University to move more students to its city campus

Teaching at satellite site is scaled down ‘The transfer of courses could happen over a few years’

Canterbury Christ Church University is scaling down teaching at its campus in Broadstairs and moving students to buildings in the city.

It insists it has not yet decided the Thanet site’s fate or whether it will be closed and put to other uses. Following falling numbers of applications to courses at Broadstairs, the university will stop student recruitment to the site in September next year.

Vice-chancellor Prof Rama Thirunamachandran said: “This decision has been taken after careful consideration and in the best interests of our current and future students. I am aware of the importance of access to higher education in Thanet, having been involved in the creation of the campus 17 years ago while at the Higher Education Funding Council for England.”

The Broadstairs campus opened in 2000 with the aim of providing higher education for students living in east Kent.

At its peak in 2009, it had 823 students, but the figure is now 400. This will decrease further to 130 after the transfer of arts and humanities courses in September to coincide with the opening of the new arts building on the Canterbury campus.

These courses include commercial music, creative music, technology, music production, multimedia design, photography and graphic design. New courses are being created in games design, illustration, music and media production and animation production.

Asked whether it will be closing the Broadstairs campus, university spokesman Holly Finch said: “At this stage, we are focused on working with staff and students to explore transfer options and the extensive support that will be available throughout. The transfer of courses could happen over a few years and at this very early stage no date has been set for the closure of the campus.”

Christ Church’s 10 to 15-year estate masterplan will see the redevelopment of the Canterbury campus, including the former prison site and the “consolidation of the university’s buildings within the city”.

Canterbury City Council approved the plan in December. It includes building a centre for engineering, technology and health. Visit www.canterbury. ac.uk/masterplan.