Combined Universities in Cornwall

The Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC) is a project to provide higher education in Cornwall, one of the few counties in the United Kingdom not to have a university within its boundaries, and also one of the poorest areas of the country in terms of GDP per head. Developed in the early 2000s, following the work of the Camborne and University of Cornwall Support Group (a pressure Group of largely Cornish graduates,professionals founded (1997)to seek a collaboration of all HE providers in Cornwall to work towards a future free standing Cornish University and to oppose the loss of the CSM from the depressed towns of Camborne/Redruth.), with funds from the European Union Objective One and the South West Regional Development Agency, the CUC serves to fight the "brain drain" of students to the rest of the United Kingdom. Historically most Cornish students have had to leave the county to obtain higher education, and then never returned to contribute their knowledge and skills to the Cornish economy. The establishment of CUC is itself a contribution to the expansion of the Cornish economy, and all proposed developments within the CUC umbrella are required to show how they will contribute to Cornish prosperity.

Like a number of other recent projects in UK higher education, CUC involves collaboration between several institutions, but it is probably unique in the number and range of institutions involved. It is conceived on a "hub and spokes" model, with...
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