University agrees deal with Chinese investors to restart degree courses
Higher education courses are set to return to a West Midlands university campus following the sale of the facility to Chinese investors.
The University of Wolverhampton has signed an agreement with the owner of the Beaconside site in Stafford to deliver the new courses, which are likely to start next September.
The Beaconside campus, close to the County Hospital (formerly Staffordshire District General Hospital), was closed by Staffordshire University in 2015 and courses switched to its main campus in Stoke-on-Trent and to its Blackheath Lane campus in Stafford town centre.
The university appointed GVA to assist with the sale of the 50-acre site off Weston Road, which duly completed in January last year.
New Beacon Group, the Chinese based business group which bought the campus, had previously stated its intention to transform the facility into an education and innovation hub.
It has now signed a Memorandum of Understanding which will see University of Wolverhampton degree courses delivered at the campus.
These are to be teaching and education, leadership and management, travel and tourism, hospitality and computing. They will be taught, assessed and quality assured by the University of Wolverhampton.
The New Beacon Group has already revealed plans to refurbish the Octagon Building on the campus, which will become home to its new Higher Education centre, and recruit students directly from China and locally in Staffordshire.
It is expected the first students could be on campus from September 2018. The agreement may also lead to staff and student exchanges between the UK and China.
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wolverhampton, Professor Geoff Layer, said: “We see this as a great way to create educational opportunities for students both from China and locally in key curriculum areas. Beaconside has great facilities and I’m sure both students and staff will enjoy calling it home.
“We have been working within Stafford for a number of years now and we see this as a natural progression of our activity, particularly with the University’s own new Stafford centre due to open next month.
“We have also been very warmly received by partners in the county and we look forward to even closer relationships as we progress.”
Dr Kai Liu, chief executive of the New Beacon Group, said: “New Beacon Group is delighted to be working with the University of Wolverhampton at our Stafford Campus and we have a number of exciting programmes that will be delivered on the campus both at under and postgraduate levels.
“We see this as a significant development in redeveloping higher education in Stafford and are delighted with the progress and our exciting plans for the future both here and in China.”
The university is also due to open a new centre in Stafford town centre next month in the Staffordshire Place complex.
Pictured: Dr Kai Liu, of New Beacon Group, Jeremy Lefroy MP for Stafford and University of Wolverhampton Vice-Chancellor Professor Geoff Layer.
