Students at one of Australia's top universities say there has been a spate of break-ins and incidents of smoking and urination on campus since it became home to a popular Adelaide Fringe venue.

Key points: Students claim they were not consulted about the RCC Fringe deal

Students claim they were not consulted about the RCC Fringe deal They have raised concerns about theft and drunkenness on campus

They have raised concerns about theft and drunkenness on campus The RCC Fringe will be held at the university until March 17

The University of Adelaide is hosting the RCC Fringe, formerly known as the Royal Croquet Club, until the festival closes on March 17.

Some of the university's most well-known spaces have been turned into show venues, including Bonython and Elder halls and the Barr Smith Lawns.

But students have raised concerns about the disruptions caused by the event, which has taken place during O'Week and will continue into the first fortnight of semester.

"The university has assured students normal operations won't be affected, but we're seeing that really restricted in academic terms," said David Elliott, who heads the Facebook group Get the RCC Off Our Campus.

"The timing and scale of the event is completely inappropriate."

Public drinking, urination and break-ins

Mr Elliott said RCC Fringe had left summer school students feeling disorientated, and PhD candidates and researchers had to deal with noise disruptions.

"I've maintained there's no time at which the University of Adelaide is not an academic space," he said.

While the university said RCC Fringe was not operational until 5:00pm on weekdays, PhD candidate George Stamatescu said there would likely be a loss of academic productivity across the university.

"There's a lot of people on campus. You see people drinking sacks of goon and sitting around pretty drunk," he said.

"We're going to have to relocate so we can get work done."

Mr Elliott said an item was stolen from the university's Rainbow Room and a person had also attempted to steal money in another student area.

The university said it was implementing efforts to reduce smoking by RCC Fringe revellers. ( ABC News: Claire Campbell )

An email sent to staff on February 19 alerted the university community to two reported incidents of an unknown person attempting to enter secure parts of a building on campus.

"We're aware of a number of incidents that have been attributed on social media to the RCC Fringe that have had nothing to do with the event," a university spokesperson said.

"Some of these incidents have not been reported to the university's security services, despite requests for them to be reported."

A student representative also told the ABC festivalgoers had been urinating in public spaces on campus.

The university spokesperson said no such reports had been made, but efforts were being made to reduce smoking on campus.

The Adelaide University Union will soon launch an online portal to make it easier for students to report incidents during the festival.

Normal student activities no longer accommodated

Russian radical feminist group Pussy Riot, seen here in Moscow, are performing at the RCC Fringe. ( Reuters: Denis Sinyakov )

The University of Edinburgh also opens its doors to performances during that city's fringe festival.

A spokesperson for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe said most activities happened when students were not on campus.

Mr Elliott said the impact in Adelaide was also being felt by the university's breakfast club, which provides free meals twice a week to 400 students.

He said accommodating the RCC Fringe meant the breakfast club was without a venue.

"All the spaces that have kitchen and food storage spaces on campus are taken up by RCC … which is a really important issue in the context of student poverty," he said.

The university said it was working to provide alternative accommodation where required.

University apologises for lack of consultation

University chief operating officer Bruce Lines said the institution jumped at the opportunity to host RCC Fringe.

At the time, students complained they had not been consulted about the agreement until the deal was finalised last August.

"We decided for a number of reasons to wait to consult with students … because clearly [RCC Fringe] was sensitive about what they were discussing with us, and we had to respect that," Mr Lines said.

"But also we didn't want to come out with an announcement until we'd got a reasonable way through our consultation with them."

The usually sedate campus is attracting the wrong crowd, some students say. ( ABC News: Eugene Boisvert )

The university has since apologised for its lack of dialogue.

"We have undertaken to continue to work with them to make sure this event is going to be everything we want it to be, and in their interests, and making sure it's going to adapt and evolve taking into account their feedback," Mr Lines said.

Mr Lines said the organisations had not struck a commercial deal, but a mutually beneficial agreement, with profits entirely going to the RCC Fringe.

In return for free venue hire, Mr Lines said RCC Fringe agreed to cover its costs and any extras like lawn remediation and the return of venues to their original condition.

The university said more than 5,300 students signed up for a discount package with the RCC Fringe.