“In the university” or “At the university”

It depends. If youre talking about the place as in where someone is right now, at the university. If you’re talking about being in the process of studying for a degree, in the UK the phrase is usually either at university or in university (without the). In the US/Canada this term is ‘in college’.

There are some differences in naming between the UK and the US which can be confusing. What is often called college in the UK is called high school in the US, while college is the general noun for university study in North America. In the US the terms college and university for institutions of higher learning have different meanings.

Colleges are usually smaller (less than 5000 students), do not offer doctoral degrees, and are divided into faculties, and sometimes further into schools.

Universities are usually larger (10,000 – 50,000 students), offer doctoral degrees, focus on research, and are comprised of more than one college.