A TOP Tory has described Cumbria University’s finances as ‘a complete mess’ and said a Conservative government would need to discuss with the institution the best way to help.
The shadow minister for universities and skills, David Willetts, said: “I need time to find out what’s gone wrong - it sounds like the Government has created a university that’s trying to do too many things.
"I’m trying to understand how things have got this bad.”
Mr Willetts spoke out on Friday while visiting Kendal College with Westmorland and Lonsdale Conservative candidate Gareth McKeever.
Mr Willetts later met the University of Cumbria’s vice-chancellor Prof Peter McCaffrey to discuss the institution’s financial plight. The university’s deficit for 2008-09 was £13.25m and bosses plan to axe 200 jobs.
Speaking about Kendal College’s plans for an international hospitality school at the university’s soon-to-be-mothballed Ambleside campus, Mr Willetts said: “It’s a very interesting idea but it depends what the demand is and to what extent local employers would contribute financially.”
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