Crowded halls and packed lecture theatres were once a staple of university life, but now that the hybrid approach to learning seems to be here to stay, they might well be a thing of the past.
Well, at these universities, maybe not. The fact is that there are still some really crowded institutions out there, and Edumentors, an online tutoring platform, has just conducted a study into the number of students, faculty and staff members compared to the square kilometres of the campus, to decipher which are the busiest of the bunch.
While a campus being busy might not sound like the biggest deal, think about how frustrating it is when you need to finish that paper and you can’t find a seat in the library, eh? It’s worth bearing in mind.
Topping the list is the Sapienza University of Rome, which has a population density of 272,091 people per square kilometre, claiming the crown as the most overcrowded university in the world.
In second place, it was the University of Manchester, with a density of 165,100 people per square kilometre, but that’s just one of four British universities to claim a spot in the top 10 – Edinburgh, UCL and Imperial College London all made the ranking, too.
Two American universities were also included: Harvard came in seventh place with a density of 50,857, and UCLA followed closely behind in eighth with 48,541 – read on for the full top 10.
These are the world’s 10 most crowded universities
- Sapienza University of Rome, Italy – 272,091
- University of Manchester, UK – 165,100
- University of Edinburgh, UK – 149,763
- University of Göttingen, Germany – 102,457
- University of Copenhagen, Denmark – 80,155
- University College London, UK – 67,995
- Harvard University, USA – 50,857
- University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), USA – 48,541
- National University of Singapore, Singapore – 33,731
- Imperial College London, UK – 30,381
We recently covered the world’s best universities for each subject, from law and business to political sciences – read about those here.
Did you see that these are the must-visit museums opening in 2025, according to Lonely Planet?
Plus: Norway will soon become the first country to solely use electric vehicles.
Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out Travel newsletter for all the latest travel news and best stuff happening across the world.