How to meet people (and girls in particular)

Soz about this, I'm sure it's been done many times before so I hope you don't mind giving me some advice.

Just some background about me first. I'm a 20 year old guy, I'm at uni in my third year and I really really struggle to meet girls. I've never had a girlfriend, never kissed a girl, never had sex or had any intimate closeness with a girl. The main reasons for this are that I'm really shy, and not particularly good looking (even my friends said, only half jokingly, that I was the ugliest guy in halls) which isn't really a very good combination. People don't want to get to know me, and I don't have the confidence to approach them. The issue is confounded by the fact my subject has a hugely disproportionate number of guys to girls, so I don't meet many as part of my course.

My main question is this. Where do I go to meet girls? What should I do? It's bothered me lately how little experience I have of these things, and I want to be loved and close to another person. It's just a case of knowing where to start and that's where I hope you guys can help me. I could really use some advice. My normal tactic is to get to know people really well, befriend them if you like, I never could walk up to a random stranger and start chatting them up. The result is I always fall for friends (3 thus far, one for 3 years!) which is always a bad idea. I can then never admit I like them for fear of losing the friendship and they see me as Mr Reliable - the guy who you can talk to and is a wonderful friend but just not relationship material.

So what do I do? Where should I go and how should I go about breaking into this scary world of romance?

Sorry that was long. I'd really appreciate your advice! I want to turn over a new leaf, and find some confidence perhaps, but I need your help in starting!