Campus expansion looks east and west

SWANSEA University is looking to open a vast second campus in either Neath Port Talbot or Carmarthenshire.

University bosses are talking to both county councils to find a suitable 100-acre site.

They say increasing student numbers and investment means they need more room — but the current site, hemmed in between Singleton Hospital, parkland and the sea, means they have had to look further afield.

University vice-chancellor Richard Davies said: "We are looking at a visionary development, and a first for the UK.

"While we are at an early stage, I am confident that we can engage industry to make this happen.

"We have started talking to Neath Port Talbot and Carmarthenshire councils.

"We are also having ongoing discussions with Swansea Council about keeping Singleton as a viable long-term campus."

It is understood the second campus could include a science park, a graduate school and a conference centre, as well as student accommodation.

The facilities would concentrate on engineering, law and information technology.

Swansea University currently has around 12,000 full and part-time students and more than 1,800 staff.

Investment is pouring into its research departments and student numbers continue to grow as people from across the UK and around the world opt to study in the city by the sea.

However, a consultants' report in November 2005 found that the 1960s campus needs around £32 million in repairs to its crumbling buildings, and offers little room for future expansion.

One of the proposals in the report was for the university to abandon the city altogether and establish a new campus, either at Delta Lakes in Llanelli, or at or at the site of the former Felindre steel plant off the M4 at Llangyfelach.

However, the idea of the university leaving the city provoked an outcry amongst business leaders, students and city politicians.

Now it has emerged that university bosses are looking for sites in Carmarthenshire and Neath Port Talbot to establish a satellite campus.

The centre would be funded by a mix of private and public investment, and a number of international companies are understood to interested in investing in the project.

The university's vice-chancellor said he hoped progress on the new campus would be swift.

"I would like to achieve some clarity within two months, to secure the agreement of companies to come into partnership," he said.