THE University of Central Lancashire and its partner colleges in Cumbria, Lancashire and North Merseyside have won £2.3million from the Higher Education Funding Council for additional student places.

Not only did the group scoop 100 per cent of their bids, the 665 new places they will create is the highest number in the region.

Preston, Runshaw, Burnley, Furness, Barrow, Hugh Baird (Bootle), and Kendal colleges gained additional places for HND/C courses in computing and business information technology, childhood studies and a JNC in social care.

They will provide a springboard for further developments to meet the increasing demand for courses in health, social care and childhood studies.

Further HND/C courses will be developed in biology-agriculture and forestry-environmental sciences, engineering, built environment, ecology conservation management, recreational land management, animal behaviour and welfare management.

Newton Rigg College in Penrith - which became part of the University of Central Lancashire last August - and Myerscough College in Bilsborrow will run new degree courses in garden design, motor sports and landscape management.

The Penrith campus has also been awarded £1 million of HEFC funding for a new learning and resource centre.

Many of the courses at the partner colleges have guaranteed progression on to honours degrees, offering students who would not traditionally consider higher education an option to see it as a possibility.

Vice Chancellor of the University of Central Lancashire, Malcolm McVicar said that the new developments are signs of "the significant expansion of the university's provision of courses for people in Cumbria and Lancashire".

John Moverly, from Myerscough College, saw the bid's success as "a deserved reward for the benefits of partnership between the university and Myerscough".

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