The Open University is to prepare a business case for a 'world class' university based in a sustainable green campus in Milton Keynes city centre.
The University’s governing Council has agreed to initiate work on the strategic and financial case for a multi-million-pound relocation of the OU’s existing campus in suburban Milton Keynes to a new site adjacent to the central railway station.
The governing council at the Open University has agreed to start work on a case for a multi-million-pound relocation from its current site to a new space adjacent to Milton Keynes Central Station.
A proposal is also being developed for a new 'sister university' which will allow students to study with the Open University in person, supported by teaching on site and a range of accommodation, entertainment and sport offers at the heart of the city.
The OU is the UK’s largest university, with over 200,000 students studying from home or work across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Its headquarters have been in Milton Keynes since it began in 1969.
Work on the business case will engage with the ideas of internal and external stakeholders, including the city council and Milton Keynes’ growing businesses and communities, about how the campus could better meet the OU’s future needs and the needs of students for future skills.
The OU is set to work closely with Milton Keynes Development Partnership (MKDP) as the landowners on a proposition to create a 'smart, accessible and energy-efficient campus'
Science laboratories, interactive working and learning spaces, studios, a library and a student centre will be included.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Tim Blackman commented: “While Walton Hall remains an option for the future, we are focusing our planning on what additional benefits a new city centre site could bring.
“A purpose-built campus at the heart of a thriving business community, within half an hour by train from London, Cambridge, Oxford and the midlands, is an opportunity to reshape our facilities and provision for the decades ahead. Students would be able to choose online study with the OU from wherever in the UK or the world they live, or study all or some of the time on campus.”
MKDP’s Chairman Nicola Sawford said: “We are very excited about the opportunity to work with the OU on this once in a generation opportunity to re-imagine higher education in the city centre and for this to be a cornerstone of the new masterplan for the Lower Westside development site.”
Milton Keynes City Council Leader Pete Marland commented: “Milton Keynes is one of the UK’s fastest growing and most innovative cities, but also one of the greenest and most liveable.
“A move by the OU into the city centre is potentially transformational. It could create another world-class higher education opportunity where creativity meets technology, meaning our young people do not have to move away to study and we can attract students from across the world to study and live in Milton Keynes.”
The news comes after the city lost out on a multi-million-pound bid to create a new university for the city.
Last year, a bid was submitted Milton Keynes City Council and Cranfield University had joined forces to Government’s Levelling-up Fund to provide a home for MK:U, a new university focussed on high-tech skills.
Despite support from the City Council, local MPs and other regional partners, the bid did not receive any cash.
