Campus and city
Trondheim (population ~217,000) is one of Europe's great student cities, with NTNU students making up roughly one in six residents. Life centres on the historic Gløshaugen engineering campus and on Studentersamfundet ('Samfundet'), Norway's largest student society — a member-owned, volunteer-run institution in its landmark round red building — which hosts the biennial UKA festival (billed as Norway's largest cultural festival) and, in alternate years, the International Student Festival in Trondheim (ISFiT). The Sit student-welfare organisation runs subsidised housing, canteens, gyms and health services. Engineering traditions (the immatrikulering matriculation ceremony, line associations / linjeforeninger) give the place a strong, distinctive identity, balanced against a cold, dark northern climate and high living costs.