£2.5m for Combined Universities in Cornwall at Tremough
29 July 2010
Mark Prisk, Minister of Business and Enterprise today (29 July)
announced that the South West RDA would invest £2.5m 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 in Cornwall, focusing
on sustainable design and digital media. This will allow UCF to
support additional full-time students and is expected to create an
additional 253 jobs.
The Exchange; an extension to the library, increased seminar and
lecture space, new student services facilities and a reception. It
will be used by both Exeter and UCF students.
These additional facilities will form three new developments at
the Tremough campus:
- 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 postgraduate students
- The Performance Centre - a UCF led project that will open in
October 2010 and will accommodate space for an additional 600
students as a result of the merger and relocation of Dartington
College of Arts.
Ahead of his two-day trip to Cornwall, which includes 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.”
David Allen, Registrar and Deputy Chief Executive at the
University of Exeter, said: “The investment by the RDA is very
welcome and we would like to thank them for their support for the
Campus. The Exchange will help us to improve the range and scale of
our student support services. This is also good news for Cornwall
because it will enable the Campus to have an even greater positive
impact on the county’s economy.”
Professor Anne Carlisle, Rector & Chief Executive of UCF,
said: “This is quite simply fantastic news for HE and business in
Cornwall. It will benefit students and academics and be a spring
board for new businesses.”
Dr Sue Brownlow, Director of CUC, said: “This is a significant
step in meeting CUC’s aims of stimulating economic activity and
increasing innovation and enterprise, benefitting the whole of
Cornwall.”
This funding commitment brings the total investment in CUC
facilities across the county to just over £110m. The investment
will add to the £6.98 million contribution already made by the
South West RDA and the £5.06 million approved by the Higher
Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). The investment needs
to be completed by March 2011 and an application for ERDF is well
advanced.
The Performance Centre and ESI alone have been approved for more
than £35 million of ERDF (European Regional Development Fund)
Convergence investment. This builds on previous European structural
funding which was instrumental in the creation of the Combined
Universities in Cornwall. ESF (European Social Fund) Convergence is
being invested in training, skills and research and strengthening
links between the CUC and Cornwall’s businesses.
Mr Prisk’s two-day trip to Cornwall also includes visits to the
Wave Hub project at Hayle, the newly opened Pool Innovation Centre
and marine engineering company Fugro Seacore in Falmouth.
Contact: Billy McKenna, South West RDA, 01392 229 567; 07918 690
228
Notes to editors:
The South West RDA works for and promotes a modern, stronger and
more resilient economy across South West England. Our work involves
creating better jobs, successful businesses, more prosperous
cities, towns and villages within an economy that uses less carbon
and will still be thriving in 20, 50 and 100 years time.
Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC) is a partnership of six
universities and colleges working together across 12 campuses to
give more people the chance to study in Cornwall and to use
university-level education to help our businesses and communities
to thrive. Since its foundation 11 years ago in 1999, CUC’s aim has
been to transform the economy of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly
through investment in higher education as a driver of the growth of
a high-value knowledge economy. The CUC partners are: University of
Exeter, University of Plymouth, University College Falmouth,
Peninsula College of Medicine & Dentistry, Cornwall College,
Truro & Penwith College
University College Falmouth is the only independent Higher
Education institution in Cornwall with the powers to award degrees
in its own name. It has two campuses in Cornwall – at Woodlane in
Falmouth and Tremough in Penryn (which it owns, and jointly manages
with the University of Exeter) - and a third campus at Totnes in
Devon, following its merger with Dartington College of Arts in
2008.
This merger created a new institution focusing on the expansion
of Falmouth’s expertise in Art, Design and Media and Dartington’s
expertise in Choreography, Music, Theatre, Art and Writing. The
Devon-based courses will relocate to a new, high-specification
Performance Centre at Tremough in 2010, paving the way for a new
specialist Arts University in Cornwall by 2013/2014 that will be
unique to the South West.
The University College is a founding partner in the Combined
Universities in Cornwall (CUC), a unique initiative to promote
regional economic regeneration through Higher Education, funded
mainly by the European Union (Objective One and Convergence), the
South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education
Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall
Council.
For further information about University College Falmouth,
please contact Jilly Easterby Dip CIPR MCIPR, Head of Public
Affairs, Telephone: 01326 213792, or email: jilly.easterby@falmouth.ac.uk