Southampton University will launch a new adult and continuing education campus next month from the ashes of the doomed La Sainte Union College of Higher Education. The college will be "a model for the post-Dearing world", it is claimed.
LSU, which ran degrees accredited by Southampton, was thrown into turmoil in April when the Teacher Training Agency withdrew accreditation from its teacher training courses amid protests from staff. LSU will officially become defunct on August 31, said Southampton deputy vice chancellor Roy Farrar, when Southampton University New College will take over its site.
Professor Farrar, who is also acting director of the new college, said: "We've been thinking very seriously about how to deliver our regional role and LSU has provided a window at the right time."
The new venture is still dependent on final approval from the Higher Education Funding Council for England and is "subject to the final exchange of contracts", Professor Farrar said. The proposed college's buildings are owned by the Catholic LSU Foundation, and discussions are still under way about new arrangements with Southampton University. "If some financial problem comes out of the woodwork, it will not happen," said Professor Farrar.
But a logo for New College has already been designed, and adverts are being placed for a new foundation director, who is expected to start in January 1998.