How the new campus will run and who will own it

The delivery of the new campus is being managed by the Cambridge and Peterborough Combined Authority before it is then handed over to a body jointly-owned by the combined authority, Peterborough City Council and Anglia Ruskin. The campus will then leased by the joint body to Anglia Ruskin to take over responsibility of its running, although the joint body retains the right to terminate the lease if: “insufficient progress” is being made. Moreover, the report states that combined authority will keep ARU’s recruitment plans under review to: “ensure that course selection is not unduly or unrealistically competing with other institutions and to determine whether appropriate measures are being taken to reach underrepresented and local groups of students”.

The report states that the proposed curriculum and make-up of student numbers: “deviates significantly” from what had been originally envisaged, with a: “much higher proportion of students on campus relative to the target student population”. The combined authority has indicated that this is due to the addition of student nurses coming to the university from Anglia Ruskin who are currently being housed at its Oundle Road campus.

The joint body is set to be owned 75.38 per cent by the combined authority, 19.76 per cent by ARU and 4.86 per cent by the city council.

It is expected that the combined authority will sell its stake in the joint body to either Anglia Ruskin or a third party to raise funds for the £12.5 million Local Growth Fund loan which is due to be repaid by 2028.

ARU will have to report to the joint body every year on the condition of the campus and progress on receiving degree-awarding powers and establishing a fully independent university.

Should the university become independent in 2032, the report states that there is an: “aspiration” for ARU to maintain a long term relationship with it. ARU has already started the process to hire a student recruitment manager and by 2021 will have additional marketing staff such as student recruitment and outreach officers and events officers, it is added.