University towns have been proliferating all over the country since the beginning of the new century. It forms part of a plan of the central government launched in 2000 by which 50 new university towns will be put up in the city suburbs before 2020. The reasons for this push may seem obvious. Along with the dramatic increase in the number of students that pursue higher studies, land prices within city centres have rocketed. This makes it difficult for universities to expand their facilities and capacity. At the same time, selling old campuses bring sizable capital gains that allow for the acquisition of large terrains in the urbanizing city's outskirts (sometimes it is the government who expropriates the old campus, and the academic institution gets land in the new campus town as a part of the compensation).
