The Coalition has signalled the biggest growth in universities for more than 20 years with plans to create dozens of new campuses in higher education “cold spots”.
David Willetts, the Universities Minister, told officials to investigate the possibility of establishing universities in cathedral cities, county towns and coastal communities that currently lack provision.
He named Shrewsbury, Yeovil, Hereford and parts of East Anglia as areas that could have higher education sites for the first time.
The move is designed to increase the number of school leavers taking degree-level qualifications combined with a drive to provide a boost to local economies.
Mr Willetts has written to the Higher Education Funding Council for England asking them to identify “where there is evidence of ‘cold spots’” and provide advice about how university provision could be established.
In most cases, it is believed that existing universities several miles away would open satellite campuses in a new area or local further education colleges would be converted into universities.
The shift coincides with a decision to scrap strict controls on the number of students that each university can recruit in 2015.
It could herald the biggest expansion of universities in more than two decades since the Conservatives granted dozens of polytechnics full university status.
The reforms are likely to prove controversial among critics who claim too many school leavers have been pushed into taking inappropriate higher education courses – leaving large numbers of people in non-graduate jobs.
Last month, Lord Baker, the former Tory education secretary, said England had the second highest number of “overqualified” adults in the developed world because of the expansion of degrees in subjects such as the arts, humanities, media studies and social science.
But Mr Willetts insisted that evidence showed universities were the best way of “reviving great towns and cities”, saying that new higher education institutions in Lincoln and Worcester had added millions of pounds to the local economy, generated jobs and up-skilled the local population.
“I have no doubt that there are budding Lincolns and Worcesters waiting in the wings,” he said.
“Towns like Shrewsbury are already champing at the bit to establish a university campus.
"I have written to HEFCE to look at how we do everything possible to encourage new higher education institutions in obvious ‘cold spots’ like Yeovil and East Anglia.
“With student number controls being wiped out, the Government wants to see more higher education campuses being set up across Britain.”
Mr Willetts said MPs, local councils and business leaders had already launched campaigns with a view to establishing new university provision in areas such as Hereford, Shrewsbury and Yeovil.
He has asked HEFCE to report back by the autumn “to propose new approaches to encourage coherent tertiary offers in areas where there is demand for this provision”.
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