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£2.5 million for Combined Universities in Cornwall at Tremough

August 2010

Mark Prisk, Minister of Business and Enterprise recently announced (29 July) that the South West RDA will be investing £2.5 million in two projects based at University College Falmouth (UCF) and University of Exeter’s (UoE) Tremough campus.

The projects receiving the funding are:

  • The Academy for Innovation and Research (AIR) is a research & development laboratory for the creative industries. It will provide a facilitation space to assist in the development of high growth, knowledge based businesses and raise levels of business innovation, competitiveness and productivity at Tremough. This will allow UCF to support additional full-time students and is expected to create an extra 253 jobs on campus.
  • The Exchange; an extension to the library, increased seminar and lecture space, new student services facilities and a reception and will be used by both Exeter and UCF students.
  • These additional facilities will form three departments within the university:
  • The AIR;
  • The Environment and Sustainability Institute (ESI) - a UoE led research project, which will support 368 new jobs by 2015 and house over 350 undergraduate and postgraduates students
  • The Performance Centre - a UCF led project that will open in October 2010 and will accommodate space for an additional 600 students.


During his two-day trip to Cornwall, which included a visit to the campus, Mark Prisk said: “Tremough is an inspiring example of transformational investment in Cornwall. By focusing the research and development agenda on small business opportunities, which build on Cornwall’s natural strengths in the environmental and creative industries, the county’s HE sector is making an important contribution to the local economy.”

Suzanne Bond, executive director of the South West RDA, said: “This is exactly the type of investment the South West economy needs right now. It supports and expands a truly innovative project that will in the long run position Combined Universities in Cornwall at Tremough at the forefront of environmental and creative industries. AIR and the ‘Exchange’ projects have the potential to attract hundreds of highly skilled, highly paid jobs to the county.”