BPP launches bid to jointly run 10 universities

updated on 05 July 2011

As reported in the Guardian, BPP has launched an "aggressive expansion plan" to manage the business side of at least 10 British publicly funded universities. The model would see universities retaining control over all academic decisions, with BPP taking over the management of - among other things - campus estates, IT support, and the buying of goods and services.

According to BPP chief executive Carl Lygo, talks with three universities are at a "serious stage" but have not reached commercial negotiations. Lygo told the Guardian that BPP stood to earn tens to hundreds of thousands of pounds from the deals. He commented that a bid to take over any of the universities was currently "too radical" and that a partnership model was "more palatable in the United Kingdom [where] we have a long tradition of higher education being publicly funded, rather than run for profit".

This news comes ahead of a white paper expected to signal the government's intention to encourage the expansion of private institutions in higher education in England.