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Town in talks to set up university
Alice McKeegan9/ 8/2008
A UNIVERSITY could be created in Rochdale under an ambitious plan to transform education in the town.
Preliminary talks have been held to discuss the proposal and education bosses will travel to Leeds next month for a meeting with government officials.
It is hoped that a bid could be submitted by the autumn with the aim of opening the university, which could be situated next to Hopwood Hall College’s Rochdale campus, in 2013.
It is unclear which courses would be offered, but one idea put forward is to work in partnership with an existing institution.
Plans to team up with Oldham to open a university were initially discussed four years ago, but scrapped after Oldham opted to work with the University of Huddersfield.
Rochdale Council’s director of education, Terry Piggott, said the latest plan would be ‘good news’ for Rochdale and could help to stop the cleverest students leaving town.
He said: "We want to keep the best and brightest in Rochdale, as well as attracting students from across the country.
"No timescales are in place, but we are looking at a five-year project at least. This has to be right for the future of students in Rochdale.
"We are still in the early stages, but we are looking to work with one of the Manchester universities."
In March, it was announced that 20 new university campuses serving 10,000 students are to be built in England over the next six years in a drive to ensure that no region is left without access to higher education.
The ‘university challenge’ project is part of a drive
to increase the number of young people going into higher education from 43 to 50 per cent.
Local authorities and regional development agencies were invited to bid for funding and Mr Piggott said that this project offers a ‘real opportunity’ for Rochdale.
He added: "We are very hopeful because there is a real opportunity under the ‘university challenge’ scheme.
"There’s national encouragement and support for such a scheme and we think Rochdale would be well placed to make a bid."
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21/08/2008 at 14:18
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This is just an opportunity to knock down what we have already, pour some more concrete and slash some cash into the developers' pockets.
And if anyone has the nerve to suggest its a daft idea, get the spin doctors to play the inclusivity card to suggest that Rochdale is missing out.
What Rochdale really needs is a Zoo - to house all the white elephants that are being imposed on us.
26/08/2008 at 10:59