8:00am Wednesday 1st July 2009
By Bill Tanner
HEREFORDSHIRE can go one better than a university centre, progressing by degrees to a university in its own right, says Hereford’s Conservative parliamentary candidate Jesse Norman.
The proposed university centre – which Herefordshire Council wants on the current Blackfriars Education Centre site – allows existing universities to channel courses on-line to venues countywide.
The Government sees such centres as alternatives to stand-alone universities.
The project, which now goes to Whitehall for the £15 million it needs to happen, is pitched as the biggest ever overhaul of higher education in the county. But Mr Norman believes the county can still go one better.
Welcoming the centre bid, Mr Norman said: “What matters now is that we have a genuinely ambitious vision for higher education in Herefordshire over the next 15 to 20 years. In my book, that means a small, focussed new university doing what the county does best.”
Mr Norman has long backed Herefordshire having a university of its own. He first went public with his support during a speech at a Bulmer Foundation event in 2007.
His plan has the project progressing by degrees:
■ Getting more students into higher education through the county’s existing colleges.
■ Establishing the university centre with associated research and teaching facilities.
■ Gaining independent accreditation for courses offered by a new Herefordshire University or University College.
Mr Norman, who spent six years teaching at university level, said he had learned from personal experience just how valuable a fully fledged university could be to the county.
“It will help reverse the flow of young people out of Herefordshire, it will unlock local talent, and it could make a major difference to the local economy by bringing in new companies, new skills and new private investment,”
he said.
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