College status goes up a degree

The college had to meet "rigorous" standards

A Gloucestershire college is to be the first new university in Britain for nine years.

Cheltenham & Gloucester College of Higher Education is to become the University of Gloucester following a decision by the Privy Council.

The Department for Education and Skills (DFES) said the move had been a decade in the planning and came two years after the college applied to become a university.

The DFES also said the college had met "rigorous" standards on the quality of its undergraduate courses and research degrees.

The college has awarded degrees since 1992

The college is the first educational establishment to be promoted to university status in Britain since 1992.

Higher education minister Margaret Hodge said: "The people of Gloucestershire should be justifiably proud.

"The prestige of a university in the county will give a real boost to the local economy and job market."

University principal Dame Janet Trotter said that the wait since the application was made in 1999 was worth it.

She said: "We have been waiting a long time for this day and are all absolutely delighted with the news."

She also said that a lot of work went into the college attaining its goal.

"The achievement of the university title is a credit to years of preparation and groundwork by staff and students of the college.

"It also recognises the support of partners across the county and the UK."

College merger

Students at the college have reacted positively to the news.

Student union president Ian Pain said: "I have always felt that I was at a university and the confirming of the title is merely stating what students here already believe."

Cheltenham & Gloucester College was created in 1990.

It was the product of a merger between the 150-year-old teacher training college of St Paul and St Mary and the higher education programmes of the Gloucestershire College of Arts & Technology.

Increased status

The college, which has just under 10,000 full and part-time students and more than 1,000 members of staff, has been awarding degrees since 1992.

The new university says there are no plans to increase numbers of students significantly or indeed change entry requirements.

It says the biggest effect will be the increased status which has now been bestowed upon it.

The new university will operate from three sites in Cheltenham with a fourth opening in Gloucester next year.