What Universities Owe Their Surrounding Communities
About this practice test
An opinion essay considers what universities owe nearby communities, addressing housing pressures, meaningful consultation, shared campus resources, institutional limits and the difference between public relations and genuine local trust.
What you’ll practice
Finding detail
Locate specific information and evidence.
Interpreting ideas
Connect main points and inferences.
Evaluating arguments
Assess claims, evidence, and limitations.
What to expect:
12 questions with explanations to review after submission.
Study the questions and tasks
Work through the material below, or start the interactive practice above to complete an attempt. Try the exercises before opening any answer or transcript sections, then use them to review your work.
- Practice level
- C1. Try this level if you can follow the instructions and understand most of the language; choose an earlier level if you need more support.
- Question formats
- Yes / No / Not Given
How to approach this practice
Read the passage for its main idea, then return to the relevant sentence or paragraph for each question. Base answers on the passage.
What Universities Owe Their Surrounding Communities
When universities describe themselves as anchors, they usually mean that they attract jobs, students and prestige. I think that picture is incomplete. A campus does not float above a neighbourhood like a neutral machine; it sits inside a lived place, and it benefits from the roads, buses, housing, cultural life and labour of its surroundings. In return, it can easily become a powerful neighbour that takes more than it notices. That imbalance is why the question of what universities owe local communities matters. Some administrators answer that the institution already pays its way through wages, taxes and occasional charity. Those are real contributions, but they are not enough if they are presented as a substitute for responsibility. A university is not a business whose only duty is to maximise profit, and it is not a museum that may admire the city from behind glass. When it asks a town to accept noise, congestion and rising prices, it should not pretend that a few open days or a glossy brochure settle the matter. If a university wants moral respect, it should earn it in daily practice, not in public relations. The clearest obligation is to avoid exporting costs onto the people who live nearby. Student behaviour is not a trivial side issue when thousands of students arrive all at once. Late-night noise, short-term lets and competition for housing can push long-term residents into a weaker position, especially where the rental market is already fragile. Universities cannot honestly say that these pressures are accidental when their own recruitment policies contribute to them. They should monitor landlord behaviour, publish clear advice for tenants, build enough on-campus housing and stagger arrival dates where possible. None of this removes all friction, but it shows that the institution recognises the consequences of its own size. Consultation is another area where language often outruns action. I am not impressed by panels that exist mainly so a university can say it has 'engaged' with the community. Token meetings are theatre. Real consultation means being willing to hear criticism before a plan is fixed, and sometimes to change the plan because of that criticism. The relevant voices are not only senior councillors or large donors. They include small business owners, school leaders, librarians, clinic workers and residents who know which streets become unsafe after dark. A university that listens only to people who already agree with it has not consulted at all. At the same time, it would be a mistake to treat the university as a substitute city hall. Not every local problem can or should be solved by academic administrators, however well meaning. If the institution is asked to repair every pothole, control every landlord, fund every youth service and rescue every failing high street, it will soon promise more than it can deliver. The better principle is more modest and more durable: universities should contribute knowledge, space, money and time where they have a real comparative advantage, and they should do so without pretending that symbolic gestures are enough. They owe participation, not omnipotence. One practical form of participation is to share campus resources in ways that are meaningful rather than decorative. Libraries, lecture rooms, sports fields and gardens need not be opened so widely that students lose access, but neither should they be locked away as if public land had become private property after 5 p.m. Evening classes for local adults, free talks, community rehearsal space and access to specialist advice can make a tangible difference. These arrangements work best when they are regular, staffed and easy to understand. A building that is nominally open but impossible to use is not a gift. Universities sometimes defend themselves by pointing to volunteering days, photo opportunities and annual reports full of good intentions. I do not dismiss such efforts altogether, yet they are weak substitutes for policies that change lived experience. If a university wants to be trusted, it should measure local trust, not just rankings, and it should be prepared for the awkward fact that trust can fall even while publicity improves. In that sense, reputation is not a soft extra. It is evidence that the institution has kept faith with the people who have to live beside it. None of this means that universities should be apologetic or inward-looking. On the contrary, they can be powerful civic institutions when they understand that excellence is local as well as scholarly. A campus that raises money, teaches well and publishes research may still fail if it leaves neighbours feeling pushed aside. A better university is not one that claims to solve every injustice in the city, but one that accepts a continuing obligation to reduce the harms it creates and to share some of the value it produces. That is a demanding standard, but it is also the right one.
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Question 1 · Yes / No / Not Given
Decide whether the statement agrees with the writer’s or speaker’s view. Choose Not Given when the view is not stated.
The writer believes universities should replace most campus cars with bicycles.
Return to the passage, recording or visual- Yes
- No
- Not Given
Check answers and explanations
- Answer
- Not Given
Not Given. The passage never mentions cars, bicycles, or any transport policy of that kind. It discusses sharing resources such as libraries, lecture rooms, sports fields and gardens, but says nothing about replacing vehicles.
Libraries, lecture rooms, sports fields and gardens need not be opened so widely that students lose access
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Question 2 · Yes / No / Not Given
Decide whether the statement agrees with the writer’s or speaker’s view. Choose Not Given when the view is not stated.
The writer believes consultation is genuine only if universities are open to changing plans in response to criticism.
Return to the passage, recording or visual- Yes
- No
- Not Given
Check answers and explanations
- Answer
- Yes
Yes. The writer says real consultation means hearing criticism before a plan is fixed and sometimes changing the plan because of that criticism. That supports the statement directly.
Real consultation means being willing to hear criticism before a plan is fixed, and sometimes to change the plan because of that criticism
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Question 3 · Yes / No / Not Given
Decide whether the statement agrees with the writer’s or speaker’s view. Choose Not Given when the view is not stated.
The writer believes practical local trust matters more than publicity campaigns.
Return to the passage, recording or visual- Yes
- No
- Not Given
Check answers and explanations
- Answer
- Yes
Yes. The writer says volunteering days, photo opportunities and annual reports are weak substitutes, and that a university should measure local trust rather than just rankings. That clearly shows trust matters more than publicity.
If a university wants to be trusted, it should measure local trust, not just rankings
volunteering days, photo opportunities and annual reports full of good intentions
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Question 4 · Yes / No / Not Given
Decide whether the statement agrees with the writer’s or speaker’s view. Choose Not Given when the view is not stated.
The writer believes universities should leave local housing prices entirely to the market.
Return to the passage, recording or visual- Yes
- No
- Not Given
Check answers and explanations
- Answer
- No
No. The passage says universities cannot treat housing pressures as accidental when their own recruitment policies contribute to them, and it says they should monitor landlord behaviour. That is the opposite of leaving prices entirely to the market.
Universities cannot honestly say that these pressures are accidental when their own recruitment policies contribute to them. They should monitor landlord behaviour
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Question 5 · Yes / No / Not Given
Decide whether the statement agrees with the writer’s or speaker’s view. Choose Not Given when the view is not stated.
The writer believes universities benefit from their neighbourhoods without always repaying them.
Return to the passage, recording or visual- Yes
- No
- Not Given
Check answers and explanations
- Answer
- Yes
Yes. The passage says a campus 'benefits from the roads, buses, housing, cultural life and labour of its surroundings' and warns that it can 'take more than it notices'. That clearly matches the statement.
it benefits from the roads, buses, housing, cultural life and labour of its surroundings
it can easily become a powerful neighbour that takes more than it notices
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Question 6 · Yes / No / Not Given
Decide whether the statement agrees with the writer’s or speaker’s view. Choose Not Given when the view is not stated.
The writer believes universities should try to solve every social problem in the city.
Return to the passage, recording or visual- Yes
- No
- Not Given
Check answers and explanations
- Answer
- No
No. The passage says the opposite: universities are not a substitute city hall and should not be expected to repair every pothole, control every landlord and rescue every failing high street.
If the institution is asked to repair every pothole, control every landlord, fund every youth service and rescue every failing high street, it will soon promise more than it can deliver
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Question 7 · Yes / No / Not Given
Decide whether the statement agrees with the writer’s or speaker’s view. Choose Not Given when the view is not stated.
The writer believes sharing campus resources is one meaningful way universities can contribute locally.
Return to the passage, recording or visual- Yes
- No
- Not Given
Check answers and explanations
- Answer
- Yes
Yes. The passage directly says that 'One practical form of participation is to share campus resources in ways that are meaningful rather than decorative.' That matches the statement closely.
One practical form of participation is to share campus resources in ways that are meaningful rather than decorative
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Question 8 · Yes / No / Not Given
Decide whether the statement agrees with the writer’s or speaker’s view. Choose Not Given when the view is not stated.
The writer believes universities should pay a fixed percentage of tuition fees into a local community fund.
Return to the passage, recording or visual- Yes
- No
- Not Given
Check answers and explanations
- Answer
- Not Given
Not Given. The passage discusses wages, taxes, charity and responsibility in general, but it never mentions a fixed percentage of tuition fees or any local community fund. Because that specific policy is absent, the statement cannot be confirmed or contradicted.
Those are real contributions, but they are not enough if they are presented as a substitute for responsibility
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Question 9 · Yes / No / Not Given
Decide whether the statement agrees with the writer’s or speaker’s view. Choose Not Given when the view is not stated.
The writer believes private universities owe less to their neighbours than public universities do.
Return to the passage, recording or visual- Yes
- No
- Not Given
Check answers and explanations
- Answer
- Not Given
Not Given. The passage speaks about universities in general and never distinguishes between private and public institutions. Since no such comparison is made, the writer's view on this contrast cannot be identified.
That imbalance is why the question of what universities owe local communities matters
universities should contribute knowledge, space, money and time where they have a real comparative advantage
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Question 10 · Yes / No / Not Given
Decide whether the statement agrees with the writer’s or speaker’s view. Choose Not Given when the view is not stated.
The writer believes a university’s first duty is to maximise profit.
Return to the passage, recording or visual- Yes
- No
- Not Given
Check answers and explanations
- Answer
- No
No. The passage explicitly says, 'A university is not a business whose only duty is to maximise profit.' That rejects the statement rather than supporting it.
A university is not a business whose only duty is to maximise profit
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Question 11 · Yes / No / Not Given
Decide whether the statement agrees with the writer’s or speaker’s view. Choose Not Given when the view is not stated.
The writer believes campus libraries should be kept open to the public all night.
Return to the passage, recording or visual- Yes
- No
- Not Given
Check answers and explanations
- Answer
- Not Given
Not Given. The passage says some resources should be shared and that they need not be opened too widely, but it does not say libraries should be open to the public all night. That specific schedule is never discussed.
Libraries, lecture rooms, sports fields and gardens need not be opened so widely that students lose access
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Question 12 · Yes / No / Not Given
Decide whether the statement agrees with the writer’s or speaker’s view. Choose Not Given when the view is not stated.
The writer believes residents’ complaints are usually irrational and should be ignored.
Return to the passage, recording or visual- Yes
- No
- Not Given
Check answers and explanations
- Answer
- No
No. The passage says the relevant voices include residents and that a university that listens only to people who already agree with it has not consulted at all. That is the opposite of ignoring complaints.
They include small business owners, school leaders, librarians, clinic workers and residents who know which streets become unsafe after dark
A university that listens only to people who already agree with it has not consulted at all
What to review next
Find the words that support each answer. For a mistake, compare the question with the evidence and identify the detail or inference you missed.
A focused practice result shows how you did on these tasks. Use several activities across skills to decide what to study next; one practice score does not certify an overall CEFR level.
Before you practise: a worked example
Look for evidence in the text. Separate what the writer says from what you already know about the topic.
The library normally closes at six, but on Fridays it stays open until eight. When does it close on Friday?
The answer is eight. But introduces an exception to the normal closing time, so the first time mentioned is not the answer.
This teaching example is separate from the scored questions. After your test, compare any mistakes with the explanation and revisit the topic before trying again.