Peterborough university will collaborate with Anglia Ruskin

Degrees could be awarded by the University of Peterborough by 2025

A new university which aims to provide a "well-skilled workforce" will have another university delivering its courses, it has announced.

Rebranded as ARU Peterborough, the city's first university will collaborate with Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) when it opens in 2022.

The campus will specialise in technical and apprenticeship degrees.

Roderick Watkins, vice chancellor of ARU, said the initiative would be "transformative" for the city.

According to an education, skills and training deprivation score, Peterborough is one of the bottom 10 areas of the country.

"By working closely with employers to design and deliver courses that match their needs, ARU Peterborough will generate economic growth and provide life-changing opportunities for many local people who may not have previously considered going to university," said Prof Watkins.

ARU already offers health, education and social care courses in Peterborough for about 1,200 students based at Guild House on Oundle Road. An ARU spokesman said all of its students will be moving to the new university and a decision on the future of Guild House has not been made yet.

The university, which also has main campuses in Cambridge and Chelmsford, will soon begin enrolling its first cohort of 2,000 students for the new site.

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The Conservative mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, James Palmer, first raised the idea when he was elected in 2017 and said the new university would "drastically improve" the city.

An artist's impression of the new university campus on Embankment next to the River Nene

The combined authority, which the mayor heads, has allocated £24.8m to the project after a series of delays and doubts.

Peterborough City Council has backed the plans with £1.6m in land investment at North Embankment.

Courses will initially be taught within the four faculties of business and innovation; creative, digital arts and sciences; agriculture and environment; and health and education.

They be delivered via on-campus lessons, in-work training, apprenticeships, distance learning and outreach programmes.

City council leader John Holdich said: "Establishing a university is the single biggest thing we can do to stop our talented young people from leaving to build their lives elsewhere.

"I am confident that together with ARU we will deliver the university Peterborough needs and the people of the city deserve."