory" courses.

A survey of universities by Diva, the magazine for gay women, places Manchester Met top, followed by the University of Brighton and London University.

It ranks the universities recommended by the National Union of Students as being gay-friendly by the number of events run for and by the gay student community, how active its gay scene and student society are, and what it offers in the range of "queer studies".

It also looked at the hate crime figures. Despite ranking the highest for crimes against gay people, Manchester and London were still ranked among the top three. Brighton was found to be the safest place to be gay.

Although the top three reads like a guide to gay Britain, the Diva top 10 does include some surprises. The universities of Lancaster, Hull and Bradford all feature, largely thanks to the events organised by their student unions.

Carol Keegan, the author of the survey, published today, said she worked with NUS officers to identify the 20 most gay friendly universities, then applied the criteria to narrow them down to the top 10. Officers at individual unions were also asked to provide figures on LGBT membership and estimate the size of the gay student community.

"Most universities have LGBT societies and services for gay students now. But we wanted to find the best ones. For people coming straight from school, being gay is a very important thing, and often a new thing. They want to be able to live it to the fullest. So if the university can reflect that for them in their first years away from home they might want to embrace it more," she said.

Adam Gerschel-Clarke, president of the LGBT society at Brighton University, said the second place nomination was a major achievement, particularly because the society has only existed for the past year and a half. "Everyone expected Brighton to have a strong gay community so there wasn't that much effort put into the society actually being there. This shows that we are needed and valued.

"One of the most important things is getting students together through social events to make sure there are other students who are in the same circumstances for them to talk to. We do the pink pub crawl after freshers week to introduce students to the gay scene."

A spokesman for Manchester Met said: "We are delighted to be ranked the UK's number one gay university. MMU is a very diverse academic community within a city which prides itself on its vibrant gay and lesbian community and their contribution to cultural life. The MMU student union caters very well indeed for the social and personal needs and aspirations of all our students."

The top 10

1. Manchester Metropolitan University

2. The University of Brighton

3. University of London Union

4. University of Birmingham

5. University of Lancaster

6. University of Leeds

7. University of Hull

8. University of Bradford

9. University of Durham

10. Edinburgh University