Is Exeter Safe for Students? A Parent’s Guide

Sending your child off to university is a proud moment, but it is completely natural to worry about their safety once they leave home. If they are heading to Exeter, the reassuring news is that it is widely regarded as one of the UK’s safer and friendlier student cities: a compact cathedral city with a large student community and a Russell Group university that takes welfare and security seriously. This guide answers the questions parents ask most about student safety in Exeter, gives practical steps you can both take, and explains how the right accommodation makes a genuine difference to your peace of mind.

In short: yes, Exeter is a safe city for students. It is a small, relaxed cathedral city with a strong student community, active university security and welfare teams, and short, easy journeys. The most reassuring set-up for parents is central, purpose-built accommodation with secure key-card entry, CCTV and a 24-hour on-site team, such as Study Inn’s Walnut Gardens.

Is Exeter a safe city for students?

Exeter is consistently seen as one of the more relaxed and reassuring university cities in the UK. It is home to the University of Exeter, a Russell Group university, with its main Streatham campus just above the city centre and the smaller St Luke’s campus nearby, and it welcomes a large student population every year who live there happily. As a compact cathedral city, distances are short, the main student areas and the centre are well populated and well lit, and the university runs its own campus security team, welfare services and a safety app, so there is always support close at hand. As in any city, sensible precautions matter, but Exeter’s size and strong community feel are a big part of why students and parents alike find it reassuring.

Common concerns, and the reality

Most parental worries fall into a few familiar categories: walking home at night, the security of the accommodation itself, and how quickly help is available if something goes wrong. The honest picture is that the most common issues students face anywhere are opportunistic, such as an unlocked door, a phone left on a table, or a bike that is not properly secured, rather than anything dramatic, and Exeter is no exception. That is genuinely reassuring, because these are exactly the risks that good habits and secure, well-managed accommodation are designed to prevent. Choosing where your child lives, and helping them build a few simple routines, addresses the vast majority of concerns.

Practical safety tips for students in Exeter

• Stick to well-lit, main routes at night and travel home with friends where possible.
• Save a licensed taxi number and the university security line in your phone before you need them.
• Download the University of Exeter’s safety app, which lets students share their location and contact campus security quickly.
• Keep valuables out of sight, mark or register electronics, and take out contents insurance.
• Always lock the room and the building’s main door, even when popping out briefly.
• Choose accommodation with secure entry and an on-site team.

For a broader checklist that applies wherever your child studies, our guide to student accommodation safety is a useful read to go through together.

Getting around Exeter safely at night

Exeter is compact and walkable, and much of student life sits within the city centre and the Streatham campus just above it, which keeps late-night journeys short. Regular buses connect the campuses, the centre and the student areas, licensed taxis and ride-hailing apps are available, and the city has two central railway stations, Exeter Central and Exeter St Davids, for trips home at the weekend. The simplest safety win of all is to live centrally and close to campus, so that walking home means a short, busy, well-lit route rather than a long trek across the city. Encourage your child to plan their journey home before a night out, keep their phone charged, and stick with friends. For more on the options, see our guide to getting around Exeter as a student.

Why accommodation matters for safety

Where your child lives has a bigger impact on their safety than almost anything else. A shared house on a quiet residential street, with a standard front door and no one on hand, is very different from a purpose-built residence with controlled access and staff on site. Purpose-built student accommodation is designed around safety: secure key-card or fob entry, CCTV in communal areas, and a team that knows who should and should not be in the building. It also tends to be central, so students are close to campus and can avoid long, late-night journeys. For many families, that combination of security and location is the single biggest source of reassurance.

How Study Inn keeps residents safe at Walnut Gardens

At our student accommodation in Exeter, Walnut Gardens, safety is built in: a 24-hour on-site team, secure key-card entry and CCTV, all in a central location around a 12-minute walk (or roughly 8 minutes by bus) from the University of Exeter and close to both Exeter Central and Exeter St Davids stations. Walnut Gardens was voted Exeter’s number one student accommodation in 2025, and Study Inn was named the UK’s best student accommodation operator at the RESI Awards 2026. Because everything is all-inclusive, with bills and superfast Wi-Fi covered, no damage deposit and no UK guarantor required, there are fewer practical worries for you and your child to manage, and one simple payment to budget for. If your child is arriving through Clearing, our Exeter Clearing guide explains how to secure a room quickly.

A parent’s checklist for the first few weeks

• Make sure they have contents insurance and know what it covers.
• Save the accommodation’s on-site team number and the university security line together.
• Help them register with a local GP and learn their nearest pharmacy.
• Walk or map the route between home and campus so it is familiar.
• Agree a relaxed check-in routine so you both feel connected without it feeling like monitoring.

For more on the parent side of the move, see our parent’s guide to student accommodation and why Study Inn is great for parents. Remember that the tenancy is signed by your child as the legal occupant, although you can help with research, viewings and payment, and Study Inn does not require a UK guarantor.

University support and wellbeing services in Exeter

The University of Exeter takes student welfare seriously, and it reassures most parents to know exactly what is on hand before term starts. The university runs a campus security team you can reach around the clock, a wellbeing and welfare service for everyday concerns, and confidential counselling and mental health support for anyone who is struggling. Many services are tied to a safety app with live location sharing and a direct line to campus security, and during busy periods there are often well-staffed events and safe-travel schemes to help students get home safely.

The University of Exeter Students’ Guild is another valuable source of support, offering independent advice, hardship funds and a huge range of societies that help your child build a network and settle in quickly, while student-run listening services such as Nightline provide a confidential ear in the evenings. Encourage your child to save the security and welfare numbers in their phone, attend the welcome and induction events in freshers’ week, and register for the university safety app as soon as they arrive, so the support is in place before they ever need it.

Knowing that this network exists, and that Study Inn’s 24-hour on-site team at Walnut Gardens adds a further layer of day-to-day help and security, is one of the most reassuring things for a parent. It means that even on the days you cannot be there, someone close by can be.

Student Safety in Exeter FAQs