University to close campus

Two new universities have announced cutbacks

De Montfort University in the Midlands is to close one of its sites to save money.

University authorities have ear-marked its Kents Hill campus at Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire for closure in 2003.

The campus, which caters for 800 students, will be shut once undergraduates have completed their courses.

The university - formerly Leicester Polytechnic - has 10 sites in total.

The decision takes into account the pressures many universities are experiencing

Professor John Coyne, Vice Chancellor of De Montfort University

The university's vice chancellor, Professor John Coyne, said: "The decision has not been taken lightly but takes into account the changing face of higher education and the continuing pressures many universities are experiencing at the moment."

The minister for Higher Education, Baroness Blackstone, said it was right that universities should look for the best ways to use their funds.

"Only 3% of students at De Montfort are on that campus, as the university has 10 different sites," she said.

Luton cutbacks

The announcement of the closure came shortly after another new university, Luton, revealed that more than 90 teaching and managerial jobs were under threat.

The university is planning to restructure, to concentrate on the most popular courses such as media, design and computing and cut back on more traditional, academic areas.

Vice chancellor, Dr Dai John, said the changes were a necessary response to the changing pattern of education.

Student numbers have been falling in the more traditional subjects at Luton.

"The majority of the posts inevitably relate to academic subjects with non-viable student numbers but there will also be reductions in the management structure," he said.

The university hopes the changes will save £4m this year.

Lecturers' union

The lecturers' union, Natfhe, has blamed the crisis at Luton on the government's method of funding the higher education sector and in particular the low levels of teaching income allocated to the new universities.

Jenny Golden, Natfhe's regional official said: "This crisis is due mainly to the mixed messages that the new universities receive from the government.

"On the one hand they are told to improve access to higher education while, on the other, receiving only half the teaching income of the old universities for doing so," she said.