Calls for would-be students to see campus crime data

The Complete University Guide, released yesterday, lists 103 institutions in terms of burglary, robbery and violent crimes including sex crimes which happen close to campuses – offences it says are most likely to affect students.

Dr Bernard Kingston, the guide’s founder, said it uses police crime statistics affecting all victims in council wards within three miles of a university’s main campus because no specific statistics for student victims are available.

Using this measure Leeds University, which has its main campus on the edge of the city centre, has the second highest crime rate within three miles of its campus outside of London. It was also said to have had the highest rate of burglaries outside the capital.

Manchester Metropolitan University had the highest crime rate within three miles of its campus outside of London.

However the worst 18 places in the country for nearby crime were all in the capital with London Metropolitan, King’s College and South Bank University making up the bottom three.

Hull and Leeds Metropolitan University were in the bottom 20 nationally, outside of London, while York and York St John have the region’s lowest crime rates near campus.

Dr Kingston said: “Our new methodology allows potential students to assess the risks for individual institutions with much greater precision, at least for England and Wales. In the absence of data for crimes affecting university students specifically, either on or off campuses, they offer the best available guide.

“But it would be reassuring for university applicants and their parents if such information was readily available from the universities. It is clearly a matter of considerable concern when considering where to study as an undergraduate.”

The guide claims an estimated one-third of students become victims of crime, mainly theft and burglary. It also says about 20 per cent of student robberies take place in the first six weeks of the academic year.

The universities of Buckingham, Aberystwyth and Durham had the lowest overall crime rate.

Dr Kingston said: “Quality of tuition and the prospects for employment after graduation are key elements in choosing a university course, but it is important not to overlook other aspects of the environment in which the student will be living for three or more years.

“Our university cities do not exist in isolation from the communities within which they are located and, regrettably, crime is a constant presence.”

Buckingham is an independent university with just 1,000 students, Professor Terence Kealey, its vice chancellor, said it had invested heavily in security, with entry by electronic security pass only.

“The main issues would be people coming in from outside the university, either to steal from students’ rooms or go to the bar and have a fight, something like that but we have tight security now, no one can get into any building without a pass,” he said.

London Metropolitan, which has three centres in the Holloway, Moorgate and Aldgate areas of the city, disputed the figures.

A spokeswoman said: “The Complete University Guide only based its analysis on the crime rates around the three-mile radius of the Aldgate hub; however, 50 per cent of our students are located at our Holloway hub with the other half of students based at Aldgate and at Moorgate.”