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University courses to be taught again at Stafford Beaconside

27/10/2017

The University of Wolverhampton has signed an agreement with the New Beacon Group to deliver higher education courses at its Beaconside Campus in Stafford.

The Chinese based business group bought the 50-acre campus last year from Staffordshire University and revealed plans to transform it into an education and innovation hub.

It has now signed a Memorandum of Understanding which will see University of Wolverhampton degree courses delivered at the campus to students.

These are to be teaching and education, leadership and management, travel and tourism, hospitality and computing. They will be taught, assessed and quality assured by the University of Wolverhampton.

The New Beacon Group has already revealed plans to refurbish the Octagon Building on the campus, which will become home to its new Higher Education centre, and recruit students directly from China and locally in Staffordshire.

It is expected the first students could be on campus from September 2018. The agreement may also lead to staff and student exchanges between the UK and China.

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wolverhampton, Professor Geoff Layer, said: “We’re delighted to be signing this agreement with the New Beacon Group and look forward to developing our relationship further over time.

“We see this as a great way to create educational opportunities for students both from China and locally in key curriculum areas. Beaconside has great facilities and I’m sure both students and staff will enjoy calling it home.

“We have been working within Stafford for a number of years now and we see this as a natural progression of our activity, particularly with the University’s own new Stafford centre due to open next month.

“We have also been very warmly received by partners in the county and we look forward to even closer relationships as we progress.”

Dr Kai Liu, Chief Executive of the New Beacon Group, said: “New Beacon Group is delighted to be working with the University of Wolverhampton at our Stafford Campus and we have a number of exciting programmes that will be delivered on the campus both at under and postgraduate levels.

“We see this as a significant development in redeveloping higher education in Stafford and are delighted with the progress and our exciting plans for the future both here and in China.”

The University is also due to open a new centre in Stafford town centre next month in the Staffordshire Place complex.

University of Wolverhampton in Stafford will offer a range of courses as well as business support advice and will open at the end of the month. Courses will start in January.

Picture caption: Dr Kai Liu, Chief Executive of New Beacon Group and Professor Geoff Layer, Vice-Chancellor at the University of Wolverhampton.

Exterior picture caption: Dr Kai Liu, Jeremy Lefroy, MP for Stafford and Professor Geoff Layer.

ENDS

For more information please contact James Allen in the Media Relations Office on 01902 322003.

Date Issued: Friday 27 October 2017

For more information please contact the Corporate Communications Team.

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