Britain Announces New University

The UK’s universities minister announces a plan for a new science and tech university funded entirely by non-government dollars.

Written byJef Akst
| 1 min read

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Just 2 weeks after New York City Michael Bloomberg declared Cornell University, in partnership with Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, as the winner of $100 million in funding and 11 acres on Roosevelt Island for a state-of-the-art science and technology research facility, the United Kingdom announced a similar initiative—a graduate institution that would promote cutting edge research. But there’s one key difference: according to the UK’s Minister of State for Universities and Science, David Willetts, there will be no government funding for the project.

“We will be looking to private finance and perhaps sponsorship from some of the businesses that are keen to recruit more British graduates,” Willetts said in a speech on Wednesday morning.

Willetts invited applications from institutions wanting to set up ...

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  • Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.

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