Warwick considers US campus

City and county officials from Roseville and Placer County, California will visit Warwick on Monday November 11 to discuss potential plans to develop a local Warwick campus in Sacramento, the state capital.

The delegation travelling from California hope that the proposition of free county land and a $150 million financial contribution to fund this campus development will persuade the University of Warwick to agree.

The 1,157 acre ranch land property in Roseville and Placer County was donated by property developer Angelo Tsakopoulos in December for the purpose of building a university.

Kirk Uhler, a Placer County supervisor who will be part of the visiting delegation, told the Boar that it was Tsakopoulos who was keen to approach Warwick. Vice Chancellor Professor Nigel Thrift has visited Tsakopoulos on a number of occasions to discuss the opportunity.

Warwick was not the first institution to be approached regarding the potential development.Previously, Drexel University in Philadelphia was keen to build a campus in California.

Enthusiasm for the project was weakened by the slowdown of the US economy and the death in 2011 of University President Constantine Papadakis who was a long-time friend of Tsakopoulos.

Now that the plans of Roseville and Placer County officials have shifted towards international partnership, discontent has emerged from locals in Sacramento.

Local resident Donna Williams commented: “There are many universities in the United States, and to search in the UK by financing a trip from taxpayers who can’t afford to take their own vacations, to me is irresponsible.”

However, the CEO of the Sacramento Area Trade & Commerce Organisation (SACTO) Barbara Hayes, who will also visit next month, insisted that discussions with Warwick will lead to positive outcomes for all parties.

She said: “We must continue to build our high education foundation to remain economically vital and sustainable.

We are encouraged by the areas of study that Warwick pursues.  Science, technology, engineering, and math curriculum, and the students that such curriculum would attract – along with Warwick’s reputation – are exactly what the Sacramento region and California values, and needs more of.”

Ms Hayes did add that Warwick was not the only institution to be targeted, stating: “we are speaking with other universities and colleges – nationally and internationally – about locating campuses in the Sacramento region.”

The opinion of Warwick students appears to be one of general enthusiasm.

First-year Biological Sciences undergraduate Penny Tilsley said: “The expansion of the Warwick campus into the US puts Warwick’s name onto a more international platform which can only benefit us as graduates. I would definitely go and study in Sacramento.”

Vice Chancellor Professor Nigel Thrift similarly commented that the development in the US would be a positive one for the University: “Warwick is a globally connected University that has chosen to form partnerships that are not based on geographical proximity but which help create a truly global network.”