With over a hundred universities in Britain, from Aberdeen in the north-east, to Exeter in the south-west, deciding where to spend at least three years can be a daunting task.

Unionview aims to give you an independent view of what each university and its immediate surroundings have to offer. We believe that, aside from actually visiting a place, the best way of seeing what a university might be like is through impartial, unbiased films, that introduce you to some of the students, show you where you may be living, and how you might be taught. That’s what Unionview is all about.

We’re a close-knit crew, travelling up and down the country, and even over the Irish Sea, gathering reels and reels of shots inside and outside all the key buildings, both on and off the university campus.

If there’s one thing we’ve learnt through all this travel, it’s how different the universities are in the UK. Some inhabit their own self-contained campuses, with so many services you’d be forgiven for thinking they’re a town in their own right, while others sit right in the heart of city centres. Some are academically rigorous and demand a lot of your weekly schedule, while others have a more relaxed timetable. Some boast prestigious histories and old buildings; others enjoy cutting edge design. Some are very green, others very urban.

Our films try to capture the flavour of a place, and give you the essential ingredients of the student experience there. We are helped by the students themselves, who took the time to give us their own opinions, and these films are based on their views. We have tried to interview as broad a range of students as possible, to highlight the scope of student life, so you’ll come across student union presidents, entertainment officers, society presidents and student ambassadors, as well as a number of students from an array of backgrounds studying a variety of subjects.

Though the films can’t replace an actual visit, we hope they will open up possibilities, and give you the chance to hone down your shortlist to universities that you think would really suit you. To help, we’ve structured all the films in the same way, so you can really compare and contrast, and view the aspects of university life you think will be important to you.

Though we’re independent, the films are made with the full cooperation of the universities, allowing us access to corners of the campus many students take a while to discover, and into buildings, classrooms, and bedrooms crucial to understanding student life.

Because these films are independent, the views expressed in these films are those of Unionview and, more importantly, the students we interviewed.

We hope you find the site useful. If you’ve got any suggestions about things you’d like to see on the site, don’t hesitate to contact us using the feedback form here.