I went to University of Northampton as an exchange student. I enjoyed my semester there, but neither the city nor the uni are ideal. Most students live off campus, so the dorms were primarily inhabited by foreign exchange students. This wasn't really a bad thing: most of the students were part of the European ERASMUS or SOCRATES programs from Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, Germany, and Sweden. There were also a number of Asian students, but with the exception of the Japanese, they largely kept to themselves. All in all this made for an interesting group of people who wanted to cook, explore and travel travel together, and they weren't put off by people coming in on short-term exchanges. On the down side, I believe there was only one English student in my dorm. The university is a bit of a walk or bus ride to downtown, and can feel isolated at times. Downtown has restaurants, bars, and shopping malls, but by in large it seems to have been mouldering since the decay of British industry: one bright note is the Doc Marten factory and its accompanying factory outlet. Northampton is convenient to London (an hour train ride) and the countryside just beyond the university is beautiful. Northampton was a decent place to be. As a reciprocal exchange (i.e. 'free' as I had a full scholarship in the States), I'd recommend it, but I would consider urge a potential visitor to fully consider their choices first. I had one truly excellent professor and few good lecturers, but the academic environment overall was mundane (students were not engaged). In short, there are much better places to go, but if you do end up at Northampton, it can be a good experience.