Notre Dame takes over osteopathy school site

THE UNITED STATES University of Notre Dame is expanding its research and teaching in London with a takeover of the British School of Osteopathy's Trafalgar Square premises.

Notre Dame will not reveal details until later this month, when it plans to inform its staff and students of the move, but a source confirmed that it would take over the ownership of the building in July. Staff would move in after a ten-month building programme in the spring of 1998.

The British School of Osteopathy, an Open University-validated charity which awarded its first BSc honours degrees in 1995, announced that it was seeking someone to take over the lease of the Suffolk Street site in May last year, with the launch of its fund-raising venture, the Blueprint for a Brighter Tomorrow Campaign.

Despite being at the site for over 80 years, the BSO denied it was being forced out of Trafalgar Square by financial difficulties. "The Notre Dame offer was advantageous," said a spokesman. "They are taking over the lease from Hell and we are relocating out of an old, grade-two listed mausoleum which was not geared up to health care into a bright, new modern building - it's a positive step forward." The location of the BSO's new home is yet to be confirmed.

The Indiana-based University of Notre Dame has had a presence in London since the mid-1980s, offering "international exposure" to American undergraduates of law and engineering as part of their four-year courses. "We want to bring more students over," said a London spokesman.

It is also expected that the ivy league university intends to forge greater partnerships with UK research institutions.