New £25m university campus planned for Milton Keynes

Students from Milton Keynes College have already registered with UCMK

Plans for a new £25m university campus in Milton Keynes have been announced by the University of Bedfordshire.

The University Campus Milton Keynes (UCMK) will be based at Saxon Court on Avebury Boulevard and focus on engineering and technology courses.

The campus will occupy half of the middle floor of a three-storey former council building.

It is due to open in September with an application to change the layout going before the council in April.

The University of Bedfordshire, which already has campuses in Luton, Bedford and Aylesbury, has developed the project with Milton Keynes Council.

It said it has put about £12.1m into the scheme with the council, contributing approximately £12m from sale of assets.

It said UCMK is set to offer full and part-time higher education courses and has already registered students from Milton Keynes College.

As well as a "core academic programme" of engineering, there will also be undergraduate degrees in journalism, psychology and criminology.

'New chapter'

University of Bedfordshire vice chancellor, Bill Rammell called it "an exciting new chapter" for both the university and the town which delivered on "long-held local ambitions".

He said: "UCMK will be home and international, student and employer, and teaching and research."

Milton Keynes Council leader Andrew Geary said the campus would be a "major boost" for the town.

"It has been a long term ambition to offer face to face degree-level teaching to our growing communities, without the need for people to travel elsewhere," he said.

"As well as "homegrown talent" we also want to attract international students, which is also good news for the local economy as it will help to put Milton Keynes on the global map."