Campus funded by sale of sites

The University of Hertfordshire is selling two of its sites to pay for a £105 million campus.

The move on to a 50-acre site near the university's Hatfield campus means that by September 2003, Hertfordshire should in effect be a single campus institution.

The decision to sell the Hertford and Watford sites to create the single campus is part of an effort to both improve the university's facilities and its efficiency, according to Hert-fordshire vice-chancellor Neil Buxton.

He said:"What we want to do is to create for the first time an integrated university in Hertfordshire. There can be little doubt that in the past the outlying campuses have felt marginalised.

"By bringing everything together on to two sites less than 1km apart, we are effectively creating a single campus that will allow for greater academic synergy as well as making economic sense."

Professor Buxton said the changes would not mean a reduction in courses, students or staff.

The university's business school and its faculty of humanities and teacher education will move from the Watford and Hertford sites to the new campus. The university will retain its law faculty at St Albans.

The new campus will include halls of residence for 1,600 students, extensive sports and conference facilities, and a walkway leading to leisure and shopping facilities nearby.