In fact, pupils at Peterborough Regional College (PRC) who collected their A-level results today will not even have to leave the campus where they have been studying.

Because this September will see the first intake of university students starting their courses in the city.

More than 650 students will start degree courses, and that number is set to swell to a staggering 3,000 when a proposed new £10million campus has been completed.

It is the first steps for the University Centre Peterborough which is a joint venture between the city based PRC and Anglian Ruskin University, which has bases in Cambridge and Chelmsford, in Essex.

The building, which is set to open in 2009, will be located next to the new regional college in Park Crescent.

Principal of PRC Don Lawson said: "We are delighted to be enrolling the first University Centre students this September and we are confident that working together we can significantly increase the range of university services on offer to the benefit of the people of Peterborough, and local employers."

Vice Chancellor of the Anglia Ruskin University Professor Michael Thorne said: "This is an important milestone in the emergence of a new University Centre for Peterborough.

"While we will be using the existing facilities of Peterborough Regional College in the first instance, we will be hoping to move onto the construction of the dedicated University building in the very near future."

An artists' impression of the proposed university building is expected to be finished soon.

The project is part of an ambitious development plan which is being overseen by both Peterborough City Council and Opportunity Peterborough.

Cabinet member for education Cllr Geoff Ridgway said: "I would encourage young people to think about enrolling at Peterborough. If people want to have the most economical way of getting a degree then it's going to be at the regional college and the University Centre. It may mean staying at home, but it is very, very important if people want to avoid getting a debt of about £20,000 like some university students."

Regional college higher education students will have additional access to Anglia Ruskin resources and facilities in Cambridge and Chelmsford.

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