Institutions such as colleges and universities have many furnishings that they have to buy and keep in stock. Some of these items are for the many offices and dormitories that are sprawled throughout the campus area. They have to keep up with appropriate seating for students as well and often need to purchase canteen chairs and university chairs. Over the years these are two items that have seen some updates in adjusting and tweaking the styles and models but the overall design has remained relatively stable.

At one time university chairs had the actual chair and desk design and then this began to evolve to a wooden structure that had space for books underneath and a firmly attached wooden tablet that acted as an armrest as well. During this time it was practically impossible to find these wooden chairs with a left handed tablet, they all were made for right handed writers and students.

Throughout the 60s and 70s there began an upswing in some new designs for university chairs and there was great use of plastics and other compounds. These new designs were a bit brittle but they proved very popular as they were cheap to produce and cheap to buy. Commercially designed university and high school seating was on the move. Aluminum became the choice material to provide sound but lightweight framing structure for the shell which acted as the seat. Once there were even areas attached underneath that resembled wire baskets for books and papers. These basket shaped attachments were soon removed from the design and stackable chair design improved.

Today there are many examples of university chairs offered by hundreds of distributors and the design is much the same regardless of the maker. You can find university chairs that have metal or plastic seats and even some that are upholstered in a durable tweed or faux leather material. The framing of the chairs can be steel or aluminum or a mix of materials. There is usually a variety of colors now offered for the framework. These are in many shades and can be matched to the university or school's own colors.

There are even some university chairs that have caster systems for ease in moving around. Some of these models can offer ergonomic design in seating and function.

There are university chairs which have seats that fold and those that have one piece rigid seat shells. The tablets today can be detachable or permanently affixed in one position. If you choose the detachable model you can have this option available with either a fixed tablet or a flip up tablet style. The tablets are also available in both right and left handed models and some can simply meet the needs of the individual student by being detached from one side and re-attached to the other.

There are even a variety of choices to choose from when you are selecting the tablet style to go with the university chairs. You can choose from a standard size or a laptop size tablet and in some cases there are even oversize models that are available that can provide a student with a much larger and more convenient working area. The surfaces of the tablet can come in different styles of finishes which can include graphite, which is becoming a favorite of institutions for its ability to resist stains and dirt being shown. There are also grays, blondes, walnuts and neutral colors that are available. These tablets and the reinforced edgings that surround them offer the purchasers value for the dollar.

They will last for years and require little overall maintenance.