Reply To: The term “decentralized”
Yes, each academic department, each faculty, is run independently, and they are almost like freestanding units, although they’re part of the university. They have their own admissions staff, and their own administrators. They even often have their own little cafeteria. So they function almost as their own mini university. And that’s because the university is “decentralized”. So at the university level, you’ll be able to access resources, but 9 times out of 10, you’ll find what you need at the faculty level.
And yes, this term is also a geographic thing. All of your classes are going to be with your faculty, and so it’s not like in the US where you have to get from your Intro to Philosophy class all the way over to your Chemistry class, where you have to cut across campus. In most European cities, the buildings are spread out throughout the city itself, and so there’s no “true” campus. (There are a handful of exceptions to this.) In the end, the city itself feels like a campus, especially when it’s a smaller city vs a capital city. The city takes on a college campus feel, even though it’s several local universities that make it so. It’s pretty cool.
