Falmouth University has set up its first collaborative provision partnership with Cornwall College following its withdrawal from the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC) scheme earlier this year.

The new collaboration, which launches this September, is a ‘top-up’ year, designed with input from leading industry professionals at Falmouth University to enable students at Cornwall College to access a Falmouth University validated degree course, the games design for industry BA.?

With the games industry now worth £4.2 billion and Cornwall home to one of the fastest growing tech hubs in the UK, the university has said the course will provide students with the expertise needed to access higher education and to go on to find challenging, exciting and rewarding jobs in their chosen field.

The new partnership is one of several initiatives established in order to continue the collaboration between higher education providers, building on the work of Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC), after the university withdrew from the CUC earlier this year - although it does continue to work with every member.

Anne Carlisle, vice chancellor and chief executive of Falmouth University, said: “Falmouth University is a higher education hub for Cornwall and has two key objectives: to help young people get a great education and therefore great jobs, and to help grow the Cornish economy. Working with other education providers in the county is an essential part of our strategy and a means of enabling Cornish students to fulfil their ambitions and potential close to home."

“We’re proud that 18 per cent of our students are from Cornwall and by 2020 we want that to be 25 per cent. By nourishing talent from the county, in the county, we want to slow the brain drain and encourage young people to stay in Cornwall to contribute their skills and knowledge to the local economy.”

Miriam Venner, head of Cornwall College Camborne, said: “We are really pleased to be working in partnership with Falmouth University as this enables our students to remain in the county and continue their studies in games design to BA level. This means they can build on our established extended diploma and HND routes and helps us provide a wider range of creative degrees at our Camborne site.”