New defence college planned

The new college is expected to open in September 2005

A new defence college is to be built in Leicestershire under a public-private partnership scheme, the government announced on Tuesday.

The Defence Sixth Form College will be sited at disused barracks outside Woodhouse, near Loughborough, junior defence minister Lewis Moonie said.

It will open in September 2005, replacing the present army sixth form college at Welbeck Abbey, Nottinghamshire, which will close.

Dr Moonie said in a written ministerial statement that the Minerva consortium had been selected as preferred bidder and negotiations were under way on the contract.

The college will include students from the RAF, Royal Navy and civil service as well as the army.

It is part of a package of changes aimed at improving education and training in the armed forces.