CUC got there first

How "unprecedented" is the strategic alliance between further and higher education in Cumbria? Have the project's protaganists forgotten the Combined Universities in Cornwall ("Cumbrian alliance to plug hole in provision", THES, April 4)?

In December 2000, then funding chief Sir Brian Fender heralded the CUC as "a model that can be commended to other parts of the UK". In a visit in July 2002, Sir Howard Newby confirmed his predecessor's statement.

The CUC's strategic partnership of higher and further education institutions serving Cornwall is well advanced. It is developing a £65 million infrastructure programme that will provide more than 2,000 additional higher education places in September 2004.

Its status as the original model of this type is firmly established.

Gordon Kelly
Coordinator
Combined Universities in Cornwall