Student Life
A university you live in, not merely attend
Halls, societies, sport and service — the whole of the year outside the lecture theatre.
Residence
Housing
Historic halls
Six residential halls within the campus walls, the oldest dating to 1821. Rooms are single or paired, with common rooms, staffed porters' lodges and formal hall dining twice weekly.
Valley apartments
University-managed apartments in the old town, allocated to third and fourth-year students and to graduate researchers. Self-catered, five minutes on foot from the Palais.
Private residence
Students residing with family or in private accommodation in St. Estè remain full members of a hall for dining, pastoral care and society membership.
Spotlight
Pure Bliss Café
Dark wood panelling, deep purple velvet, brass fittings and Edison chandeliers that cast a low amber light. Towering shelves of leather-bound volumes form alcoves for quiet study and long conversation.
The air holds coffee, butter pastry and aged paper. Athletes come after practice, house executives plan their galas here, and students stay until closing. It is, by common agreement, the unofficial living room of St. Estè.
Central Courtyard · Open 07:00 – 23:00
Visit the caféDining
At table
Each hall keeps its own kitchen and dining room, with formal hall served twice weekly beneath the portraits. The refectory beneath the Palais serves the whole university through the day, and the valley's producers supply the greater part of what is cooked — cheese from the alp, wine from the terraces below the campus, bread from the town.
Vegetarian, vegan, halal and kosher provision is standard at every service.
Societies
Clubs and student government
- Estè Fashion Society
- Drama Society
- Music Society
- Dance Society
- Photography Society
- Literary Society
- Debate Society
- Law Society
- Medical Society
- Student Council
The Student Council is elected each Michaelmas term and works with the administration on the university's traditions, welfare provision and the calendar of the academic year. The Estè Herald, the student newspaper, publishes weekly in print and daily online.
Support
Wellbeing, service and leadership
Campus wellness
A resident health service, counselling by appointment within seventy-two hours, and a sports medicine clinic shared with athletics.
International students
Arrival week, permit assistance, language tuition in French and German, and a standing advisory office.
Leadership
Society presidencies, the Student Council, peer mentoring and the university's ambassador programme.
Community
Valley service partnerships, the literacy initiative, and the volunteer corps active during Dragon Week.