Council advances plan to build a university in Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes Council is moving ahead with feasibility work to scope and cost out plans for a new university in the heart of the city.Milton Keynes is the largest city in Britain without a university.Plans to took a big step forward this week when the council agreed terms with Cranfield University to become the lead higher education provider.Currently known as MK:U, it is planned the university complex would have around 5,000 students with the first cohort arriving in 2023.Cranfield’s educational, technological and industrial partners on MK:U include Grant Thornton, MK College, Microsoft and Tech Mahindra.The university will be designed as an education institution for the 21st century, delivering a distinctive STEM-focused undergraduate courses in key areas like digital, cyber, autonomy, robotics and artificial intelligence.In each of the university’s key areas of focus, there would be a lead business partner.New university would be at the heart of the Cambridge, Milton Keynes and Oxford innovation corridor.The next step is an 18-month feasibility study, which will consider the planning, design and financing of the new university.