Why does Milton Keynes need a university?

A politician is trying to revitalise attempts to bring a university campus to the centre of Milton Keynes.

Sam Crooks, a Liberal Democrat councillor, says a residential university in the middle of the city would turn it into "the marker at the centre" of the Oxford-Cambridge Arc.

He will be asking the city council, at its next full meeting, to invite local education providers to a conference to discuss the situation.

So, 55 years after the first houses were built, why does Milton Keynes need a university?

The Open University (OU) has been based in Walton Hall, just outside Milton Keynes, since its foundation in 1969.

It offers mainly distance learning and does not have a residential campus in the centre of Milton Keynes.

However, it announced in 2023 that it was planning to open a face-to-face campus in the city centre.

The Vice Chancellor of the OU, Professor Tim Blackman, said it was attracted by the prospect of "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."

Earlier this month, it was reported that the OU had changed its mind and was now focusing on being a "university without walls".

Cranfield University, which is based just outside Milton Keynes, partnered with the city council to create a new university known as MK:U.

The project was expected to be built on land close to Central Milton Keynes railway station, and would have welcomed 5,000 students within the first five years, with an ambition to grow to 15,000.

It would have offered a curriculum focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

But the project stalled in 2022 when the government announced that it would not be receiving Levelling Up funding.

The formal partnership between the university and the council has come to an end, but the MK:U project is still being developed.

There are 640 apprentices studying part-time through a smaller MK:U site in Silbury Boulevard.

Neil Withey, director of MK:U, said: "MK:U continues to deliver a new model of higher education and an innovation hub in the heart of Milton Keynes.

"Delivering degree apprenticeships in key areas such as cyber security, leadership, robotics and supply chain management, MK:U is a key part of the city's educational ecosystem.

"We would welcome further collaboration and investment around future HE opportunities in the city."

Sam Crooks, whose motion is an attempt to start the ball rolling again on creating a university, said Milton Keynes was "bang slap in the centre" of the Oxford-Cambridge Arc growth corridor.

He said the city had everything, including a world-class stadium and the "most successful commercial theatre in the home counties", and a university would make it "the marker at the centre" of the arc.

There have been four attempts to create a university, and Sam Crooks says everyone has been supportive, but "the real difficulty is finding funding".

He said failing to get funds for the Cranfield MK:U plan was "a great disappointment - we now need to see if we can actually find other ways of getting that financial input to make the scheme work".

He pointed out that the University of Buckingham, which does have an academic centre in Milton Keynes, has always relied on private investment.

He added that Cranfield University has a "very, very good record of raising money for research", so it may be able to find some funding.

No one is pretending that it will be easy, though.

Mr Crooks's motion to Milton Keynes City Council on Wednesday calls for a conference for universities and colleges in the area, as well as government representatives, to consider "the city's future post-secondary educational provision".

It is likely that general support will be expressed for the idea of a city centre residential university, but it is perhaps less likely that someone will bring their cheque book to provide the money.

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