The University of Reading is an integral part of the town and makes a valuable contribution to the local area.  Positive engagement with the local community is important to us and we offer a wide range of events and activities open to all. We also work in close partnership with many community organisations.

Campus and community

Each term we offer an exciting variety of public events including lectures, music concerts, exhibitions and arts events. We also screen a range of independent films at the Reading Film Theatre.

You can visit the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) at London Road campus and enjoy our museums and collections on Whiteknights campus, including the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology and the Cole Museum of Zoology.

Improve your health and wellbeing at our SportsPark, or enjoy walking or cycling in our 123 hectares of award-winning parkland. Find secret treasures in the Harris Gardens including historical trees and a jungle garden.

You can find out more about our business engagement and our research impact by following the links at the top of the page.

Students and the local community

All students, whether living in University or privately rented accommodation, are part of the local community. The University takes pride in the value that our students bring to Reading but also recognises the challenge of integrating students with the wider population. We work closely with local authorities, including Reading Borough Council, Wokingham Borough Council and local police teams, to put in place a range of measures to help students settle into local neighbourhoods.

Hello Neighbour campaign

The University delivers information and advice to students renting private housing in local neighbourhoods. This includes advice on being a good neighbour such as introducing themselves to their neighbours, being considerate about noise, and advice on waste, recycling and parking. You can review these materials in the Hello Neighbour campaign resources section and use some of them yourself, if your student neighbour needs some advice.

University of Reading Street Support Team

The University Street Support Team (Street Wardens) provides advice to students socialising late at night, encouraging them to be responsible, respectful and safe when travelling through residential areas.

The highly trained and highly visible team patrols residential streets around the edges of campus in Redlands and Park wards between 10pm and 4am on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. At busy bus stops the team encourages students to queue in an orderly manner, and keep noise volumes down. They also encourage students to recycle any bottles/glass before they board the bus or to take empties home with them.

The team will also support any vulnerable students who may have lost their friends, or are having trouble getting home late at night.

The University Street Support Team works in the following areas:

• Residential streets around Erleigh Road.
• Residential streets close to St Patrick's Hall, including Christchurch Green bus stop.
• Residential streets close to Wessex and Bridges Halls, including Melrose Avenue bus stop.
• Residential streets by Foxhill Gate entrance/exit to campus, including Eastern Avenue.

If you see the team patrolling, please do stop and speak to them - they will listen to any concerns about poor behaviour on residential streets, and attend to issues if possible. Please note the team does not have police powers and cannot caution, arrest or disperse crowds. They also have no powers to close down excessively noisy house parties. If you experience these issues you should call the Thames Valley Police on 999 for an emergency or 101 for non-emergency issues.

The University Street Support Team was trialled between April 2018 and June 2019, as part of the University’s plans to promote positive community relationships between students and non-student neighbours. In September 2019 we committed to continue and expand the scheme based on feedback from the local police, council, local residents and students.

We review the scheme regularly to make sure the team are working in the best way possible. Please do send any feedback or questions you may have to the Community Relations Team at community@reading.ac.uk.

Good neighbour advice (PDF)

Waste and recycling advice (PDF)

Introduce yourself to your neighbour postcard (PDF)