'I felt I could follow my interests here'

The South-east offers access not only to the right people, but to new ideas, writes David Quinn

Location and learning go hand in hand. You can learn about much more than just your subject in some locations. For many, the quiet of a rural campus will illuminate the inner world of their chosen field. For others, an urban university and the options it brings hold the key to the future. And then there is the North vs South debate.

If you are deciding what and where you want to study and you have applied to a college or university in the South-east or London, then you are going to have to consider some serious questions. And the first one is obvious: it costs money, lots of money. But you probably knew all that already. Debt is higher, but then so are wages. And you already know about the high standard and diversity of its academic institutions.

What you will not know about studying in London or the South-east is where it might all lead. Take 25-year-old Dan. His flat in East London is stacked floor to ceiling with vinyl, shelves bending under the weight of what is clearly a major obsession. Dan studied history at the University of Sussex in Brighton and graduated four years ago having come to the city from Wales. "I just decided that the course was right and the city was right for me too. I liked the atmosphere, the people, the music and clubs in the town," he says. "But more than that I just felt that somehow I could follow my interests at the same time, music, mixing and history here."

Dan began by mixing at open-mike nights in some of the city's smaller clubs, playing for free, getting to know people. "After a while it just snowballed. I just got a bit of a name for myself and began working with people in Brighton who were quite well known in London, and when I finished at Sussex I was put in touch with a London club owner who gave me full-time job booking and reviewing DJs and mixing myself." So does he think that if he had studied elsewhere in the UK the same opportunities would have come his way? "It's difficult to say, Cardiff, Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds, Belfast all have very strong club scenes. But in some ways, and for good reasons, they remain distinct from London."

Dan may well have been lucky, but he made all the right speculative moves and took advantage of the close relationship between the London the region around it. But its not just access to the right people that studying down here can provide. It's also about gaining access to ideas and experiences from all over the world. Take the London borough of Hackney. At the last count it had registered more than 130 different languages spoken within its area. This part of London, while often run down, has a huge range of cultures and ways of living expressed within it.

London and the South-east can give some students the feeling that they are engaging in a more challenging world than elsewhere. It is not easy to adjust to living in a new area. But if you' re coming to the capital or the South-east from an area that has a distinct local culture, then you may have been brought up with a certain hostility or reticence about the area. This can be a force that drives you on to succeed, a certain bloody-mindedness and pride in your home region will always stand you in good stead and give you a clearer view of the downsides of London, its affectations, pretentions and flashy attitude. Fine to be proud, but the homesick Scouser, embittered Scot or disgruntled Aussie moaning about the weather is as annoying a cliché as the cheeky cockney barrow boy. The point is that if you're going to study anywhere, but particularly in London and the South-east, the stronger your preconceptions the more opportunities you have to challenge yourself with the realities of city and southern life.