WARRINGTON now has its own university, with Chester College Warrington Campus winning a bid for the status.
Chester College, which has a key base at the former Padgate campus of Warrington Collegiate Institute, will now be called University College Chester.
The move means that after recently completing an inspection for the right to award its own degrees, the college has now met university criteria.
There has been a rapid increase in student numbers on the Warrington campus in recent times and Chester College is planning to more than double the number of students taking courses in the town, from 900 currently to 2,000 by 2006.
The news is a further boost for the campus as a multi-million-pound development programme is currently under way at Padgate, with £9 million being pumped into improvements and renovation projects over the next three years - with the sports facilities and the Derek Newton Theatre being the first priorities.
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