Many books and other works of fiction are set in, or refer to, fictional universities. [1] [2] These have been said to "feature abundantly, persistently, and increasingly in popular culture texts" [3] and in an "array of media including novels, television, film, comic books, and video games". [4] This list includes identifiable fictional universities or other institutions appearing to offer degree-level qualifications. Individual Oxbridge colleges (i.e. parts of the English universities of Oxford and Cambridge) are not included as there are separate lists of these.
University name | Creator | Original medium | Location | Comments | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Banting University | Degrassi: The Next Generation scriptwriters | TV | Canada | The prestigious, highly selective Banting University is located in Kingston, Ontario. It becomes a setting for Paige Michalchuk's storylines in season 6 of Degrassi: The Next Generation . | |
University of Bantshire | Anonymous | Internet | UK | Parody website and Twitter feed commenting on UK Higher Education, described as "the Banksy of the education social media world". [5] [6] [7] | |
Borchester University | Various | Other | UK: England | Name used to disguise a university which was the subject of Angela Thody's 2012 study of emeritus professors. [8] [9] [10] The University is also used as an example in a variety of teaching materials for language learning. [11] [12] Borchester is the fictional county town of fictional Borsetshire, in the English Midlands, scene of the long-running BBC Radio series The Archers . | |
The University of Bums on Seats | Cynicalbastards.com | Internet | UK: England | "Formerly Peckham Polytechnic". A satirical invention reflecting the changing UK Higher Education system, online since at least 2001. [13] [14] | |
Burston Central University | Chris Cooper (pseudonym) | Internet | UK: England | Also the associated "University College of North Burston". Not to be confused with "The University of Burston" (established 1863) in the same town. Setting of The Unknown Tutor, published in December 2012 in the "Wading Through Treacle" blog and later republished. Burston is 4 hours' drive from Prestatyn in north Wales, but otherwise unlocated. [15] [16] | |
University of Burston | Chris Cooper (pseudonym) | Internet | UK: England | Established 1863 and not to be confused with Burston Central University in the same town. Featured in The Unknown Tutor, published in December 2012 in the "Wading Through Treacle" blog and later republished. [15] | |
University of Carrbridge | Examiners in the Natural Sciences Tripos at the University of Cambridge | Other | UK: Scotland | Carrbridge is a village in the Scottish Highlands. The university and its Porterhouse College featured in statistics questions in Cambridge Natural Sciences Tripos examination papers at least from 2008 to 2011. [17] | |
Cheng Dong University | In a Good Way scriptwriters | TV | Taiwan | Setting for the TV series In a Good Way [18] | |
Christminster University | Thomas Hardy | Novel | UK: England | Jude's destination in Jude the Obscure , based on Oxford [19] | |
Clyde University | Sea of Souls scriptwriter | TV | UK: Scotland | The Clyde is Glasgow 's river. Clyde's Department of Parapsychology is the setting for this BBC TV series written by David Kane. Jordanhill College, Glasgow, was used to represent the university in exterior shots. [20] [21] | |
Dartmouth University | Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong | TV | UK: England | The former university of main characters Mark and Jeremy in the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show . Not to be confused with Dartmouth College. | |
University of Edgestow | C. S. Lewis | Novel | UK: England | In the novel That Hideous Strength ; had four colleges: Bracton College, Northumberland College, Dukes College, St. Elizabeth's College. [22] Lewis described the fictional Edgestow as a small university town more beautiful than either Cambridge or Oxford. [23] | |
Euphoric State University | David Lodge | Novel | US | Located in the fictional town of Plotinus in the fictional state of Euphoria, the employer of Morris Zapp who makes an academic exchange with Philip Swallow of Rummidge, England, in Changing Places . [24] | |
Felpersham University | The Archers scriptwriters | Radio | UK: England | University in the fictional cathedral city of Felpersham in Borsetshire, attended by several characters from the long-running BBC radio series The Archers . [25] [26] | |
Fibchester University | National Union of Students | Other | UK: England | Subject of case studies in NUS training courses [27] [28] | |
University of Gallifrey | Doctor Who scriptwriters | TV | Extraterrestrial | Located on fictional planet Gallifrey, source of the Thirteenth Doctor's doctorate. Merchandise available on eBay and Etsy indicates that it was established in 1963 and known as "Time Lord Academy". [29] | |
University of Gloucester | David Lodge | Novel | UK: England | Setting of Thinks ... ( ISBN 0-436-44502-6) [30] Not to be confused with the real University of Gloucestershire. | |
University of Hilldene | Ruth Rendell | TV | UK: England | Alma mater of DI Burden's daughter Pat in The Ruth Rendell Mysteries episode The Mouse in the Corner; filmed at Southampton [31] | |
University of Inverdoon | Eric Linklater | Novel | UK: Scotland | The protagonist of Linklater's semi-autobiographical White Maa's Saga attends medical school at this Scottish university, either identified as University of Aberdeen or set in a town which is "a thinly veiled combination of Aberdeen and Inverness". [32] [33] | |
King's University, also known as King's College Dublin | Eilís Dillon | Novel | Ireland | Dublin based setting for novels including Death in the Quadrangle (Faber, 1956; republished 2009 ISBN 978-1601870445) [34] [35] | |
Kirke University | Campus scriptwriters | TV | UK: England | Setting for the semi-improvised sitcom Campus [36] | |
University College Limerick | David Lodge | Novel | Ireland | Employer of a character in Small World ( ISBN 0-436-25663-0) [37] | |
Lowlands University | Andrew Davies | TV | UK: England | Setting for A Very Peculiar Practice [38] Possibly based on Warwick. [1] | |
Manchester Medlock University | Fresh Meat scriptwriters | TV | UK: England | Setting of TV comedy series Fresh Meat [39] The Medlock is a river in Greater Manchester. | |
University of Maximegalon | Douglas Adams | Radio | Extraterrestrial | From the BBC Radio series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy . [40] | |
Miskatonic University | H. P. Lovecraft | Novel | Arkham, MA | Prestigious university in (fictional) Arkham, modelled after Brown and Harvard University. Part of Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Home to a vast library of arcane literature and occult books, such as the Necronomicon. | |
University of Muri | Walter Benjamin and Gershom Sholem | Other | Switzerland/Germany | Fabrication of a university through various references and fake documents as an extended satire on academic procedures. [41] [42] | |
New Tammany College | John Barth | Novel | US | Setting of Giles Goat-Boy . A vast university variously serving as an allegory for the United States, the human world, the universe, and the Cold War. It is divided into a secretive and authoritarian East Campus (representing the Eastern Bloc) and a more open West Campus, ruled by a messianic Grand Tutor. [43] | |
University of North Norfolk | Elly Griffiths | Novel | UK: England | The title character of Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series heads the department of forensic archaeology at this university near King's Lynn, Norfolk (which is not in North Norfolk local authority district). [44] [45] | |
University of North Yorkshire | Susan Parry | Novel | UK: England | Near Harrogate. Features in the novel Grand Depart (2013, Viridian Publishing, ISBN 978-0956789143) and other books by the same author, as the employer of central character Dr Millie Sanderson. [46] | |
University of Norwich | Michael Frayn | Film | UK: England | In the 1986 film Clockwise , written by Frayn and directed by Christopher Morahan, headmaster Brian Stimpson (Cleese) sets off to deliver a speech at this fictional university [47] Scenes depicting the university were filmed at King Edward's School, Birmingham and the University of Birmingham. [48] Not to be confused with the real University of East Anglia established 1963 in Norwich, or the real Norwich University of the Arts which gained university status in 2013. | |
Oxbridge University | William Makepeace Thackeray | Novel | UK: England | Location of the St Boniface College attended by the eponymous hero of Thackeray's novel Pendennis . [49] The Oxford English Dictionary defines Oxbridge as "Originally: A fictional university" and cites Thackeray as its earliest reference. [50] The term is now more commonly used as a portmanteau term for the English universities of Oxford and Cambridge. | |
Pennbrook University | Boy Meets World scriptwriters | TV | US | Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Pennbrook University is the fictional institution of which the main characters of Boy Meets World attend beginning in season 5. The university becomes a main setting for the remainder of the series. It is believed to be based on Saint Joseph's University and the University of Pennsylvania. [51] | |
Poltowan University | Nicola K. Smith | Novel | UK: England | Set in a fictional town somewhere west of Falmouth, Cornwall, this university is the setting for Smith's 2019 novel A Degree of Uncertainty (Compass, ISBN 978-1912009411) featuring tensions between students and residents. [52] | |
Poppleton University | Laurie Taylor | Newspaper | UK: England | Nether Poppleton and Upper Poppleton are real villages just outside York. Used by the University of Leeds for mathematics examples. Also used by HESA as an example in official documentation [53] [54] | |
Rummidge University | David Lodge | Novel | UK: England | Setting of the Campus Trilogy: Changing Places , Small World and Nice Work "A thinly-veiled portrait of Birmingham". [55] | |
St Luke's University | Doctor Who scriptwriters | TV | UK: England | Fictional university in Bristol where the Twelfth Doctor taught and Bill Potts worked, first appearing in series 10, episode one The Pilot . Filming used the buildings of Cardiff University. [56] | |
St Rule's University | Margaret Oliphant | Story | UK: Scotland | Setting of Oliphant's 1896 short story "The Library Window", based on University of St Andrews. [57] | |
St Sebastian's University | Anonymous | Novel | UK: England | Setting of A Campus Conspiracy ( ISBN 9780954758677), published anonymously in 2006 but attributed to Lavinia Cohn-Sherbok. [58] [59] | |
Scumbag College | The Young Ones scriptwriters | TV | UK: England | College attended (or not) by the four flat-sharing students in 1980s BBC TV series The Young Ones, written by Ben Elton, Rik Mayall and Lise Mayer. A highlight was the four's appearance as the college's team on TV quiz show University Challenge confronting Footlights College, Oxbridge. [60] [61] | |
Shanhe University | Netizens | Meme | China | A non-existent Chinese university with fair admissions policies, reasonable fees, great teaching and otherwise Utopian. | |
Skerryvore University | James Bridie | Play | UK: Scotland | A Scottish university, the setting of Bridie's 1939 play What Say They?, which was adapted into the 1952 comedy film You're Only Young Twice . [62] [63] Skerryvore is an uninhabited island off the west of Scotland, 12 miles (19 km) beyond Tiree. | |
Smithdale University | Degrassi: The Next Generation scriptwriters | TV | Canada | The fictional university attended by several characters in Degrassi: The Next Generation . Based on and filmed at York University in Toronto, Ontario. | |
Streeling University | Isaac Asimov | Novel | Trantor | Workplace of Hari Seldon and the other psychohistorians, Issac Asimov. Foundation. | |
Sweet Valley University | Francine Pascal | Novel | US | Setting for 63 YA novels by Pascal and ghost-writers (published 1993-2000), part of the Sweet Valley High franchise. [64] | |
University of Tayside | Traces scriptwriters | TV | UK: Scotland | Located in Dundee, Scotland, and hosts the Scottish Institute of Forensic Science and Anatomy (SIFA), the setting for the series Traces , made by Alibi and shown on BBC One. Filming locations include University of Bolton. [65] Also branded as "Tayside University". [66] | |
Toronto University | Degrassi: The Next Generation scriptwriters | TV | Canada | A fictional public university from the Canadian teen drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation . Based on the University of Toronto, this institution is where numerous Degrassi graduates attend for higher education. As its name suggests, it's located in Toronto, Ontario. | |
Tuktoyaktuk University | Anonymous | Clothing | Canada: NWT | A clothing manufacturer in the real Tuktoyaktuk, a hamlet in Canada's Northwest Territories, sold celebrated teeshirts and sweatshirts from this fictional institution. [67] [68] | |
Unseen University | Terry Pratchett | Novel | Extraterrestrial | In the city of Ankh-Morpork on Discworld. [69] | |
Warren University | Mona Awad | Novel | US | Setting of Bunny . A small liberal arts college in New England with a MFA program known for its "experimental approach to narrative". [70] | |
Watermouth University | Malcolm Bradbury | Novel | UK: England | Setting of The History Man ; "bears more than a passing resemblance to the University of East Anglia" [71] | |
Weissnichtwo University | Thomas Carlyle | Novel | Germany | This home institution of main character Professor Diogenes Teufelsdröckh is the backdrop of the ironic treatment of then contemporary German philosophical currents in the 1831 novel Sartor Resartus . [72] | |
Wetherton University | Reginald Hill | TV | UK: England | The local university is mentioned in some episodes of Dalziel and Pascoe , the BBC TV series set in fictional Wetherton, Yorkshire. [73] [74] | |
Wetwang University | Yorkshire Post columnist? | Newspaper | UK: England | Wetwang is a village in the East Riding of Yorkshire [75] | |
Winchester University | Justin Simien | Film | US | The 2014 film Dear White People is set in this fictional Ivy League university. [76] Not to be confused with the real University of Winchester in England. | |
Wrottesley Polytechnic | Howard Jacobson | Novel | UK: England | Sefton Goldberg, the central character of Jacobson's 1980 novel Coming From Behind, is an unhappy lecturer at this English polytechnic "somewhere in the debased and deteriorating Midlands". [77] [78] Inspired by Jacobson's experiences as a lecturer at Wolverhampton Polytechnic. [79] | |
Ziggoreth University | Isaac Asimov | Novel | Ziggoreth | In co-operative nephelometric research with Streeling University (q.v.). Issac Asimov. Foundation. |
Note that the red brick university in England in which Kingsley Amis sets Lucky Jim is unnamed.
Oxbridge is a portmanteau of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the two oldest, wealthiest, and most famous universities in the United Kingdom. The term is used to refer to them collectively, in contrast to other British universities, and more broadly to describe characteristics reminiscent of them, often with implications of superior social or intellectual status or elitism.
The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, the system is composed of its ten campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz, along with numerous research centers and academic centers abroad. The system is the state's land-grant university.
The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the world's first universities to admit students solely on academic merit, and opened its doors to women on the same basis as men. The university comprises eight academic faculties and university schools, through which it offers bachelor, master and doctoral degrees.
The University of Warwick is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of a government initiative to expand higher education. The Warwick Business School was established in 1967, the Warwick Law School in 1968, Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) in 1980, and Warwick Medical School in 2000. Warwick incorporated Coventry College of Education in 1979 and Horticulture Research International in 2004.
The University of York is a public collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects.
A master's degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. A master's degree normally requires previous study at the bachelor's level, either as a separate degree or as part of an integrated course. Within the area studied, master's graduates are expected to possess advanced knowledge of a specialized body of theoretical and applied topics; high order skills in analysis, critical evaluation, or professional application; and the ability to solve complex problems and think rigorously and independently.
INSEAD, a contraction of "Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires", is a non-profit graduate business school that maintains campuses in France, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates. INSEAD is associated with Sorbonne University and The Wharton School.
Ateneo de Manila University, commonly referred to as Ateneo de Manila or Ateneo, is a private, Catholic, teaching and research university, and a basic education institution located in Quezon City, Philippines. Established in 1859 by the Jesuits, it is among the oldest Jesuit-administered institutions of higher education in the Asia-Pacific.
Zhejiang University (ZJU) is a public university in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education. The university is part of Double First-Class Construction, Project 985, and Project 211. Ranked #44 in QS World University Rankings 2024[].
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Edith Cowan University (ECU) is a public research university in Western Australia. It is named in honour of the first woman to be elected to an Australian parliament, Edith Cowan, and is the only Australian university named after a woman. It is the second-largest university in the state with over 30,000 students in 2023. Gaining university status in 1991, it was formed from an amalgamation of tertiary colleges with a history dating back to 1902 when the Claremont Teachers College was established, making it the modern descendant of the first tertiary institution in Western Australia.
The golden triangle is the triangle formed by the university cities of Cambridge, London, and Oxford in the south east of England in the United Kingdom. The triangle is occasionally referred to as the Loxbridge triangle, a portmanteau of London and Oxbridge or, when limited to five members, the G5.
Plymouth Marjon University, commonly referred to as Marjon, is the trading name of the University of St Mark and St John, a university based primarily on a single campus on the northern edge of Plymouth, Devon, United Kingdom. Formerly named University College Plymouth St Mark & St John, the institution was awarded full university status in 2013.
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded October 28, 1636, and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Its influence, wealth, and rankings have made it one of the most prestigious universities in the world.
The University of Pretoria is a multi-campus public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa. The university was established in 1908 as the Pretoria campus of the Johannesburg-based Transvaal University College and is the fourth South African institution in continuous operation to be awarded university status. The university has grown from the original 32 students in a single late Victorian house to approximately 53,000 in 2019. The university was built on seven suburban campuses on 1,190 hectares.
Northeastern University – London is a public university in London, England. It was founded in 2010 as New College of the Humanities by the philosopher A. C. Grayling, who became its first Master. The college originally specialized in the humanities, social sciences, and master's degrees at the intersection of the humanities and technology. In February 2019 the college was acquired by Northeastern University, a private American research university based in Boston, Massachusetts, and rebranded as NCH at Northeastern. A year later, in February 2020, NCH at Northeastern was granted its own taught degree awarding powers. It was awarded university title and changed its name to "Northeastern University – London" after regulatory approval by the Office for Students in July 2022.
Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) is a public university in Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction.
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The site makes clear that Burston Central University is entirely fictional, and that any character's resemblance to real persons, living or dead, ...
sets off to attend Cheng Dong University in Taipei
... a quiet young student at the University of Maximegalon...
At an Ivy League stand-in called Winchester University