Alan Smithers: Low costs and lots of soul

When I first moved north, having spent most of my first 30 years in London, I did so with considerable trepidation. A colleague at London University, where I was lecturing at the time, did not help by exclaiming, "Bradford! That's a place people move from, not to!" But I loved the university, and the city was the kind of place you felt you could hold in the palm of your hand. Everything was in walking distance and within minutes you could be on the moors.

Apart from one brief foray back to London, which I found far too expensive and crowded, I have worked in northern universities ever since. My daughters also went to universities in the region – York and Manchester Met since you ask.

The great thing about northern universities is that they are nearly all on single campuses so there is every chance of a good social life, mixing with fellow students from across the subjects. Almost all the universities are in low cost areas, they are easy to travel into each day, and there are generally plenty of opportunities for part-time work to offset tuition fees and living expenses. In Liverpool, where I am now based, I can stroll into the university each day through beautiful Georgian streets. When we want to go for a meal everything is there, many costing less than a third of those in London. Some of the waiters are moonlighting students.

The whole range of universities is represented. In Durham, the region has one of the oldest universities, which like Oxford and Cambridge is based on colleges, and in Lincoln it has one of the newest, on a beautiful site by the river in an ancient city. There are old civics, such as Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle and Sheffield, at the heart of major cities. Some, like Bradford and Salford, have emerged from colleges of advanced technology which pioneered sandwich degrees based on layers of work and study. Lancaster and York were created on greenfield sites in the heady days of the Sixties attracting many leading academics. There is also a good selection of former polytechnics and higher education colleges.

Many students make the same move as I did and there is a net flow north. Manchester University is one of the three universities with highest number of applications. When I was there it was top and something of which we were briefly very proud. Until, that is, we asked the students why they had put us first and many said it was because of the Hacienda Club. The Hacienda has now gone in a major redevelopment, but the nightlife lives on. The renovation has been sparked partly by the Commonwealth Games which will leave the university with perhaps the best sporting facilities in the country.

Not all universities are as difficult to get into as Manchester. Teesside in Middlesbrough is proud to call itself the Opportunity University offering open access and a wide range of full and part-time courses, with about a third of the students on non-degree courses. My alma mater, Bradford, also claims to be less concerned about A-level grades though this could be recognising the reality that not enough students are coming through with good passes in the physical sciences and languages for its courses.

Whatever type of course and university you are looking for, you should be able to find it in the region. There are leading medical schools, business schools, engineering schools and subject departments. Liverpool has one of the six departments of veterinary medicine in the country. Almost all the universities can boast of being special in something. Central Lancashire (in Preston) is known for its American studies, Liverpool John Moores for hospitality and sports science, Northumbria (in Newcastle) for fashion, and Teesside for computing.

Manchester Metropolitan is the largest trainer of teachers in the country and St Martin's College, Edge Hill, and Liverpool Hope are also among the biggest. There are specialist colleges for music, contemporary dance, the performing arts, art and design, and drama is well represented in the universities, which all adds to the choice of live entertainment.

The region, although northern as far as England goes, is central in terms of the United Kingdom and easy to get to and from with good motorways, railways and airports. So when you are considering where to apply, whether locally or from afar, the region's universities and colleges are well worth a visit. Maybe like me you will stay, but even if you don't, I think you will be very pleasantly surprised.

The writer is the Sydney Jones professor of education and director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the University of Liverpool