Uni fails in New York campus bid

Warwick has failed in its bid to establish an Applied Science and Engineering campus in New York City, losing out to Cornell University, a member of the prestigious Ivy League.

Warwick made the application as part of a consortium led by New York University (NYU). The team included Carnegie Mellon University, The University of Toronto, City University of New York (CUNY) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mumbai, as well as industry leaders such as IBM, Cisco and Siemens.

Vice Chancellor Nigel Thrift had hoped to “have the chance to make an impact on the economic development of New York [and] provide new opportunities for the West Midlands economy”.

The campus is planned to be built on an 11-acre parcel of land on Roosevelt Island (lying between the boroughs of Manhattan and Queens), the former site of Goldwater Hospital. Cornell will receive the real estate free of charge, as well as up to $100 million for infrastructure.

Mr. Bloomberg claims the campus could create up to 20,000 temporary construction jobs and as many as 8,000 permanent positions.

“In a word, this project is going to be transformative,” he said.

He chose Cornell over the other applicants because Cornell’s application was the “boldest and most ambitious”, calling for the most students, faculty and building space.

It seems Cornell has indeed been tenacious in its bid for the campus. Deputy Mayor Bob Steele received a book from alumni of over 21,000 signatures in support of the bid.

Andreas Teriete, a postgraduate Finance student, thought the campus could have been “a good way to increase the reputation of Warwick in the US, because I think so far it’s not so well known in the US”.

However, he criticised the fact that Warwick was spending money abroad at a time when the government is cutting funding for higher education and tuition fees are rising.

“Today [in the library] when I wanted to use a computer during lunchtime there was no free computer, and I think considering the fees you pay here, there should always be some free computer to use or even some space where you can just sit down and have lunch. But during lunch time there’s just too many people, so I think it might be a good idea to invest it here.”

A spokesperson for Warwick said: “One of the things that makes Warwick increasingly attractive to students is that it offers the opportunity for our students to get a global experience that is both attractive and assists them on leaving Warwick to make a real difference as globally aware graduates in whatever they do next.”