A new type of privately-funded science and technology university has been announced by the universities minister.
The graduate institution, intended to promote cutting edge science research, could be set up with international partners and funded by business, David Willetts has said.
It follows a similar initiative in New York, where leading universities were invited to set up a research campus.
"With ingenuity we can grow our research base," Mr Willetts said.
In a speech on Wednesday morning, Mr Willetts set out plans for an advanced science research centre, to be created against a background of increasing globalisation and international competition in higher education.
New York project"The next round of new institutions may well link existing British universities with international partners," the minister said.
"The surge in international investment in science and technology would make this a key part of the mission of a new foundation."
Mr Willetts invited applications to set up this new type of university - but without any additional government funding.
"This time we will be looking to private finance and perhaps sponsorship from some of the businesses that are keen to recruit more British graduates," Mr Willetts said.
Under changes to higher education proposed by the government it will become easier for overseas institutions to set up in this country - in the way that an increasing number of UK and US universities have set up campuses overseas.
The minister says he is taking inspiration from a competition in New York to set up a science research institution which will help to develop hi-tech digital industries.
In the wake of the financial crisis, New York city authorities were concerned about an over-dependence on banking and finance.
There were worries that New York was falling behind the "knowledge hubs" that had developed around universities in Boston and California's Silicon Valley - and that New York might miss out on the creation of jobs in rising digital industries.
As such New York invited universities around the world to bid in a competition to build a science campus in the city - with Cornell University recently announced as the winner, in a partnership with the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.
'Knowledge hubs'This new campus will be built on an 11-acre site on the city's Roosevelt Island. It aims to generate ?15bn in economic activity in the next three decades.
This New York project is part of a global pattern of investment in research and innovation as a way of protecting future economic competitiveness.
The French government has launched a ?30bn grand project to set up a series of "innovation clusters" - in which universities, major companies and research institutions are brought together to develop knowledge-based industries.
Mr Willetts wants a major city in England to offer a site for a technology campus.
He also set out plans to increase non-government funding for universities by 10% and to increase the number of English institutions in the top 100 of university rankings.
There will also be plans for another so-called "catapult centre" for science research, which will focus on satellite technology.
"This will provide business with access to in-orbit test facilities to develop and demonstrate new satellite technologies," Mr Willetts said.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/education-16396420
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