Scotland's first "virtual university" has outlined its intention to take a more traditional turn.

The University of the Highlands and Islands began in 1993 by offering courses using communication technologies like the internet and video conferencing.

But the university, which is now known as the UHI Millennium Institute (UHI), has published a new document charting how it aims to develop over the next four years.

University bosses have set out how they intended to try and obtain university status by 2007.

We use technology as a means to an end, but technology has never been the end in itself,

Martin Wright Head of communications

Staff said they hoped to become recognised as a major contributor and innovator in the development of tertiary education in Scotland.

At present, the institution is delivering courses to more than 5,500 students across 13 campuses from Shetland to Argyll.

It covers an area with a population of almost 500,000 and some 400,000 square kilometres - more than half of the area of Scotland.

It includes over 100 inhabited islands where 100,000 people live.

Head of communications Martin Wright told BBC Radio Scotland that there was never an intention to create an entirely virtual institution.

"The project has invested something like �55m in buildings and learning resources right across the Highlands and Islands," he said.

"You certainly don't invest that kind of money in a virtual institution."

Video conferencing

He said the dot.com boom of the 1990s had led some people to think that the internet was the only way forward.

"We use technology as a means to an end, but technology has never been the end in itself," he stressed.

Mr Wright acknowledged that video conferencing and the use of internet-based learning materials were "very important".

But he said that bringing students together with their peers, tutors and support staff was equally important.

He said this would enable them to "have a full student experience, not just be lonely learners sat in front of a computer".

Students will gather together for classes

The managers plan to move towards a traditional idea of a college, with students gathering together for classes on campus.

Their statement will also signal a refocusing on teaching subjects specific to the region such as farming, marine biology and Gaelic culture.

The UHI has not yet been given full university status, although it was designated an institution of higher learning in December 2000.

Dr Jim Hunter, chairman of Highlands and Islands Enterprise, said: "The creation of a new university is the single most important project currently under way in the Highlands and Islands.

"One thing which all successful economic regions have in common is the presence of a university, delivering learning, undertaking research and producing spin-off businesses."