27.07.04
100 new jobs on offer as Tremough Campus expands

One hundred new jobs are being created at the Tremough Campus, near Penryn, in readiness for the start of the autumn term – and there is already a queue of 500 applicants for them. Falmouth College of Arts and the University of Exeter in Cornwall expected so many applicants that they enlisted the help of Penryn Jobcentre Plus to hold a Jobfair for applicants at the campus on Thursday 5th August, 2.00pm – 8.00pm.

The number of new posts indicates the ambitious scale of the development scheme at Tremough, which will be complete in September. The University of Exeter will move 500 students and all of its Cornwall-based operations, including Camborne School of Mines, to Tremough. They will join the existing 750 students of Falmouth College of Arts, which has owned and occupied the campus since 1999. This arrangement, with two institutions sharing a campus on equal terms, is unique in the UK.

Falmouth College of Arts and the University of Exeter will share impressive new buildings, costing £50 million, which have been invested in mainly by Objective One as part of the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC) initiative. The first phase of construction, a new Design Centre for Falmouth College of Arts, was completed in October 2003. The final phase, which will open in September, contains laboratories for the University of Exeter and shared facilities such as a state-of-the-art library, restaurants and a fitness centre. The two institutions have also funded new 500-bed student residences at Tremough from their own resources, at a cost of more than £18 million.

The CUC initiative is intended to boost the economy of Cornwall. Already, local firms in the construction industry have benefited from the development at Tremough, which is the CUC 'Hub' campus, and at the 'Rim' campuses of Cornwall College and Truro College. Over time, the graduates who result from this massive expansion of higher education in Cornwall will accelerate the earning power of business and industry in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. And the students who will live and work at Tremough will contribute as much as £20 million a year to the local economy. No wonder the growth in student numbers and facilities at Tremough is now having such a direct and visible impact on the local job market.

Professor Keith Atkinson, Chairman of the CUC Executive, said: "CUC is the first higher education initiative in the UK to be created specifically to aid economic regeneration. At the outset this means new jobs: not just the 100 we are advertising now, but also the world class academic staff who are attracted to Cornwall. As CUC develops, the economic benefits will increase as our business development work comes on stream and as students and staff spend money in the local economy. We hope also that this is just the beginning and CUC will grow in size over the coming years and bring greater economic benefits to Cornwall."

Altogether some 100 new posts are being created in addition to existing posts occupied by staff of Falmouth College of Arts and the University of Exeter. The new posts range from receptionists, caterers and cleaners to security staff, print operators and sports centre staff. The new workers at Tremough will be in at the start of a new approach to higher education that is attracting attention from right across Europe and they will also gain the more tangible benefits of a final-salary pension scheme, generous holidays and subsidised transport to and from the campus.

Anyone who would like further details of the jobs on offer should contact Penryn Jobcentre Plus, Tel: 01326 434311, and apply at the Tremough Campus on Thursday 5th August between 2.00pm and 8.00pm.

For further information contact:

Martin Horrox
Falmouth College of Arts
Woodlane, Falmouth TR11 4RH
Tel: 01326 213756.
Email: martin.horrox@falmouth.ac.uk

Stuart Franklin
Northcote House, University of Exeter
The Queen's Drive, Exeter EX4 4QJ
Tel: 01392 263146
Email: s.d.franklin@exeter.ac.uk

Editor's notes:

The Combined Universities in Cornwall is a unique partnership of the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, Falmouth College of Arts, The Open University, The College of St Mark & St John, and the Peninsula Medical School, and Cornwall's Further Education colleges – Cornwall College, Truro College and Penwith College.

The CUC initiative has been funded through the Objective One Partnership for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, the South West Regional Development Agency, Cornwall County Council and the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

By 2010, CUC will have created an additional 4000 HE student places in Cornwall, producing c1300 graduates a year.

For more information on CUC, please contact:

David Kirk
CUC PR & Communications Office
Tel: 01326 370471
E-mail: david.kirk@cuc.ac.uk

Sue Wolstenholme
Objective One Communications
Objective One Partnership Office
Castle House
Pydar Street
Truro TR1 2UD
Mobile: 07973 813647
Telephone: 01579 370991

lmroberts@cornwall.gov.uk

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