George Eustice, the MP for Camborne and Redruth has called for University College Falmouth to be granted full university status following a visit of the facilities at the Tremough Campus.
The current criteria set down by the QAA (Quality Assurance Agency) advise that one of the factors used to decide whether academic institutions can be given full university status is whether or not they have over 4000 students. Last autumn, Dartington College moved to the Tremough Campus and has become part of University College Falmouth. The addition of Dartington has enabled UCF to broaden its offering to include a new faculty covering the performance arts, music and dance. It makes UCF an international centre of excellence in the arts and also takes them very close to the 4000 student stipulation.
George Eustice has argued that UCF surpasses the qualifying criteria with flying colours on the more important measures and that there should be some flexibility around the numbers threshold,
“I was incredibly impressed by the work that I saw going on at Tremough last week and the enthusiasm and dedication of staff and students. The addition of Dartington College to the Tremough campus means that UCF is now a world leader in the arts. The facilities available at Tremough in the fields of design, media and now performing arts are second to none and it makes Tremough the most important institution in the UK for the creative industries.”
During his visit George Eustice also visited the work being done by Exeter University to develop a new £30 million Environment and Sustainability Institute , and was given a briefing by the University’s academics who are working at PRIMaRE to develop wave power technology.