Abstract: The presence of students in large numbers in cities is ‘planned’ for to different degrees, from not at all in some contexts, to overly-determined ‘student’ places in others. There is general agreement that the lived experience of tertiary students, including their accommodation, social opportunities and experience of place beyond the campus boundaries, is part of their learning. Planning for good public space is as important as planning the location and form of students’ private space, and the interface between the two is critical. This paper will review a range of approaches to place-making, identifying and discussing differences in housing provision and arrangement of public facilities and spaces for students in several overseas cities, including in Germany, Italy, Spain and California where practices vary substantially. Then we will propose ways that place-making strategies could be approached for the often temporary and sometimes transnational residents (tertiary students) of university precincts. The example for this proposal is north-central Melbourne. Melbourne receives about 25 percent of Australia’s international students, and the City of Melbourne, which contains two of Victoria’s largest universities, has a residential student population of 37 percent, increasing to 50 percent in some areas. This case study draws on the policy attention given by the Melbourne City Council and the Victorian State Government to the presence of students there. Using overseas material alongside the Melbourne evidence, the contribution of the paper will be to assess some of the key components of meaningful place-making strategies for the residents of university precincts.