Education chiefs could know by the end of spring if Croydon is up to the challenge of setting up a university for the new Millennium.

If given the green light, the town could have its own university within three years -

offering vocational and academic courses to thousands of students.

The University of Croydon would have to be started from scratch and could be sharing some of the buildings already used by Croydon College.

Principal Vic Seddon, whose Croydon College already offers a number of degree courses, told the Guardian: "A working group comprising representatives of all the major local players, with the backing of the Croydon Partnership and with the approval of the council, has been meeting to investigate the possibility of creating a university.

"It is difficult to imagine an old-style campus university like Oxford or Cambridge. Maybe it will be a special kind of university using modern technology, the internet and CD-roms. The courses are most likely to be vocational courses but there will also be a demand for personal improvement education, such as languages and humanities. The benefits for the people of Croydon are enormous. Thousands go out of the borough every week to go to university. But there would be a new influx of expenditure because every student would bring about £5,000 to the town."

It is understood that Croydon Council is looking at possible sites for the new university. It could be distributed around a number of centres with hi-tech links to make the teaching more accessible.

Tentative discussions have been going on for years but this is the closest the town has come to getting a university.

A spokesman for the council said: "Clearly it is something that the council and the whole community support. We want a better educated workforce to help Croydon retain its business position."

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