Regent’s College unveils expansion plans

The vision put forward for Regent’s College, which currently has around 4,000 people studying at its central London campus, mostly from overseas, reveals it envisages having a student body of 10,000 by 2020.

In a strategic document entitled Regent’s University London – The Vision for 2020, the institution states that it will accommodate such an expansion by adding other locations to its current base in Regent’s Park.

“In addition to the home campus, Regent’s will comprise a number of other locations in London which it will gain through acquisition of other complementary institutions, by formal strategic partnership and by necessary organic expansion to meet new demand,” the strategy, revealed to staff last week, states.

It adds: “In addition [Regent’s] will operate a small number of campuses elsewhere in Britain and outside the UK both in its own right and in partnership with other similar brands.”

Regent’s, which is already in the process of applying for its own degree-awarding powers, also wants research degree-awarding powers by 2017 and American degree powers by 2014.

However, the strategy says it aims to continue a concentration on teaching international students, mostly undergraduates, with its course portfolio looking “similar to the top American liberal arts colleges”.

According to the most recent survey of private providers, Regent’s College, which is a not-for-profit charity, is already the biggest full-time undergraduate provider in the UK outside the state-funded system.

Many of its degrees are currently validated by the Open University.

simon.baker@tsleducation.com