h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

* The general location of the university, including information on how to get there, and the nearest towns and attractions. Is it a campus university? Do students mingle happily with locals?

Campus university to the North of Guildford Cathedral, 15mins from town centre, tescos and about 5 mins from the train station. Students and locals tend to mingle happily though there is always some animosity http://www.flickr.com/photos/egmel/113273464/

* Number of students
Approx 12,000 including full and Part time, undergrad and postgrad

* Achievements - the position in Sunday Times League table, for example

This is department specific, I know that the elec eng dept always do well but I wouldn't say that's a good indicator of degree quality.

* Approximate grade requirements

You can start with Ds and Es but don't expect to find it easy.

* The main towns and cities there, plus any tourist attractions or places of note

Guildford, 45mins from London. All sorts to do, has a good ice skating rink at the local leisure centre.

* A basic history of the university, including its year of foundation

It was originally battersea polytechnic and based in London but it moved down to Guildford and became a university in 1966 (I think, there's a lot of 40th Anniversary stuff going on at the moment!)

* Facilities
? This could be a huge list, sports facilities are ok, they're going to get better in 2009 with the completion of the Manor Park Sports centre, currently there's no uni pool but a good gym with climbing walls etc. Enough Societies and sports that you can always find something to fill your time with other than work!

* Popular courses - strong departments

Engineering has always been the core of the university and recently Management has sprung up to make quite a name for itself.

* Special tips and fascinating facts - is it good form to wear a mortar board in the dining area?

I don't think most people have mortar boards anymore, you hire them for a day and that's it. Fascinating facts? You might just have to wait until you get here for those! Tips? Don't try to understand the geography, you can't it's a waste of time, they try to map it but that can confuse people, the best way is just to learn routes to the places you need and try to ignore the fact that walking from floor G to level 3 shouldn't be physically possible.

* Famous alumni

I'm sure there are some, I just can't think of them off hand, and before anyone says Turing, he didn't have anything to do with the university, the statue is there because they liked it!

Useful links
Flickr Pool - www.flickr.com/groups/unis/pool/
Site with old pics and tales - www.uossnaps.co.uk/
Student Union - www.ussu.co.uk
University Site - www.surrey.ac.uk

Thanks, EG Mel - a lot of useful info there.

Apparently, the first-ever Led Zeppelin (A593101) gig took place there. And in 2004 the Virgin Student Guide said the university was the one where students had most chance of 'pulling'!

Famous Alumni include Kirsten Lawton (top trampolinist), Alan Parker (Managing Director of Whitbread) and David Varney (Executive Chairman of HM Revenue & Customs).