FANFARE FORTHE NEWUNI
Scarborough is on the way to once again becoming a university town following the official opening of the £14 million Coventry University Scarborough Campus .
Welcome to Yorkshire chief Sir Gary Verity did the honours at the state-of-the-art complex, which is part of the £50 million sports and education facility on the town’s former Weaponness coach parking site, at an event attended by guests including local politicians, business and education leaders and university dignitaries.
Sir Gary said: “It’s been an honour to open CU Scarborough. This not only shows significant investment into Scarborough, the new campus will bring in thousands of students from across the country to reside here and in turn boost the local economy.
“This opening comes as Scarborough undergoes an incredible renaissance with the opening of the new multi-million pound waterpark Alpamare, investment into Scarborough Spa, the harbour, and the refurbishment of the Open Air Theatre.
“Let’s not forget Scarborough was recently named the most visited destination outside London by holidaymakers and CU Scarborough will very much add to the town’s ongoing success.”
The new campus building, which will eventually house more than 2,000 students, includes IT suites, engineering and science labs, a mock law court and a library as well as a café and social areas.
Professor Craig Gaskell, Provost of CU Scarborough, said the official opening marked the return of “Scarborough as a university town”.
“We have already made an impact on Scarborough over the past year using Scarborough Spa as a temporary delivery venue, but launching our bespoke new campus will allow us to take this to a differ- ent level,” he said. “It was excellent to welcome guests to our event and I would like to thank Sir Gary for officially opening ournewcampusandproviding his continued support.
“Just this weekend we held our very first open day at the new campus which proved hugely successful, and we have our next one on Saturday October 15.
“We now look forward to strengthening our roots in Scarborough, continuing to benefit the area’s economy as well as providing excellent opportunities for students by offering affordable university degrees, full-time and part-time in a wide range of career-focused subjects and in a flexible model that’s designed to put modern students with busy lives at the centre of everything that we do.”