Posh ‘very keen’ to partner with new Peterborough university sports science department

Posh are reportedly interested in ‘integrating’ with the faculty which is scheduled to open in 2027 by the Embankment.

Addressing city councillors, John Hill, director of business and skills at the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, the area’s mayoral authority, said he had spoken to Posh co-owners Stewart ‘Randy’ Thompson and Jason Neale about ARU Peterborough, which will be run by Anglia Ruskin University.

Mr Hill said: “ARU are already by volume the most successful sports science provider in the UK. Loughborough is much more famous and, to be fair, are a much higher level of excellence.

“ARU see Peterborough as a very interesting catchment area for sports science, and indeed I did talk to Randy and Jason Neale from Posh, and their backers, yesterday. And should they ever relocate to the Embankment they are very keen to integrate with the sports science faculty there for all sorts of things, including sports academies for local young people and the like.”

Peterborough United are hoping to move from London Road to a new 17,500-seater stadium at the Embankment in 2023.

Mr Neale said: “We confirm that we are exploring stronger alliances with the proposed new university, as well as the city, and would like to participate both on the curriculum delivery through the alignment of sports science and entrainment as well as facilitating a technology incubator for university spin outs as part of the stadium.”

ARU Peterborough is due to open in 2022, initially for 2,000 students.

The technical university is due to educate 12,500 students by 2030 with many studying and developing their skills off campus.

It is set to have three teaching centres and two research centres, with the final teaching facility due to open in 2027 and covering sports topics such as science, coaching, psychology and analytics.

Answering questions from Peterborough city councillors on the authority’s Children and Education Scrutiny Committee, Mr Hill said bids will be made to the Government’s Levelling Up Fund in the spring for both the second teaching and research buildings, with the funding bid for the third teaching facility coming in 2023/24.

He also said the target of 12,500 students was an “aspiration” when asked about the viability of the university.

“There’s a pretty established tipping point for most universities. Anything under three or four thousand you really struggle to make a viable business,” he said.

“Anything sort of three to four thousand, up to 6,000, you’re pretty safe, and anything above 6,500 you’re definitely safe.

“They are the thresholds of viability but they depend on your delivery model. It’s another reason why in the early years we’ve got a very lean delivery model that doesn’t have lots of accommodation - it doesn’t start off with a student union. That will come in the next phase.

“Part of the deal with the CPCA funding the building is that ARU get it rent free for the first 10 years which also is a bit of a leg up.

“ARU have put aside £6 million into building the building, as their share, and another £6 million of operational costs for the early years when you will make a loss.

“In years one, two and three you just won’t make money because you haven’t built your students up enough.

“In terms of the student numbers, achieving those numbers to 2,000 when we open in 2022 - we have a high level of confidence, not least because ARU have the best part of 800 students already in Peterborough that they’ll transfer in, and they are already marketing the university right now.

“Moving from 2,000 to 3,000 by 2024/25, again (we have) relatively high levels of confidence.

“Then, like any business plan, the further you go out the lower your level of confidence is because the more your variables are. I would say we’ve got medium level confidence of getting to that 6,500 level that we will need to fill the two extra buildings.

“Getting from 6,500 to 12,000, that is further away with lower levels of confidence. Stuff will happen between 2027 and 2032. Yes it’s an aspirational target, but how we actually get there we don’t know yet because it’s just too far away for any sensible commercial business person to try and predict, or convince anyone that they have a real plan of.”

Concerns that students at Anglia Ruskin’s current campus on Oundle Road were parking on nearby residential streets were also raised during the meeting, with Mr Hill saying the combined authority - which is leading the university project - would work with ARU once the campus is up and running.